Film Thread (What have you been watching?)

[gingerjon]

On 10/07/2023 at 18:02, Bedford Roughyed said:

The Barbie film may well turn out to be rubbish, but the marketing is fantastic.

 

As someone else said, even if all the good bits are in the trailer(s), the good bits in the trailers are really good.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

4 hours ago, Spidey said:

Number two takes a bit of style change with i think John Woo directing. 3 onwards start to following an ongoing story line - hope your mission is an enjoyable one

The first 3 all had very reputable directors in Brian de Palma, John Woo and JJ Abrams. I can't remember who did the 4th one but I believe the rest have been directed by the bloke who won an Oscar for writing The Usual Suspects. Christopher McQuarrie or something like that. 

[Futtocks]

Studio Ghibli's Hayao Miyazaki has just released a new film! I'm very eager for this to reach the UK a.s.a.p.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-66197993.amp 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Tonight I subjected myself to Mission: Impossible II.

This is one of the worst films I've ever seen and I have seen Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous...

John Woo's style does not translate to Hollywood action at all. More of this film is in slow motion than at the regular speed. There is not one second of this film that does not have atmospheric, attempt at mood enhancing background music over it. These elements of Woo's style added to the continuous cutaways to unnecessary close up shots of people's arms and legs and you come out of the experience with a migraine. The final 20 minute long slow motion martial arts duel is so cheesy as are many of the rest of the action sequences, some of which seem to just be sampled from Woo's much better Hong Kong classics such as Hard Boiled. Slow motion, gun dives work well in 70s and 80s Hong Kong but not in 2000s Sydney. 

The storyline is, on the face of it, quite a simple story which could be worked in a very respectful way. It would seem very impossible to destroy such a simple storyline but this is expertly done by adding a couple of side stories which seem to take precedence over the main story for huge swathes of the film, particularly the one involving Thandie Newton's character's relationship with the villain. These side stories taking precedence make the film far, far more confusing than it needs to be. Also, I've never seen a film use the same plot twist so many times. After the first couple of times that people pull off rubber masks it has been used and is now boring and shouldn't be done for the following million times. 

The casting is dreadful for the most part, summed up by Brendan Gleeson playing a CEO of a pharmaceutical company. Who thought that would work?! 

I'm genuinely struggling to find anything good to say about this film. I suppose Thandie Newton is at least quite nice to look at when you're genuinely considering suicide after the 10,000th slow motion dive. 

One of the worst films ever made.

I'm going to rate the Mission: Impossible films out of 100 each so my first two ratings are as follows:

Mission: Impossible - 78/100

Mission: Impossible II - 26/100

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Mission: Impossible III tonight. Not leaving a long review of this one. 

Much better action sequences and a much better flow to the sequences than the previous film. I particularly liked the Vatican sequence. The storyline didn't feel quite as strained and my attention was still being held right to the end. 

I did feel the film was based a bit too much around its action sequences and the pieces in between were merely there to link the sequences together. The story could have been developed and explained much more and I was left asking many questions. 

My overall rating for this one is 69/100

[Stirlin]

On Netflix

Dragged Across Concrete

Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn are 2 cops suspended without pay for over use of force during an arrest , they  then stake out some crims to steal their booty. Over 2 hours screen time but well worth the watch.

[glemiln]

Thirteen Days….and tense they were in October 1962 at the time of the “Cuban missile crisis”.

An excellent film (2001) covering the days of President JF Kennedy’s administration dealing with the Soviet Union placing nuclear weapons on Cuba.

This is no gung-ho American representation, but a tense presentation based on Kennedy’s tapes.

Amazon Prime

 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

I decided to watch the first Harry Potter film this evening to see what all the fuss is about given the amount of adults, as well as kids, that are obsessed with it. 

I have to say it is one of the worst films I have ever seen. 

It is one of the most cheesy and clichéd films I have ever seen. The acting is truly abysmal; I know they are child actors but I have seen some half decent child actors in the past and those in this film were dreadful.

