Topic: Movie thread.

@Ralizah It was sadly a flop so no one saw it. I think it was too weird of a genre mash up for most people which is a shame as it's alot more than just it's whacky premise.

I loved Suzume, it's the third film I saw in cinemas this year.
I wonder how the new Miyazaki film will do at the box office, since that is still coming out this year in Japan. Hayao Miyazaki is releasing a new film this year, which would most likely be his final film.
Hoping that GKIDS would get it to win Best Animated Feature.

Hayao Miyazaki keeps announcing his retirement, and then just comes back. It seems that every film of his since Princess Mononoke was going to be his last film at some point. Realistically, Hayao Miyazaki will most likely keep directing movies until he dies.

@jump That's... wow. Even watching the trailer, it's hard to believe that's a real movie. Nice to hear it's more than its thoroughly bizarre premise, though. Definitely hunting it down!

@Hydra_Spectre I wonder how much of it is down to his son being utterly unworthy of being his successor. Like, did you see Earwig and the Witch? It looks like a Dreamworks movie from the early 00s. Utterly humiliating for an animation studio as legendary as Ghibli.

And, you know, some creative people just can't stop working for long. It's in their blood.

@Ralizah Let me know what you think about it. It's not the bestest greatest moviest film ever but it's a clever indie dramedy pretending it's a monster movie or maybe it's the other way around?

What is really bizarre is I wouldn't even put it in a top ten of my favourite bizarre films, at least I can explain Colossal in a sentence but something like Holy Motors I wouldn't bother and just say it's so fudge up instead.

Earwig was just a TV movie, which is why it had a lower budget. But it's baffling why they would even consider releasing it in cinemas. Apparently, the film drew in lower TV ratings than the usual TV re-airings of past Ghibli films. And the theatrical run was a box office bomb.

If it was given a full theatrical budget from the start, it could have looked good. Maybe if they went with an Into the Spider-Verse approach where they rotoscope the CGI by hand while adding wholly hand-drawn touches. Ghibli already does a similar style of painted CGI, since the limited CGI effects in their previous films had textures painted by hand. The textures were painted on paper, scanned to the computer, and then mapped to 3D meshes, which is sort of similar to Disney's Deep Canvas technology or how the animation in Into the Spider-Verse was done.

Since Pom Poko, Ghibli films (except for Ponyo) had CGI effects,, and they use this painted CGI look to make sure the CGI blends well with the 2D elements. It works really well, since the CGI can still be used effectively in ways that 2D just cannot; and they put great care into making sure the CGI doesn't look out of place. Pom Poko is the only time the CGI effects looked subpar, but that was their first time.

The look of the film was apparently inspired by claymation from Aardman, Tim Burton, and LAIKA. Turning Red is better at imitating the Ghibli look and the Aardman look in 3D CGI; but that film was going to be a theatrical release before being dumped on Disney+ due to COVID lockdowns.

I personally like the faux-claymation look of Earwig. And they did it even better than DreamWorks and Aardman did with Flushed Away. It shows how Ghibli prefers a hand-crafted or hand-drawn aesthetic even in CGI.
But again, I think a Spider-Verse approach would have been better, even if it was probably too expensive to properly do in a TV budget. (Unless they resort to wholly digital shortcuts like cel-shading, while Spider-Verse was actually painted CGI and rotoscoped by hand)

Alright I ordered Your Name. Was tempting to go for Weathering With You which was 4k blu ray, but being animation I'm sure blu-ray will look just as good.

Ah, yes. Now this is more like it.

Got the Panasonic UB820, connected it directly to the Sennheiser Ambeo soundbar with eARC routing to the LG C1 OLED TV.

Now this is a quality movie experience. It's not just the fact I have DTS working now in addition to Atmos, it's not just the fact I have Dolby Vision, but the real improvement is the HDR tone mapping with various settings to toggle between for light and dark environments. They progressively brighten the picture so I can pick the one I think looks best.

As a bonus, it even offers dialog enhancement option, which is a nice bonus for movies such as Pirates of the Carribean UHD blu-ray where the audio mix has dialog a bit low. Sure, I can do that in my Ambeo app, but because my router auto switches between 2.4 and 5 Ghz, and it only connects properly on one and not the other, sometimes I can't get the app to connect. Having a foolproof alternative is just nice.

I will never go back to LCD in my life. Nor will I ever go without full surround, or a proper 4k blu-ray player. Don't care how much it costs, these things are non-negotiable moving forward as far as I'm concerned.

@Ralizah
If you think that movies nuts, watch velocipastor. It’s a movie about a pastor who is a werewolf but dinosaur.

Evil Dead Rise is so groovy!

It feels fresh but samey so instead of nostalgia porn of lots of call backs and cameos it instead focuses on delivering the same feelings from the other films which is exactly what I want a franchise to do. It's like it has cherry picked the dark humour from some, the campness from others, its taken the splattering from there and the brutalism from that one to blend them together for this film.

