Topic: Movie thread.

Just realised I haven't watched a movie in a fair bit so I decided to pop on a random Netflix Original from a couple years back called Red Notice and, while for the most part it's a pretty forgettable crime/heist-centered film (with one of the most legendarily foul bits of queerbait I might add), it's pretty much a perfect example of the Ryan Reynolds effect: put him in literally any movie and it suddenly goes from 'meh at best' to 'huh yknow what that was actually pretty enjoyable ngl' XD

Super Bowl led me to watch a football related movie with mom, Little Giants on YouTube, one of the "free with ads" movies. I haven't seen this one since I was a kid, so watching it brought back memories. Story about two brothers making two football teams and training to compete against each other to become the only team in town. Enjoyed it, it's been years since watching this one.

watching the Unrated DVD of Jason Goes to Hell tonight right now. been a few years since i watched the movie

Those Deadpool & Wolverine, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Wicked trailers they showed at the Super Bowl were all outstanding.
Twisters on the other hand looks as bad as I feared it would be.

@bighirofix I’m not keen on how Disney-ish Deadpool is in the trailer.

What worked so well in the first movie wasn’t that it was superheroes making quips with action scenes in between, you bought into the romance and what drove the movie was what Deadpool was doing for his love. It was more than the standard couple meet then neg each other until they become a couple at the end like in Aquaman or a replaceable women is there only to be kissed like in Thor, they found each bonded over their r-rated oddness and become happily ever after only for it to be torn away by Wade’s cancer and then everything is to get back to that point for her. But it has been all thrown away just so they can make Deadpool and Wolverine lovers, bloody Disney!

@jump
I have no idea where you got the idea Deadpool and Wolverine are going to be lovers.
Don't jump to conclusions because of a trailer or posters.
What I got from it is that Deadpool's humor and violence have remained largely intact.

Fatal Frame (Blu-Ray) - Pretty disappointed in this. Not nearly as scary as the games (really not scary at all), and while it does center around the mystery of a cursed photograph, the Camera Obscura from the games essentially only makes cameo appearances and is largely immaterial to solving the supernatural shenanigans (almost like they only included it at all to fulfill a contractual obligation). Honestly it was kinda dull all around.

Hardbodies (Tubi) - Raunchy 80's comedy that sees a group of middle aged men seek advice from a young local on how to pick up beach babes (unironically called "Hardbodies" here, not sure if that was ever actual slang). It's a low brow raunchy comedy from the 80's (and not up there with the best), so it obviously won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it's worth a watch if that's something you're into.

My Tutor (Tubi) - A high school senior must spend his summer with a French tutor (his father is pressuring him to get into Yale, and it's the only subject he failed), which at first seems to get in the way of him & his buddies partying, but as things progress turns out he might have better luck in love at home. A bit uneven tonally as it seems like it can't decide whether or not it wants to be a steamy coming of age romance or a raunchy teen comedy, but I ended up liking it quite a bit.

Ponyo (Blu-Ray) - Par for the course for Ghibli, it looks fantastic (& I love aquatic themed movies, especially animation), but this is probably about the most bored I've been watching one of their films. It really feels like a "kid's film" rather than a "family film that appeals to kids", which I think hurts it, though admittedly it's still better than 99% of other "kids" stuff.

@bighirofix Bloody Disney they wont even let Wolverine and Deadpool love and kiss each other!

Bought a couple of 1980's comedy film DVD's. Uncle Buck, Airplane!, & The Naked Gun. And the last was Jumanji starring Robin Williams.

I wish I did grew up in the 80's. I would appreciate these comedies they had back then.

@jump
Lol, maybe they will.
I bet they'll put some jokes in there with Deadpool being so impressed by Wolverine that he starts to get some feelings for the guy, only to be impaled as a response...

... by the claws.

Got my tickets to see Dune 1 and Dune 2 on February 27th and 28th respectively.
Going to be a great week. 🥰

Saw a screening of Kung Fu Hustle last weekend. A good friend of mine recently relaunched his Asian cinema screening series, which was derailed during the pandemic. He's since found a new independent theatre, as the previous one had closed down. Anyway, I hadn't seen Kung Fu Hustle in awhile. It's a fantastic flick, probably one of my favs actually. Such a wonderful mash up of different genres and influences. Very fun to see in a theatre setting where much of the audience was experiencing it for the first time.

@Rambler
Those showing are on Tuesday and Wednesday, but that aside.

I read the first three book in the Dune franchise back when I was a teen, but that was over 25 years ago. I don't remember much about them. Seeing the future was one of the plot points in the first Dune and will definitely play into Part Two, but I don't think it has anything to do with spice, does it? Paul Atreides is the prophesied Messiah, bred on purpose by the Sisterhood and that's why he has those abilities. Is this different from the novels?

Just saw “Turning Red” on the big screen again, this time with mom.

God I can just picture in my head how I'd hang out with Mei and her friends including Tyler since I was a teenager in that movie's time period. Why didn't I get into Asian culture until decades later?!

Bob Marley: One Love is a decent biopic with good directing, some great performances and lovely cinematography but hampered by a predictable script and some poor editing choices.