The storyline is very weak and riddled with plotholes as well as masses of unnecessary and seemingly out of place little details that really stand out; this is the thing that bothered me the most I think because world building is the element of storytelling that I find the most intriguing and the element that was the most neglected in this film. To give a couple of examples, I found it rather lazy that in a world that is supposed to be secret and so separate from the "muggle" world that they would use the Christian calendar when there is surely a magical timeline that they would prefer to follow. Another example of this is how they celebrate Christmas despite that seemingly not being a holiday at all related to the magical world. I would have thought they would have their own holidays. 

Also, in a world where just about anything can be achieved through magic, why would they use such out of date technology to go about their daily lives, such as a steam train to transport the students? 

I could go on but I'll leave my review brief because I could write an epic essay on everything wrong with this film. As I say, one of the worst quality films I have ever seen. 

[Gerrumonside ref]

16 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I decided to watch the first Harry Potter film this evening to see what all the fuss is about given the amount of adults, as well as kids, that are obsessed with it. 

I have to say it is one of the worst films I have ever seen. 

It is one of the most cheesy and clichéd films I have ever seen. The acting is truly abysmal; I know they are child actors but I have seen some half decent child actors in the past and those in this film were dreadful.

The storyline is very weak and riddled with plotholes as well as masses of unnecessary and seemingly out of place little details that really stand out; this is the thing that bothered me the most I think because world building is the element of storytelling that I find the most intriguing and the element that was the most neglected in this film. To give a couple of examples, I found it rather lazy that in a world that is supposed to be secret and so separate from the "muggle" world that they would use the Christian calendar when there is surely a magical timeline that they would prefer to follow. Another example of this is how they celebrate Christmas despite that seemingly not being a holiday at all related to the magical world. I would have thought they would have their own holidays. 

Also, in a world where just about anything can be achieved through magic, why would they use such out of date technology to go about their daily lives, such as a steam train to transport the students? 

I could go on but I'll leave my review brief because I could write an epic essay on everything wrong with this film. As I say, one of the worst quality films I have ever seen. 

Is it fair to say you didn’t like it!

[The Hallucinating Goose]

3 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Is it fair to say you didn’t like it!

Was it that obvious??

[Maximus Decimus]

1 hour ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Was it that obvious??

Do you generally like films like that though?

I feel like a borderline social pariah because I can't stand Superhero films and films about wizards and elves in general. I just seriously don't get it.

In general, I find CGI has made them even worse. Any films like that I'm unfortunate enough to be subjected to, just look terrible. 

[DavidM]

On 03/08/2023 at 20:40, glemiln said:

Thirteen Days….and tense they were in October 1962 at the time of the “Cuban missile crisis”.

An excellent film (2001) covering the days of President JF Kennedy’s administration dealing with the Soviet Union placing nuclear weapons on Cuba.

This is no gung-ho American representation, but a tense presentation based on Kennedy’s tapes.

Amazon Prime

 

Good film … Max Hastings recent book on the crisis is miles better , unputdownable

[The Hallucinating Goose]

5 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

Do you generally like films like that though?

I feel like a borderline social pariah because I can't stand Superhero films and films about wizards and elves in general. I just seriously don't get it.

In general, I find CGI has made them even worse. Any films like that I'm unfortunate enough to be subjected to, just look terrible. 

I do not tend to like fantasy films but in my defence I have enjoyed a lot of fantasy novels in the past and it was my knowledge and appreciation of fantasy stories in general that I was applying to my critique of the Harry Potter film here because I was attacking elements of the storytelling and fictional universe. The source material may well be good but if it is I feel that it certainly hasn't been translated onto film well here. 

