Topic: Movie thread.

I'm still waiting for Ghostbusters Frozen Empire's rental price to come down to earth. It's still a $20 rental/stream.

I watched the trilogy to get ready for Fury Road, and found that many scenes from Thunderdome were lifted from Return of the Jedi (which came out 2 years prior).

There's:

• Max Skywalker in Jabba's palace.
• A one-on-one cage match fight to the death with the Rancor Blaster Monster.
• A Sarlaac pit
• Ewoks that must be saved
• They even rip off the Han chasing Stormtroopers gag!

@OldManHermit Huh, I've been to Coober Pedy in Australia where it was filmed. The cave with all the painted faces was still there when I went (over 15 years ago now).
Strange Opel Mining city, well town, in the middle of the desert.
Quite a few films have been shot there including Pitch Black and Pricilla: Queen of the Desert

@MontyCircus Now that you mention it, I suppose there are certain similarities, haha.

@Bunkerneath Oh that's awesome, I'd love to visit that place. I've been to the Hearn in Toronto, where they shot the Robocop remake, Suicide Squad, and a ton of other stuff. It's a massive old decommissioned power plant, really is a sight to behold. I could still see Arkham Asylum logos on some of the pillars which was neat.

Minions on Netflix because I was in the mood for something fun this evening. I've only seen this movie a few times, and surprisingly, never noticed how good the soundtrack was due to the late 60's music showcased in some scenes. My mom was watching with me and was naming all the songs.

Just watched Bad Boys: Ride or Die and I really liked it It was funny and had some great action scenes. My favorite has to be Regie in the house!

Still my favorite Bad Boys movie is Bad Boys II

Last night, watched Garfield on DVD, the older live action one from 2004. Haven't seen this movie in years, had a good time watching it.

Also, the new trailer for The Wild Robot dropped today...

Watched Shin Ultraman on DVD. Gotta say, I do love it. Considering I'm not much of a Ultraman fan.

@Sunsy
The Wild Robot looks absolutely amazing!
It's been on my most anticipated movies list for a while now and I can't wait for its release.

I have watched Garfield 2024 movie from my local cinema for 3 times.
It wasn't really good movie in my opinion, not really funny movie also but the fatherhood of Garfield and his father Victor near the end of story was really touched me (I was literally dropped my tiny tears when watching those scenes).

Surprisingly, I liked The Watchers better than I feared I would. That's not to say this is a good movie though, but it's not the train wreck I expected.

The directing and acting is fine and the movie doesn't rely on jump scares but a sense of dread, which is always a plus in my book, and there are some genuinely tense moments to be had.
The writing and editing though leave a lot to be desired. As does the cinematography, which is way too dark in certain scenes. The lore they're trying to establish doesn't make much sense and the plot has as many holes as a colander.

Still... could have been worse.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die! It was surprisingly pretty good for the FOURTH movie in the franchise 👍🏼

I have watched Inside Out 2 for 2 times at my local cinema XXI.
It was okay movie, not really emotional evoking for me.
The only thing that made me giggle when I saw something looks like Dora the explorer or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the movie.
I mean...really ? 🤭

I watched Mad Max Fury Road tonight. I know it came out nearly 10 years ago, but I was hesitant to see it fearing that it was just going to be another crash grab on the 80s craze, boy was I wrong. I really enjoyed it alot and it does earn a place in the Mad Max universe. It is probably my second favorite in the series right behind Mad Max 2. I though Tom Hardy did a great job as Max and the action was great. Definitely worth a watch especially if you like action movies.

@Tasuki
I love Fury Road. It's such a visceral thrill ride from start to finish.
Shame Furiosa couldn't live up to it. Still a good movie though.

Been on monster film hunt recently. My latest is Gamera the Brave. Honestly, I consider it better than what most people have said about it. I love that it does it's own thing rather than do what the trilogy had already done.

My next hunt is X the Unknown. Saw on cable one time. Thought it was WAAAAY better than compared to The Blob imo. Or the H-Man. Three "blob monster" films. From the US, UK, & JP. Made in the late 50's.

@steruphan I haven't seen Furiosa yet hopefully on my next day off I can hit the theater. But yeah Fury Road was just non stop, I think it was because how it was done as one big chase sequence which I loved.

Belladonna of Sadness (4K UHD Blu-Ray) - In spite of being a 50 year old film, this is one of the most mesmerizing looking anime films I've ever seen. Which is saying something, as it utilizes a lot of still (or sparsely animated) scenes, which really gives props to the quality of the art itself. And oh boy, when it does go all out on animation you get some fantastic sequences (such as the visualization of how the Plague spreads across the village). Definitely one for the adults only though.

Fantastic 4 (Blu-Ray) - the 2000's one. I picked this up at a thrift store (in a triple pack with Daredevil & Elektra, which I'll get around to eventually as well). I don't think I've seen it since we rented it on DVD back when it first came out. Definitely very middle of the road for what it is. It had it's moments, but superhero films have come a long way since. How it handled Dr. Doom was probably it's biggest shortcoming though.

Hurricane Polymar (Blu-Ray) - I don't watch enough "Tokusatsu" stuff to know whether or not this is considered a good example of the genre, but I thought it was alright. A bit too cheesy for me maybe, but worth the buy to support Discotek.

The Wind Rises (Blu-Ray) - Absolutely phenomenal film. I won't lie, I think overall Miyazaki hasn't been my favorite Ghibli director (I generally prefer Takahata's output, & even the one Goro Miyazaki film I've seen, which I know is blasphemy lol), but this is definitely my favorite from him so far, and is one of my favorite Ghibli films. If you can get over how it sort of downplays Japan in WWII, it's a brilliant watch.

Based on the photo-book of the same name, The Bikeriders tells the story of the Chicago based motorcycle gang The Vandals from their early gatherings to their evolution into organized crime a decade later.

As the gang grows bigger and bigger and their leader, played by Tom Hardy, starts losing control, the movie becomes quite gritty but that adds to the realism of it.

Jeff Nichols did a great job adapting the source material, submerging the viewer in bike culture. The story is told from the perspective of Kathy (Jodie Comer), Benny's wife. Benny, portrayed by Austin Butler, was the standout for me. His quiet persona intrigued me, always keeping me on edge trying to figure out what was going on beneath his icy exterior.

I normally have a hard time caring for characters who break the law left and right but Jeff Nichols was able to give these gang members so much personality and enough backstory and humanity that the ending still hit me in a way I didn't see coming.

Only a couple of Pixar sequels have been able to live up to the original, sadly Inside Out 2 isn't one of them.

Where the first movie was filled to the brim with clever ideas, funny jokes and great characters, this sequel feels lesser in all of those aspects. But my main problem with the movie was its pacing. During its first two acts, the screenplay rushes through so many scenarios, concepts and setups, none of the characters have any room to breathe.
The first movie did a much better job introducing the audience to the world inside Riley's mind and setting up the main conflict the characters need to overcome. Quite frankly, I thought this was done pretty sloppily in the follow-up and about halfway into the movie, disappointment was the main emotion taking control of my mind. I also got quite annoyed at Envy, who doesn't act at all like envy should and functions more as an echo chamber for Anxiety.

Luckily, the third act saved the movie for me. Once Anxiety goes into overdrive, everything comes together and the movie slows down to deliver an emotionally impactful finale.
That doesn't forgive the sloppy first two acts though. Maybe I'm a bit harsh on it, but while the original Inside Out ranks in my Top 3 Pixar films, this one doesn't even manage to climb out of the bottom half. And that makes me a little sad.