Alyssa Sutherland was someone I've never heard of before but she is phenomenally good so I would happily see her again in anything. It's like she is part 90s Jim Carrey and Linda Blair rolled into one.

It's also really deep too by answering some of life's greatest mysteries and questions, like what happens when you take a cheese grater and grate someone's leg with it or what happens if you were to eat glass. The answer is it is bloody disgusting!

In a funny way I think I've just realised Evil Dead might actually be my favourite franchise in a down low sorta way. It's now 5 movies and a series which I've been happily satisfied by them all without fanboy over selling/complaining like Star Wars, Marvel and all the other fandom franchises. I'm always excited to hear of news about new Evil Dead things and have a quiet trust I will enjoy it. Whenever I see Bruce Campbell or Sam Raimi do something in my head I instantly go ooh Evil Dead without it over powering whatever the show/movie I'm seeing.

Winged Migration is such a cool documentary. It's only in blu-ray but still, looked fantastic. Made me order Planet Earth II / Blue Planet II 4k UHD blu-ray.

Checked out Avatar on DVD to see how well the UB820 upscales, and wow... it was a disaster on PS5. A garbled, pixelated disaster. Unwatchable. Couldn't tolerate it for more than 2 minutes. But on the UB820, it's definitely watchable. It's certainly not as good as blu-ray, but it is at the very least watchable. Night and day vs the PS5, that's for sure.

Then I checked out Dolby Vision with Quantum of Solace. That movie looks incredible. I was worried Dolby Vision might present as too dark, but with the TV settings I'm using, it actually doesn't. Even in a lit room on OLED, it's more than bright enough.

Then I tested the HDR tone mapping with John Wick- a 4k blu-ray that has standard HDR10, and it makes a world of difference. I love the HDR menu the HDR button brings up with a whole host of options. But I think the Standard setting for tone mapping looks best. I'd never seen a John Wick movie. It was really good. Starting the 2nd movie now.

I feel like, when I pop in a movie now, it's an actual experience. Got some more blu-rays in today- Ben Hur, Friday, Grave of the Fireflies and The Life of David Gale (I used to own this on DVD back in the day, so it has sentimental value, much like A Goofie Movie which I owned on VHS). Also got Tenet today on 4k blu-ray.

Watched Bambi yesterday. Idk, was just in the mood for classic Disney. The animation is so good for being as old as it is.

Watched Avatar The Way of Water. It was not bad. There were some strong moments but the thing that bugged me is that by the end of the movie almost nothing has changed. There was no advancement of the whole story.

I liked the new tribe and their ways but the rest was just action filler.

Avatar 1 finished very strong, and they had to do it all over again here, but the end did not have the same impact ... just a giant cliffhanger.

Still, for a one time viewing it was not a total waste of time.

I really wish The Count of Monte Cristo would get a better HD conversion or even a 4k release. I mean, I'm just happy it's on blu-ray at all. Seems like one of those movies that would be forever lost in the SD ocean of DVDs. But its one of my favorite movies of all time, and I want a better version of it.

@Colonel_Mustache
Just finished John Wick 2. Talk about upping the stakes and ending on a cliffhanger. Now I gotta watch the 3rd. Already have the 4th preordered.

Movies like this are good content to just throw on when you're board and enjoy some action. Very rewatchable (which is what I was going for with this movie collection- films that could be watched multiple times over many years).

The James Bond movies are also very rewatchable in that respect. I wasn't even paying attention half the time and didn't fully understand all the plot points, but it's still a blast. And that just means more to gleen on the next viewing.

Avatar is another one that's highly rewatchable. It's hard to believe it doesn't have a 4k UHD blu-ray release. I don't wanna waste my money on a blu-ray version if they're gonna drop a 4k blu-ray later when Way of the Water releases.

edit
Went ahead and ordered Avatar 3D + 2D blu-ray. Justified it due to the 3D, which is only available in blu-ray. With the Rokid Max XR glasses I have preordered and releasing in May, I can watch 3D blu-ray content. Would be nice to at least have one 3D blu-ray to test with.

@Colonel_Mustache
The first Avatar is a classic imo. The sequel... eh. Visually it was stunning, and even better in 3D, but it wasn't nearly as good as the first. Still, I'll be buying both of them if/when they release on 4k blu-ray.

Avatar was also the first time I saw a movie in 3D, and it was really impressive. I love 3D so much. I always had the 3DS slider cracked up to maximum. Shame it never caught on.

The Daniel Craig Bond movies are excellent, btw. Highly recommend.

Question is, are the Mission Impossible movies worth getting? I've seen a few, many years ago. A box set with all 6 is on sale for like $55 on Amazon. But knowing there's 2 more in production, I'm tempted to just wait and get a full box set down the line, after Tom Cruise eventually gets replaced for the inevitable reboot.

