[Movies] Talk about the last movie you saw 2: Electric Threadaloo

[Hailey Knight]

To inject controlled randomness into things, I took my wife to the movies at whatever time was convenient and we'd see a movie that was playing soon after we got there, whatever it would be. Ended up being Ghostbusters.

It was a lot of fun. Could've been a little more tightly-edited in places, but nearly everything the internet complained about (particularly that Reddit thread I talked about months ago) was blown way out of proportion. Hell, a lot of the trailer stuff isn't even in the movie. Kate McKinnon was definitely the standout performance, but there were a lot of funny lines otherwise. It's not a must-see, but it was a good time.

I'm hoping the recently-greenlit sequel will do its own thing instead of revisiting the Gozer plot. The less comparisons to the original, the better.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

I'm hoping the recently-greenlit sequel will do its own thing instead of revisiting the Gozer plot. The less comparisons to the original, the better.

Just remember that plenty of movies have had sequels announced or planned that never happen. Superman Returns, Green Lantern, Amazing Spider-Man 2.

I honestly don't know if I'm interested enough in seeing a sequel to this. It was okay, but probably not something I'll ever watch again.

 

[AshburnerX]

I dug it. It's not masterpiece, but I feel like the real issue with this movie is that the marketing SUCKED. Those trailers? Whoever made them needs to be shot. As for the movie itself, it's pretty good. It doesn't hold a candle to the original but I enjoyed it more than the second.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Just remember that plenty of movies have had sequels announced or planned that never happen. Superman Returns, Green Lantern, Amazing Spider-Man 2.

I honestly don't know if I'm interested enough in seeing a sequel to this. It was okay, but probably not something I'll ever watch again.

I doubt I'll watch it again either; it wasn't a classic or anything. But I thought it was fun and really not worth all the craziness that's been going on leading up to its release. If anything, Sony could've made a much better trailer than any of the trailers they released.

As for sequels, I'm certain we'll at least see one more, if only because of how hard Sony is gunning for that expanded universe they've been dreaming about. They're desperate to make that work, and Ghostbusters has enough of a following now for it to at least be possible. They'll push at least one sequel, then start announcing spin-offs. We'll see how far they get then, but I expect that the toy merchandise alone will make this one profitable and warrant another one being in theaters by late 2018. We'd have seen more Amazing Spider-man if that Sony leak hadn't happened and Marvel/Disney hadn't stepped in with a tempting offer.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Oh, DEFINITELY not worth all the hate it got. But that was expected the moment it was announced that four women would be starring in it. But yeah, the movie was fine. I said it myself a page back: it wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible, either. I don't regret seeing it, but I'll likely never watch it again.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Oh, DEFINITELY not worth all the hate it got. But that was expected the moment it was announced that four women would be starring in it. But yeah, the movie was fine. I said it myself a page back: it wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible, either. I don't regret seeing it, but I'll likely never watch it again.

Well, the hate, or the hate's hate. You've got the side spitting nothing but crap against it, whether they saw it or not, and then you have another side saying it's the best damn thing ever and fuck the original, whether they saw it or not. The latter group only exists because of the former, but they're both apeshit.

 

[CynicismKills]

I enjoyed Star Trek: Beyond. I get that it's all action and jokes and that's not really Star Trek to the purists but it was entertaining and the cast is great, so it worked for me.

 

[Frank]

I can't stand Syler as Spock. He's....just not nearly as good as Leonard Nimoy, but that's the same problem EVERY vulcan actor has had.

 

[CynicismKills]

I can't stand Syler as Spock. He's....just not nearly as good as Leonard Nimoy, but that's the same problem EVERY vulcan actor has had.

I don't mind Quinto, but yeah nobody could match Nimoy's voice and cadence when delivering lines.

 

[Charlie Don't Surf]

whoa. Sylar. that's the first time i've thought about heroes since 5 minutes after the season 2 premiere

 

[fade]

Ah Heroes. So much potential in the first few episodes. Then splat.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Ah Heroes. So much potential in the first few episodes. Then splat.

Company Man is still one of the finest episodes in TV history.

