Topic: Movie thread.

I watched Mario Movie and I finally settled down enough to write about it.

If you asked me just after the credits, I'd say it's one of the best movies of all time.

If you asked me now, I'd say it's still a very good movie, I enjoyed it immensly. Naturally there was so much more potential, but how would the screnwriters fit the entire franchise in 90 minutes? I think what was done was as consistent as it could get. We got everything and everybody that needed to be in the movie, without introducing too many characters at once. The backstory of Mario and Luigi was very nice too, but Idk how it ties with the Yoshi's island lore. I honestly don't have a clue how they ended up in Brooklyn, but I'm gonna have to do some research. Nice to see the throwback of the old Jumpman (Mario and Luigi's real father, played by Charles Martinet, I recognized his voice in an instant!).

Watched Wonka this afternoon.

Not typically the type of thing I'd go to the theatre to see, but my father of all people wanted to see it so we went together. It was actually a pretty decent watch & I think the first musical I've seen on the big screen (unless you want to count the animated Disney films of the 90's).

That was quick!

@jump There's even more over sites like Twitter ranging from games to movies to books detailing every horror cliche you could imagine; life is pain 🫠

I got alot of catching up to with watching movies on those streaming apps Disneyplus, Tubi and Netflix. Mostly Disneyplus/Hulu anyway

My Disneyplus watchlist consists of them marvel movies, Luca, Cheetah, The Rescuers and old 1980s and 1990s Marvel cartoons and Seasons 3 and 4 of Star Wars Rebels

One of my favorite movies is the Iron giant!!
If you haven't watched this masterpiece I 100% recommend it, I have watched this movie so much and its one of the only movies that has made me cry multiple times lol.
It is a shame because its rather unknown due to multiple reasons but it is an awesome movie!

@jump Universal is way better than Disney IMO (not just because they have ties with Nintendo)
I like that there movies are less woke unlike disney over here losing millions with every movie. (I do enjoy seeing there fall though)

@GalaxicGlobe meh, I really don’t care about cheering on one studio over another or being concerned with how woke something is, that sounds boring.

I’m just interested in the films themselves. Like Suitable Flesh a contemporary take of a classic Lovecraft story where the stunning Heather Graham plays B̶e̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ f̶r̶o̶m̶ F̶u̶t̶u̶r̶a̶m̶a̶ a horny booze drinking cigar chomping wise cracking demon, cool and I'm not concerned with how lefty or righty it is. Godzilla Minus One where Toho have mike dropped a brilliant movie which has human drama as good as the kaiju action to embarrass the American remakes is awesome so why would I worry about how woke it is or is not? The Old Oak where a master film maker makes a film about the importance of pubs in the community sounds great and I didn't bother to look up what studio it's from. The Artificial Girl had some nerd build a young looking AI girl to trap pedos on the internet with the type of thought provoking philosophical debate which is when sci-fi is at it's best, why would I care about the studio more?

@jump I get you I just dislike Disney as a whole, honestly they dont really make stuff im interested in and what they do make is kind of trashy.

Disney is 100 years old and sadly they might not make it to 200 at this point....

@Rambler I read on Reddit that Disney are woke so they only eat tofu and salads now but it’s impossible to live on tofu and salads. You need to have an healthy diet of red meat, Pepsi and sugar coated cereal to be able to live so Disney will die of starvation soon!

@Rambler I bet they cast some deviant woke celebrity like Taylor Swift to voice the tofu. I read on Reddit that she was in a relationship BEFORE getting married and even wrote a song about it, the nerve she has!

In something not woke related, this movie from 20th Century Studios which is owned by Disney but oddly being distributed by Universal (I’m assuming Searchlight had their hands full with Poor Things and The Creator so let it go) has me feeling mixed. I like the concept, vibe and cast but something seems off but I can’t put my finger on it. I’m almost certain I will be seeing it in the cinema as my old lady loves that romanticised idea of bikers.

I'm fashionably late to the party but I finally got around to watching the FNAF Movie!

I have a bit of a weird relationship with FNAF as a series: I've never played any of the games (not yet anyway) but being someone who grew up in the mid-2010's, I think it's fair to say I am MORE than familiar with the franchise. And yes: I did have a phase where I was hopelessly obsessed with The Living Tombstone songs when I was about 10-11 years old (and considering how I'm literally listening to one as I type this, it could be argued that phase never really went away XD). So naturally, I was pretty interested in giving the movie adaptation a watch at some point down the line and overall, it's....certainly something alright.

I don't think I've ever felt more conflicted with a movie quite like I have with this one. It does a lot of stuff very poorly, from a story that darts in pretty much every direction imaginable to certain moments feeling a fair bit undercooked (re: the climax) to overall not being very scary whatsoever (apart from that one scene that I imagine anyone who's seen the movie will instantly know what I'm referring to).