Anyone know when the new Mario Bros movie will be rentable or come to a streaming service? I see it's currently available to buy for $30 via the Vudu streaming app, but to me, that doesn't count.

Any idea which streaming service will get it? Netflix, Prime? I'm assume it's never coming to Disney+.

I found the Craig Bond films to be a mixed bag myself. His obsession with Eva Green over all the films got so boring. He could put on any number of films to see her naked if he wanted to, seriously it’s hard to find a film where she has clothes on!

Casino Royal, a conscious attempt to update Bond by ripping off Jason Bourne which works for the most part to be one of the bestest Bondest everest but you leave the cinema going “huh, was that over 2 hours and a break to play poker of Bond just chasing people’s phones?”.

Quantum Of Solace, strong contender for worstest Bondest everest. If I remember correctly this was made during the writers strike so they literally filmed it without a completed script which explains why it feels like watching a David Lynch film where it makes no sense and everything feels off.

Skyfall, an enjoyable flick but they just decided to rollback the direction of the last films to be a conservative safe take on Bond. Javier Bardem might be my favourite Bond villain as he plays it instead of wanting to kill Bond and M he just wants to make love to them like an incel pick up line meme.

Spectre, it is just infuriating how it insults your intelligence. There’s a plot twist coming which everyone can see so instead of telling the plot twist well they just made the plot twist even more stupid. What a waste of Christopher Waltz over these movies. It’s also famous for Craig saying he hates Bond now and he will only do another film for the money which brings us to…

No Time To Die, the most mixed bag film. They casted Rami Malek who on paper should make a great villain but then they do nothing with him. They try to link the other films together but it just feels meh, stupid or wasteful in how it does it. It’s a shame as there’s some great set pieces, the baddie lair looks amazing and Ana de Armas steals the show in her one scene.

The best Bond films in the 21st century for me was Kingsman: The Secret Service. Where they go instead of having a murderous toff with addiction issues be a spy why don’t we turn a working class thug kid into being a toff? It’s a shame the sequels weren’t as good.

Just watched Tetris and loved it. I do not even like Tetris the game and I know that much of the story is made up for the movie but that did not ruined it for me.

PS: And now I want to buy an original Gameboy

i recently went to see John Wick 4, Super Mario Bros, Air(Matt Damon movie) and i bought "Batman the Doom that came to Gotham" on Blu-ray which was awesome btw !!!!

Watched last night Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always. Fun movie, it was neat seeing the original cast reprise their roles. I did tear up when Minh saved Billy the say way her mother Trini did and became the new Yellow Ranger, which was something I was guessing would happen.

I may not be into superheroes, but Power Rangers was one of the few superhero things I did watch (the other being Powerpuff Girls), so seeing this was a bit of a treat.

@WoomyNNYes, it's a Universal film, so I assume it's streaming home will probably be Peacock (though you'll probably able to buy/rent it on any digital storefront like Amazon Prime or Google Play when it arrives on PVOD, which I believe is on May 9th).

@JaxonH, tWoW just released digitally recently, so I assume the physical release is only a few months away at most (I see no reason to assume why it wouldn't get a 4K disc). It was also recently announced that a bunch of other James Cameron films (The Abyss, True Lies, Titanic, & the og Avatar) are scheduled to release on 4K disc this year as well (though dates haven't been set).

I’ve been watching movies and saw;

Our Kind Of Traitor, based on a spy book by a former British spy turned author whose books get turned into movies, no not Ian Fleming the other one John le Carre who wrote The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Very much a film that emphasises smart writing over action unlike Bond however it reminded me of the feeling of old Bond films were just travelling was a big deal which lets the cinematography play. There's one scene which is a nice bit of built up suspense of lots of moving parts outside of their control as they played tennis which I really liked. There's an interesting thread throughout the film of if you're a normal everyday person would you step in if you saw something wrong be it being in a room of dangerous men or governments playing with people's lives. The cast are strong and give out great performances especially Stellan Skarsgard who fantastically chews up the scenery as a Russian mobster.

Weathering With You, with folk's excitement of Suzume I remembered I've not seen this one yet. I normally like Makoto Shinkai's stuff which I was watching before Your Name made him big time but this is very much an example of "I liked it but..." and doubt I will ever watch or think about it unpromted again. I could nitpick a bunch of things however it just feels like he couldn't get out what he wanted to express as well as underexplored ideas sitting right there resulting in a more muddled flick however the nice animation and his madz film making skills powers through. Probably just me but the soundtrack really bugged me in places. I vaguely remember some hoopla about c̶l̶i̶m̶a̶t̶e̶ c̶h̶a̶n̶g̶e̶ global warming and politics are bad chat from some people, I found the politics so boringly mild and I imagine these people must spit out a slice of brown bread as it's too spicy.