 

[Celt Z]

I just saw Star Trek Beyond with my mom (and fellow Trek fan). I kinda view the recent films as a different animal, because they never seem to ask the questions, "Could we? And should we?" which are really what makes Star Trek what it is. That being said, I enjoyed it as an action flick. I like the cast, I think Simon Pegg and Doug Jung wrote a fun script, although the villain could have used a little more fleshing out. It definitely played to Justin Lin's directing strengths. It's still a sausage fest, but I like that Uhura wasn't just set-dressing and we avoided the gratuitous sexism that plagued the first two movies.
Also

Spoiler

The Beastie Boys for the original trailer makes sense now, and honestly isn't any sillier than whale songs stopping an alien probe. But damn, between this movie and Into Darkness, a lot of the Enterprise crew keeps getting sucked out into space. And what happened to Dr. Marcus? She joined them on the 5-year mission and was suddenly forgotten.

 

[Just Me]

I heard they decided to ignore the events for Into Darkness completely.

I enjoyed Star Trek Beyond as the action flick it is, didn't expect anything less (or more) after the first two. I do love Karl Urban as McCoy, he's the one who nails his role all the time.
Yes, there's plotholes and weak characterisation, but every character gets his moment to shine and I left the cinema with the feeling that I got my money's worth (even though it was the treat of DeLuxe cinema with wide, comfy leather seats and food service).

 

[Ravenpoe]

I heard they decided to ignore the events for Into Darkness completely.

I enjoyed Star Trek Beyond as the action flick it is, didn't expect anything less (or more) after the first two. I do love Karl Urban as McCoy, he's the one who nails his role all the time.
Yes, there's plotholes and weak characterisation, but every character gets his moment to shine and I left the cinema with the feeling that I got my money's worth (even though it was the treat of DeLuxe cinema with wide, comfy leather seats and food service).

Probably because they wrote themselves into a corner with Into Darkness by curing death and rendering spaceships obsolete

 

[Frank]

Probably because they wrote themselves into a corner with Into Darkness by curing death and rendering spaceships obsolete

Kurtzman and Orci are the biggest hacks that ever lived.

 

[Dave]

Watched The Killing Joke last night. Maybe it's because I read the comic, but this didn't do much for me. And I have never thought that final joke was funny, so I have never understood Batman's reaction to it.

 

[AshburnerX]

Watched The Killing Joke last night. Maybe it's because I read the comic, but this didn't do much for me. And I have never thought that final joke was funny, so I have never understood Batman's reaction to it.

It's not supposed to be funny.

Spoiler

Batman is reacting to the sheer absurdity of the situation: the Joker is telling him a lame joke after torturing both Jim and Barbara Gordon for hours and after trying to kill him with his usual shtick, and after Batman has beaten the crap out of him for being an inhuman, monstrous clown. But the Joker is just so far gone that the only response he has to this turn of events is to crack a joke. It's not even a GOOD joke and Batman knows it, but he can't help but laugh after this ordeal because the only other response to it would be depression. It's sort of like The Comedian's viewpoint: when you have been presented with the absolute worst of what humanity has to offer, you only have two choices - laugh in the face of misery or be consumed by sorrow.

So it's not about the joke. It's about that fact that all of this may have actually gotten to Batman for the first time and he's just dealing with it the only way he can. This is, ironically, bringing him closer to the Joker's level, if you believe in the "failed comedian who lost his family and shattered his mind" theory of the Joker's origin.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Ah Heroes. So much potential in the first few episodes. Then splat.

I'd argue the first entire season was quite good. Some hit and miss but overall good.

It's everything that came after that was crap.

 

[CynicismKills]

The writer's strike caused that sort of thing to happen to a lot of shows. Scrubs had something like a 10-episode season (instead of 22+ like usual) that was shown out of order because of it.

 

[Covar]

The writer's strike caused that sort of thing to happen to a lot of shows. Scrubs had something like a 10-episode season (instead of 22+ like usual) that was shown out of order because of it.

I maintain that subsequently seasons only exposed the cracks in the show that are there from the beginning, mainly that they had no idea where they were going with things. It also doesn't help that they brought back the entire cast.

 

[CynicismKills]

I maintain that subsequently seasons only exposed the cracks in the show that are there from the beginning, mainly that they had no idea where they were going with things. It also doesn't help that they brought back the entire cast.