And yet, despite it all....I can't help but be immensely charmed by this movie. You can just tell all the actors are having the time of their lives, with almost every performance being filled with such sincerity throughout (ESPECIALLY Matthew Lillard as William Afton; he was on screen for about 15-20 minutes total and absolutely ruled every scene he was in regardless), it's incredibly respectful of the source material with all the cute nods and references it manages to sneak in (THEY PLAYED THE F***ING SONG AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH) and the animatronics themselves are INCREDIBLE.

Like, no joke: stuff like this is exactly why practical effects and detailed costuming are still so vital in cinema these days because holy hell these are literally one-to-one with their game counterparts.

it also helps that, when they're not going on vicious killing sprees, the core four are actually extremely sweet and lovable XD

Overall, the FNAF Movie is a bit of a mess in a lot of aspects, but it does so much right in equal measure that I can't bring myself to hate it. 6/10 and I'm very excited to see what they'll do with the sequel!

I loved that bit in "Turning Red" where Jin (Mei's dad) is making dinner and his glasses get all shiny, like what you'd see in anime...then it's revealed that his glasses got all foggy from the steam.

So, the Oscar nominations were revealed yesterday and I'm quite happy with the nominees.
I saw 88 movies and counting from the past year, so I've seen most movies that got nominated.

I'm especially happy with some of the underdogs that got nominated, those movies that few people saw but are excellent in their own right. Like Maestro and Anatomy of a Fall for Best Picture, Io Capitano and Perfect Days for Best International Feature and Robot Dreams for Best Animated Film.

Lucky as I am, living in Belgium, I was able to see all of those on the big screen.
One of the movies nominated, The Zone of Interest, I haven't seen yet but I've been looking forward to it for a long time and I'll finally be able to see it next week.

Of course there were a couple of omissions I'd have liked to see nominated like David Fincher's The Killer or Emerald Fennell's Saltburn, but you can't have everything and I can't argue against any of the movies that did get nominated, even though some of them I liked less than the average moviegoer, like Barbie and May December.

All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with this year's nominations and I look forward to the Oscars themselves.

@bighirofix I have very mixed feelings on Saltburn myself. It's wonderfully made, well acted and I enjoyed it but it feels a bit like a virgin schoolkid's idea of what shocking is, if you compare it to say a Gaspar Noe or Sion Sono film it's really tame and lacks a (crazy person's) logic to it. Shame as I normally like Emerald's stuff.

I think the biggest snub was All Of Us Strangers, then it's a British film so it's not on their radar.

I still need to see Anatomy Of A Fall, I've wanted to see it since Cannes and I was busy the 2 weeks it came out at the cinema.

Oppenheimer is almost certainly winning best film BUT if there is an upset I reckon it would be Past Lives. Part of Oppenheimer being an event movie was the faux rivalry with Barbie so Barbie can split some of its votes there and Killers Of The Flower Moon is a better made film (although less impactful) so some more votes could be pinched. Whilst Past Lives is a flawlessly made indie drama which has been big winners in the last few years so I reckon it’s got a chance. I’d personally like to see Poor Things win, it’s the kind of weird unique movie which should be celebrated in the mainstream rather than just by film geeks.

Best adapted screenplay is the most interesting one, in a normal year any nomination would be strong enough to win. I reckon Barbie because even with how ham fisted it is at times it over delivers on what the concept of a Barbie movie is, though I’d like to see Poor Things win as it does the same thing Barbie does only much weirder.

Original screenplay is coin toss between The Holdovers and Past Lives for me. I’d probably give it to The Holdovers as Past Lives strength was its direction by getting the acting and emotions out rather than the script itself.

Nolan has paid his dues so he’s gotta win best director otherwise he will probably never win it but Scorsese is like a shark circling him for it. I’d like to see Yorgos win it for Poor Things, it’s a much harder film to make and could have easily have been a train wreck. Shame about Greta not getting a nod but is a tough field.

My money is on Cillian Murphy for best actor. I’d probably give it to Paul Giamatti for The Holdovers as I really like how he kept the humanity with his miserable sod character. Zac Efron I thought should have been given a nod at least.

Lily Gladstone is a dead cert for best actress. There’s no one I heavily liked but I would have given it to Emma Stone, like Greta it’s a shame Margot Robbie has not gotten a nod.

Charles Melton really deserves it for May December for where he quietly has a meltdown throughout the movie but he didn’t even get a nomination. It’s gonna be Robert Downey Jr for best supporting actor whilst a punt on Ryan Gosling doesn't look bad.

Da’vine is winning best supporting actress and I can’t see anyone else pinching it from her.

