Topic: Movie thread.

@OctolingKing13 Yeah, I really wish they would go for an anime-style instead of live action. Hopefully they’ll make the most of it.

Loved the original. While teaching in China, one day I found a Taiko no Tatsujin game at an arcade, and was pleasantly surprised to see The Goonies 'R' Good Enough on the playlist! That was my go-to game for when I needed a "connection-to-the-Western-world" feeling.

As for a sequel...I really can't see it being any good. Feels like a slap-dash: "let's mine the IP while we can" exercise.

My sister and I would erupt into giggles when the Siamese cats sang their song.
That is somehow a "controversial moment" now.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..."

The only possible reaction to IX is:

"THAT'S IT?!? THAT'S WHAT 42 YEARS OF STORYTELLING HAS LED UP TO??!!??
WHAT THE ****!?!?!?"

I friend of mine sent me some "fun racist jokes" about Rachel Zegler.

I told him: "Judging people by the colour of their skin makes me question the content of their character."

Agreed. Timon and Pumba, being realistic animals, lost all their facial expressions from the cartoon. Same thing with Beauty and the Beast. Lumiere is a FANTASTIC character in the original cartoon. In the live-action movie? Totally forgettable. No expression. No character.

I've only seen bits of both versions of Cinderella, so can't really comment on that - although I think the animated movie is generally not considered to be one of the better Disney 'classics'.

Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo though! This is one of those cases where "The Internet taught me the childhood classic we loved wasn't great".

I thought live action Aladdin and Beauty & the Beast were nowhere near as good as the animated movies - I didn't like Aladdin at all, and Beauty & the Beast was just OK. Casting Robin Williams as the Genie in Aladdin was perfect, so nobody was ever going to live up to that. I just think the live-action remakes have 'cash grab' written all over them.

Robin Williams as Genie, is the first time an animated movie cast a movie star to do the voicework. Just the idea of trying to watch Will Smith try to match that? I would slap myself in the face.

Personally, I'm done with the Disney live-action remakes. They serve no purpose to me. What they are changing had already been perfected. They're like if Korean boy band BTS did a cover album of Led Zeppelin's "IV". It would sell like hotcakes. But to me? It would be an abomination.

What like Disney and Star Wars

@Bunkerneath

At least going into the sequel trilogy, we could easily imagine exciting new stories in an immense galaxy.

With Goonies? What are they going to do? Have the now middle-aged gang get back together for an adventure? Where we briefly clap or smile as they each enter the scene?

Or what? Have their kids go on an adventure in the same town? To do what?

1 Goonies was good enough!

@MontyCircus
I still have interest with certain of Disney live action movies, depend on the director and scripwriter.
The movies will be good enough or not I can tell from how many times I want to rewatch at my local cinema.
If I watched more than 4 times within 1 month, that means the movies are great (at least 8/10 in my opinion).
Example: Aladdin 2019, Cinderella 2015, Beauty & the Beast 2017.
If I only watched 2 times, the movie was okay but not really satisfied me.
Example: Little Mermaid 2023, Moana 2
But if I only watched 1 time and never thinking to rewatch again, that means the movies are not good for me.
Example: Lion King 2019, Mufasa 2024, Finding Dory 2016.

The reason I still give credits for Disney live action movies because I appreciate the different version between cartoon version and the live action version.
I have ever read the story book version from different author with their differences so I can accept their uniqueness in delivering their version.
I don't expect the live action version have to be 1:1 of cartoon version.
Make it different but not too far from the original version.
Sometimes, I found some improvements from additional scenes in live action version to enrich the storyline by giving more character backstory or progression or additional situation, something that mostly missing from cartoon version.

I'm not totally opposed to remakes in general as there are a few that are genuinely as good or better than the originals, and even some of the lesser-known Disney stuff might be good subject matter for a remake, but Disney seems to be just churning them out one-after-the-other at the moment which I think makes it seem more like a cash grab - especially given they're remaking pretty much everything, even stuff that really doesn't need a remake.

I watch about 4 or 5 movies at the theatre each month.
The # that I watch at the theatre more than once rounds down to 0%.
Only reason I'd go twice is to see it again with someone else. Like when I took my mom to see "Barbie" for her birthday.

I try to wait 10 years before I re-watch movies. There are too many great ones out there.
A friend of mine is completely astounded that I don't re-watch MCU movies when they hit Disney+.

Surprised ya'll forgot that 101 Dalmatians exist. Cause that was that the 1st & ONLY live-action remake of a animated film back in 1996 I ever saw in theaters. After that...that was it. Glenn Close starred in that one btw.

Flick. A 2009 horror/comedy. I only watched, what I could, for the wonderful Mark Benton in a supporting role. A teddy boy who murders someone with a flick knife comes back to life after 40 years and starts killing people.

I flicked it off fairly quickly. The way it was filmed/edited/coloured graded literally made me have to get a bucket and feel I needed to throw up. Not a joke, I really think it gave me motion sickness. It was also just boring.

So recently, I received my Godzilla Vs Hedorah 4K Remastered blu-ray, not the 4K UHD. And boy it really blows all the other previous Blu-ray releases out of the water. It's one of the most bizarre Godzilla films out there. i was able to order it from Amazon.jp for about $47 which is about as cheap as it gets when it comes to imports. but the 5-day shipping will make it higher somewhat. heck, the 4k Remaster blu-ray comes in a white case. Which is rather neat honestly.

The only other decent Blu-rays releases of this movie is either Criterion's or Kraken Releasing's.

Has anyone seen A Better Man? The Robbie Williams ape movie? Great film. It was about redemption, forgiveness, and overcoming childhood trauma. I wish I supported it in theaters. I really didn't expect to enjoy it at all.