Are you talking about "season 9"? Because outside of that the only time everyone comes back is the last like, 30 seconds of the series finale. ABC basically forced Lawrence to call it s9, he wanted it to be a true spin-off but the network wouldn't allow it. S9 only kept McGinley and Faison for the whole run, the other returnees only did like 4-5 episodes.

Or are you talking about Heroes? Season 2 was so entirely forgettable for me that I honestly don't remember anything about it.

 

[Covar]

Are you talking about "season 9"? Because outside of that the only time everyone comes back is the last like, 30 seconds of the series finale. ABC basically forced Lawrence to call it s9, he wanted it to be a true spin-off but the network wouldn't allow it. S9 only kept McGinley and Faison for the whole run, the other returnees only did like 4-5 episodes.

Or are you talking about Heroes? Season 2 was so entirely forgettable for me that I honestly don't remember anything about it.

Heroes.

 

[CynicismKills]

Heroes.

Ah.

Thinking about it for a few minutes all I can really remember is some weird time-travel to a bad future and Sylar got shape-shifting powers? I dunno.

 

[PatrThom]

I can't stand Syler as Spock. He's....just not nearly as good as Leonard Nimoy, but that's the same problem EVERY vulcan actor has had.

Mark Lenard came the closest.

--Patrick

 

[Null]

Currently watching The Revenant. This movie goes to absurd lengths to remind you that you're a passive observer and more or less dares you to give a shit about pretty much anyone, at least for the first hour. I mean, things happen, but why should we care?

 

[Simfers]

Saw Star Trek Beyond today. I had a great time. Good action, good humour, visually stunning. Super fun movie, which is pretty much all I ask of a movie anyway, so I was happy.

 

[Dei]

I saw Star Trek Beyond today too, but I thought it was pretty meh. I get that they are trying to make Uhura more than set dressing, but they are trying very hard, and just doing a terrible job of it anyways. This time her role was to listen to the bad guy monologue long enough for plot things to happen. Woooooo. [emoji90]

 

[Frank]

I too watched Star Trek Beyond and I thought that it was a vastly superior movie to the previous two. It still is so loaded down with plot holes and such but the writing was much better this time around.

NO NEED FOR 9/11 TRUTHER NONSENSE THIS TIME.

Also, death is no longer cured from Into Darkness.

 

[Null]

I too watched Star Trek Beyond and I thought that it was a vastly superior movie to the previous two. It still is so loaded down with plot holes and such but the writing was much better this time around.

NO NEED FOR 9/11 TRUTHER NONSENSE THIS TIME.

Also, death is no longer cured from Into Darkness.

Yeah they basically ignored as much as they could from Into Darkness from what I've heard.

 

[sixpackshaker]

I too saw Beyond this weekend. It felt much more like a Trek movie than the previous two. I thought it balanced action, fantasy, politics and "a more perfect union" pretty well. And they saved the day with technobabble and classical music. And no singing in the round.

Was Pine imitating Shatner's voice this time?

 

[Simfers]

I just came back from Ghostbusters. It was fantastic. Great cast all-around (Kate MacKinnon is an absolute delight), lots of laughs, had a great time. I'm on board for a sequel.

 

[Cajungal]

I really enjoyed it too. The little jabs at online naysayers were fun, but not too much. I think Kate McKinnon was my favorite too, but she can do little wrong in my eyes. Her impressions on SNL kill me. There were some parts that fell flat, but not enough to wreck the experience for me. The wonton soup thing really made me giggle for some reason.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I really enjoyed it too. The little jabs at online naysayers were fun, but not too much.

This is one of several things I meant when saying that people were blowing out of proportion. Reddit makes it sound like there's an entire scene devoted to this, but it was one throwaway line. If they want to extend that to the villain making sexist comments at the Ghostbusters, then they need to reassess what kind of people they identify with.

There were some parts that fell flat, but not enough to wreck the experience for me. The wonton soup thing really made me giggle for some reason.

If they'd cut every instance of ad-libbed bickering, I think it'd be a better movie. There were scenes like those filmed for the original Ghostbusters, but those never ended up in the movie.

 

[AshburnerX]

The movie really needed a better third act... like, if they had another 20 minutes then they'd have had enough time to do EVERYTHING they needed to do in third act.