I still liked it though, especially the numerous jam sessions and stage performances. The story itself has a lot of potential, but sadly it doesn't deliver enough power or emotional weight to be effective. Bob Marley deserves better than this.

rewatched The Meg 2 on Netflix last night even though i saw it at the movie theater a couple of months ago.

Then its Tubi weekend for me again. Even found a classic movie they must have added recently.

Wilder Napalm

Thanks to my recent Batman fixation brought about by both watching The Animated Series and playing LEGO Batman, I finally watched what many consider to be the best piece of Batman media to ever exist: The Dark Knight.

And yep: it is easily one of the best films ever made and it's not even a contest.

I honestly didn't go into this one with very many expectations. I had heard everyone say it was very good but, for as much as TDK has infiltrated mainstream culture over the years since its release, I had stayed surprisingly spoiler-free in regards to its content over all that time. Fast forward to tonight and, on pretty much a whim, me, my sister and dad decided to all sit down and watch together as none of us had seen it before either.

what followed was perhaps the most gripping and emotionally nerve-wracking two and a half hours I have ever experienced (positive)

Its difficult to describe in detail what The Dark Knight does so well because, if I'm to be honest, it succeeds in pretty much every single aspect that not only makes me love Batman, but thriller movies as a whole. To start with, the acting cast is utterly superb; Aaron Eckhart plays a brilliant Two-Face and an even better Harvey Dent (a balancing act you pretty much have to get right when adapting the character), Christian Bale does an excellent job at bouncing between the personas of both Bruce Wayne and Batman and Heath Ledger. Just....wow. I fully understand now why so many people consider him to be THE best Joker of the lot; he's able to flip between being absolutely hilarious and downright terrifying on a moment's notice and Ledger's body language and mannerisms perfectly display just how deranged yet calculated the character's mind is.

The cinematography at play is also superb. You wouldn't think that a Batman story that's primarily set during the day would be that effective but between the sweeping shots they take of the city and the contrast in tone and atmosphere when it does turn to nighttime, it truly makes Gotham feel like a place that actually exists which, in turn, makes the events of the film feel like you're gazing into this hidden side of the world that houses every bit of darkness in one place. The plot also feeds into this perfectly with every moment gradually feeding back into the overall narrative and seeing the sharp mental decline in what is otherwise one of the most pure-of-heart Harvey Dent's in the wider Batman mythos feels utterly heartbreaking as you're given the time to know both him and everyone around him.

To summarise, The Dark Knight is possibly the best superhero film I have ever seen and one of the best films I have ever seen as well. If you are at all invested in the world of either superheroes and/or Batman, you should absolutely watch this movie. And if you aren't interested in either of those? YOU SHOULD STILL WATCH THIS MOVIE ITS THAT GOOD.

so yeah: one of the easiest 10/10's I've ever given and I can't wait to watch the sequel once my sister gets back from college again

watched House 1 earlier tonight.

Now im watching a little bit of Avengers Endgame tonight

@Fizza It's almost the perfect storm, The Dark Knight, because it got every single aspect of the filmmaking process spot-on. I feel a little bad for Aaron Eckhart in that sense because of how utterly demonic Heath Ledger's Joker performance was, if I can even call it a performance at all. Strangely enough I found the weakest character in the movie to be Batman himself; even though Bale was decent in this movie I felt like he was simply outclassed by both headline villains and even some of the side characters.

As much as I adore TDK though, when I watched The Batman, with Robert Pattinson, I realised that someone had finally managed to understand the character of Batman to an absolute tee, and that was him and Matt Reeves. The film also does a better job at showing us Gotham in a way TDK fell flat for me, all the characters talk about how messed up Gotham is and how it's beyond saving, but The Batman itself walked the walk if you know what I mean, especially through Selina Kyle.

At the end of the day I'm just so glad I'm alive at the time these two came out since thye're absolute masterpieces in different ways. TDK is a showcase of practical filmmaking on a wide scale, with one of the best acting performances I've ever seen, and The Batman is a dirty, detective noir character study of Batman with the intimacy of any Oscar bait movie out there, with an actual character ark for Batman too.

@jedgamesguy The Batman is very well made but I thought The Batman was the opposite in terms of take, it's a story with the theme is completely at odds with each other with that being the most obvious with how crashes at the end with a sellotaped third act.

So it's a Batman noir detective story but the police work is to solve some easy riddles and just asking random characters do they know what is going on, he needs to learn to be a hero for the little people rather then be vengeance but he just declares himself a hero whilst no one is around with some mental gymnastics (it would have been so easy to have Gordon call him a hero rather than Batman patting himself on the back) after failing to save the day, it spends a lot of time talking about trauma and listening to Nirvana (Batman would never listen to Nirvana, Kurt shot himself and Batman doesn't use guns!) but then lacks an emotional catharsis.

It's seem the writer and the director weren't on the same page for anything beyond the surface level and the vibe, as a story about Batman being human who fails and overcomes can be done and be great or a gritty pulp noir story with Batman as a hero can be great but this is both and neither at the same time.