@TimelessJubilee

Are you British? I was on a forum after it was released and there was a Brit who was dumbfounded that Americans for the most part didn't even know who Robbie Williams was, because not only his music but his gossip fuel life was ever-present in their minds over there.

I thought about seeing it a bit, but it didn't last long in theatres in Canada. And I only know him for the music video where he tears his flesh off.

@MontyCircus I always thought it was a bit of an odd movie to make. I've heard it's really good, but I don't think many people actually went to see it. Robbie Williams hasn't been relevant for years - even in the UK and Europe. He was everywhere in the late 90s/early 2000s but seemed to disappear without a trace in terms of putting out any new music - or at least anything I've heard. Just seems like an odd choice for a biopic as he just doesn't have the mass appeal - especially in the US - of someone like Elton John or Freddie Mercury etc that have had fairly recent biopic movies. It might've been more successful as a lower-budget TV mini-series.

@MontyCircus No, I'm not. I just watched it because it was unique enough to warrant a watch. I don't even like musicals or biopics for famous artists.

Tomorrow I'm planning on watching The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie. Very excited for that one, and good timing too - apparently it's going to be in US theaters until this Wednesday, so if you're planning on seeing it, do it now or regret it later.

Seen lots of movies!

Rio - I’ve seen this one before but I saw it lately again. This one is about a domesticated blue macaw who turns out to be the last male of his species. He and his owner are convinced by an ornithologist to travel to Rio de Janeiro to let him meet the last female blue macaw in the hopes that they will mate and save their species, but because of the rarity of their species, the macaws are targeted by a group of bird poachers and their intimidating cockatoo.

Because it’s set in Rio, the film’s visuals and environments are all about being bright, showy, and colorful, and the animation and colors are really pretty, and I am a HUGE fan of colors, so the movie did really well in that department. The Carnaval was super bright and colorful, and maybe the biggest standout with the animation in this one.

This movie is also a musical, though, I thought some of the songs were sorta underwhelming. The intro song, “Real in Rio,” paired with the opening animation of all the colorful wild birds singing together in harmony and dancing lively, I think was a good song and a great introduction to Rio de Janeiro and showcasing its colorfulness, but the songs after that weren’t impressive. Not saying they are abysmal, they are fine but also not stunning either. They are fine vocally and instrumentally, but I found they mostly suffer from having either repetitive lyrics (e.g. “Hot Wings” and “Let Me Take You To Rio”) or kind of cringy and unfunny lyrics (e.g. “Pretty Bird). It was kind of disappointing since the voice cast is good at singing (plus will.i.am was one of the voice actors in this and he makes good music) but the lyrics just kind of don’t do the songs justice or make the songs impressive or memorable.

And some of the characters feel like kind of cliche tropes. The bird poachers I thought felt the most cliched (being that trio trope where there’s this evil guy being the serious and superior one and the other two being his stupid and idiotic minions). I did kind of find some of the dynamic between Blu and Jewel to kind of be a tad bit cliched (since I’ve already seen similar romantic dynamics with couples in other movies). Not an entirely bad movie, but it’s kind of brought down with some cliches that are way too common in animated movies.

Ponyo - Seen this one a million times before and it never gets boring! This one is a classic for me, and for a while it was the one and maybe only Studio Ghibli movie I saw.

This is about a magical goldfish who leaves the sea, and after washing ashore, is rescued by a young boy that takes care of her and loves her. After forming a strong friendship with him, she desires to become a human like him, but is unaware of the consequences it’ll have.

Out of the three Ghibli movies I saw lately, I’d say Ponyo has the most beautiful and most stunning animation out of all of them. The sea is the main subject of the movie, and so the detailed and wondrous animation is beautiful for the entire runtime. The first 6 dialogue-less minutes of the film do an amazing job at both showcasing the pretty-looking, fantastical ocean and immediately grabbing your interest, not to mention the amazing orchestral music that evokes so much wonder during the opening. It’s so iconic for me, especially since I saw this movie an endless amount of times in the past because of how beautiful it is.

The story is very interesting, especially with the fantastical elements and how Ponyo turning into a human causes an imbalance in nature and engulfs almost all of the Earth in water. Ponyo and Sōsuke’s interactions and friendship is adorable and very fun to watch, and it’s just a super visually stunning film with fun characters and an interesting plot with the sea, and maybe one of my favorite fantasy movies.

My Neighbor Totoro - I was watching this before but I only finished around half of it, but finished it a few weeks ago. I actually knew almost nothing about this film’s plot despite how iconic and well-known it is, so I sort of went in blind. This is about two young sisters who move into a new house with their dad while awaiting for their mom to recover in the hospital. Their new house is nearby a forest, which is home to several spirits that the girls interact with and become friends with.

This, like Ponyo, was a very fun and adorable movie to watch. I especially enjoyed how there were animal spirits in the movie, since I am a very big fan of animals. The fantasy elements in the 1950s setting is very interesting, because I don’t think I really see movies that combine both fantasy and a 20th century setting. The designs of the spirits are amazing too! Totoro and the other spirits look very friendly and cuddly while being very fantastical, mysterious, and whimsical.

The film’s plot is very lighthearted fun, and I do enjoy movies that are both simple and lighthearted. I was a bit surprised at how kinda dark the film got midway through when Satsuki, Mei, and their dad get a message about the girls’ mom having a worsening illness, Satsuki believing there could be a chance their mom is dead, and Mei running away by herself to give their mom corn so she can feel better, but everyone searches for Mei and believe that she got lost and died. I am glad I saw the movie, and it seemed right up my alley with the spirit creatures and it’s whimsy feelings. I can very much see now how iconic this was, and I’m shocked I didn’t see it sooner!