Best cinematography I love the curveball nomination of El Conde but I see Oppenheimer bagging it.

I see Barbie dominating production and costumes however I’d like to see Poor Things nab some awards here.

The Creator was a big meh for me but I’m hoping it gets best special effects as it looks sensational especially as it’s only a mid-budget film and should be held up as something movies should be going for. Spider Man would probably be the most worthy winner but it’s not even got a nod.

Spider Man for best animation, it’s gorgeous looking but I found it bloated and loses some charm compared to the first (for example the soundtrack was part of the identity of the previous film but it was all scaled back to make room for bang whizz) so I’d rather see The Boy And The Heron take it. I would have liked to have seen The Peasants get nominated too, very often the animation award is limited to big budget family cartoons so it’s nice for other types of genres and unique films to get in. At least I can watch a meltdown of Mario movie fans screaming how dare that Hollywood not nominate for bestest movie ever award.

Zone Of Interest is easily winning best foreign film, the only thing I thought could compete with it would be Godland but it didn’t a nod. Personally I reckon Japan mucked up by not having Godzilla Minus One or The Boy & The Hero as their choice, a genre film might have made a dent on Zone of Interest's chances.

@jump
Wowza, thanks for the reply and your thoughts on it all. I'm not going over every category to share my favorites, but I'd like to respond to a couple of them.

First up, Saltburn. I loved that movie and especially how pitch black its humor could get. I don't recognize the names you compared it to, but I never thought Saltburn was trying to shock me anyway. Maybe that's my European viewpoint on it and the movie was more shocking to US audiences, but I thought it struck a perfect balance in character development and story and it kept me guessing in what was about to happen next. Pretty much a perfect film for me and I liked it even better than Promising Young Woman.

I haven't seen All of us Strangers yet. That's one of the few must see films I need to catch up on, same with The Iron Claw but that one has yet to come out over here.

I pretty much agree with everything you said about Poor Things. Would love to see it win over Oppenheimer and other movies in the categories it's nominated in.

I also agree with your take on Across the Spider-Verse. It was good, but nowhere near the same level as its predecessor. My pick for best animated feature would go to Nimona or Robot Dreams. The Boy and the Heron was good as well but far from my favorite Miyazaki film. Also, the outcry that neither TMNT nor Super Mario were nominated was pretty hilarious.

Edit:
Oh, and I thought Perfect Days was a better movie than both Godzilla Minus One and The Boy and the Heron, so I'm very happy Japan chose that one for Best International Film.

@bighirofix Gaspar Noe makes very upsetting French films and is most famous for Irreversible, Climax and Enter The Void. Sion Sono is one of those crazy Japanese film makers like Takashi Miike that makes 2-4 weird films a year, probably most famous for Suicide Club (which I liked but didn't love) and makes some proper out there films like Strange Circus if you ever dare to watch it.

Saltburn just seemed at odds with the narrative to me as SPOILERS he's not in love with them, he's obsessed/preying/wants to be them but the bathtub and grave scene suggest love and is likely included so it goes viral/becomes a meme but I would have preferred something more vague to interpret and something more shocking if the aim was to be a talking point. Liked I said I enjoyed it still but it wont be something I watch again anytime soon. It does seem weird a period film includes Bloc Party in the soundtrack, I'm getting old!

It's not a slight against Perfect Days, I think something more different/genre related would have the best chance of going up against Zone Of Interest which seems a dead cert to win.

Yeah The Boy And The Heron is Miyazaki on second gear but only in the context of his other films and at the same time that is still far better the average film/cartoon.

I loved Godzilla Minus One myself. It's between that and Babylon (technically a 2022 movie but it didn't get an UK release until 2023), Rye Lane (I would have loved to have seen it get a best cinematography nom as it's a gorgeous film which brings London alive but a British romcom isn't the type for making Oscar noise) or Evil Dead Rise (actually give it best special effects for the splatterfest at the end!!!) as my favourite film of the year. Not that I'm saying they are the bestest films that deserve Oscar gold, I'd probably complain if Evil Dead Rise won Best Movie.

@jump
Thanks for putting Noe and Sono on my radar. I'll look into their filmographies.
Happy you mentioned Babylon, that was my favorite film of 2022.

Would love to chat some more but The Color Purple is about to start. It opens today in Belgium. Finally!

My goodness, what a movie The Color Purple is. I think it's better than Spielberg's version.

Some scenes sure can be difficult to watch, but the movie ends up being uplifting and the musical numbers were really well done, beautiful to look at and listen to. Some great performances as well, even though some characters can be difficult to like and the production design was outstanding.

There was a slight dip in pacing during its second act, but that's the only negative point I can think of.
Loved it!

Edit:
The ending was especially beautiful and made me tear up, not from sadness but from happiness. Love when that happens.