To give another, of many, examples of laziness in the storytelling on top of those I pointed out with the use of the Christian calendar, there is an instance where a student's broomstick goes haywire and he ends up hanging from a flagpole before falling to the ground and breaking his wrist. In the film we see there are levitation spells so why didn't the teacher, who was just looking on in shock, just use this spell to stop the student falling? And when he does fall, he is sent off to see a nurse and stay in a hospital; once again, given the endless things that can be achieved with magic in the film, surely there is a spell that can repair broken bones? These tiny little bits of logic that are missing from the fictional universe are what really bugged me about it. It is lazy world building and for a film that revolves around a fictional universe, these little details should have been thought of. 

If you're a social pariah then I am as well mate, because I hate superhero films as well and remember a time when they were thought of as a bit of a joke so I find it crazy how they are so dominating these days. 

[hindle xiii]

1 minute ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I do not tend to like fantasy films but in my defence I have enjoyed a lot of fantasy novels in the past and it was my knowledge and appreciation of fantasy stories in general that I was applying to my critique of the Harry Potter film here because I was attacking elements of the storytelling and fictional universe. The source material may well be good but if it is I feel that it certainly hasn't been translated onto film well here. 

To give another, of many, examples of laziness in the storytelling on top of those I pointed out with the use of the Christian calendar, there is an instance where a student's broomstick goes haywire and he ends up hanging from a flagpole before falling to the ground and breaking his wrist. In the film we see there are levitation spells so why didn't the teacher, who was just looking on in shock, just use this spell to stop the student falling? And when he does fall, he is sent off to see a nurse and stay in a hospital; once again, given the endless things that can be achieved with magic in the film, surely there is a spell that can repair broken bones? These tiny little bits of logic that are missing from the fictional universe are what really bugged me about it. It is lazy world building and for a film that revolves around a fictional universe, these little details should have been thought of. 

If you're a social pariah then I am as well mate, because I hate superhero films as well and remember a time when they were thought of as a bit of a joke so I find it crazy how they are so dominating these days. 

I hope you will be watching all 8 films in each of the Mission Impossible and Harry Potter series'.

[Maximus Decimus]

12 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I do not tend to like fantasy films but in my defence I have enjoyed a lot of fantasy novels in the past and it was my knowledge and appreciation of fantasy stories in general that I was applying to my critique of the Harry Potter film here because I was attacking elements of the storytelling and fictional universe. The source material may well be good but if it is I feel that it certainly hasn't been translated onto film well here. 

To give another, of many, examples of laziness in the storytelling on top of those I pointed out with the use of the Christian calendar, there is an instance where a student's broomstick goes haywire and he ends up hanging from a flagpole before falling to the ground and breaking his wrist. In the film we see there are levitation spells so why didn't the teacher, who was just looking on in shock, just use this spell to stop the student falling? And when he does fall, he is sent off to see a nurse and stay in a hospital; once again, given the endless things that can be achieved with magic in the film, surely there is a spell that can repair broken bones? These tiny little bits of logic that are missing from the fictional universe are what really bugged me about it. It is lazy world building and for a film that revolves around a fictional universe, these little details should have been thought of. 

If you're a social pariah then I am as well mate, because I hate superhero films as well and remember a time when they were thought of as a bit of a joke so I find it crazy how they are so dominating these days. 

I might be going too far, but I totally feel the same about Star Wars and most action films.. 

If you ask questions of pretty much any of these films they don't make even a modicum of sense.

My personal preference is for films that are at least based in reality. I feel much the same away about wizards as I do about ridiculous chase scenes with 100 people shooting at one guy who miraculously survives even though he's fallen down a cliff etc.

Edited August 28, 2023 by Maximus Decimus

[Gerrumonside ref]

1 hour ago, Maximus Decimus said:

Do you generally like films like that though?

I feel like a borderline social pariah because I can't stand Superhero films and films about wizards and elves in general. I just seriously don't get it.

In general, I find CGI has made them even worse. Any films like that I'm unfortunate enough to be subjected to, just look terrible. 

Totally with you on all that!

[Gerrumonside ref]

34 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

I might be going too far, but I totally feel the same about Star Wars and most action films.. 

If you ask questions of pretty much any of these films they don't make even a modicum of sense.

My personal preference is for films that are at least based in reality. I feel much the same away about wizards as I do about ridiculous chase scenes with 100 people shooting at one guy who miraculously survives even though he's fallen down a cliff etc.

I like Star Wars, but the old trilogy for me and the psychology of it’s core message.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

51 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

I might be going too far, but I totally feel the same about Star Wars and most action films.. 

If you ask questions of pretty much any of these films they don't make even a modicum of sense.

My personal preference is for films that are at least based in reality. I feel much the same away about wizards as I do about ridiculous chase scenes with 100 people shooting at one guy who miraculously survives even though he's fallen down a cliff etc.

I'm a massive James Bond fan, huge, but I have often said that the film I'd love to see is one about the government officials who have to travel round, following Bond, and dealing with all the admin and legalities of cleaning up the mess he creates! 

[Futtocks]

21 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I'm a massive James Bond fan, huge, but I have often said that the film I'd love to see is one about the government officials who have to travel round, following Bond, and dealing with all the admin and legalities of cleaning up the mess he creates! 

To quote Nicholas Angel from "Hot Fuzz" (which co-starred Timothy Dalton), "there's going to be a considerable amount of paperwork."

[The Hallucinating Goose]

54 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

To quote Nicholas Angel from "Hot Fuzz" (which co-starred Timothy Dalton), "there's going to be a considerable amount of paperwork."

"SWAN!!!!"

One of my favourite films of all time!

[Futtocks]

4 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

"SWAN!!!!"

One of my favourite films of all time!

A typical waterfowlist comment, there.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

I just saw a trailer for My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3. I didn't even know there was My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. If ever there was a film that didn't need sequels, this is it. 

[Gerrumonside ref]

Watched recent release ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Amongst Thieves’ on Sky Movies.  I don’t know too much about the role playing D&D other than it has had a recent renaissance in popular culture.

I was skeptical whether I would enjoy this as I’m not usually a big fan of CGI fest or fantasy stuff.  But it’s a really well told exciting ripping yarn that has a lot of humour in it and pokes fun at itself.

The characters are likeable and therefore when thrown in danger you feel invested in what happens.  It has great pace and witty dialogue that I don’t often relate to films with set piece CGI.

Fun for all.

9/10

[Bedford Roughyed]

On 31/08/2023 at 12:02, Gerrumonside ref said:

Watched recent release ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Amongst Thieves’ on Sky Movies.  I don’t know too much about the role playing D&D other than it has had a recent renaissance in popular culture.

I was skeptical whether I would enjoy this as I’m not usually a big fan of CGI fest or fantasy stuff.  But it’s a really well told exciting ripping yarn that has a lot of humour in it and pokes fun at itself.

The characters are likeable and therefore when thrown in danger you feel invested in what happens.  It has great pace and witty dialogue that I don’t often relate to films with set piece CGI.

Fun for all.

9/10

I'll add it to the list.

[Futtocks]

On 31/08/2023 at 12:02, Gerrumonside ref said:

Watched recent release ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Amongst Thieves’ on Sky Movies.  I don’t know too much about the role playing D&D other than it has had a recent renaissance in popular culture.

I was skeptical whether I would enjoy this as I’m not usually a big fan of CGI fest or fantasy stuff.  But it’s a really well told exciting ripping yarn that has a lot of humour in it and pokes fun at itself.

The characters are likeable and therefore when thrown in danger you feel invested in what happens.  It has great pace and witty dialogue that I don’t often relate to films with set piece CGI.

Fun for all.

9/10

Judging by the reviews, it observes correct D&D processes (so as not to enrage the purists), then adds a load of irreverent humour.

A bit like how Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool are superhero movies that have fun playing with the absurdity of the idea.