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

Seen quite a few movies and haven't posted about any of them, so...

The Menu

Really great thriller that I didn't know what to expect going into it. It's more reserved than your average thriller, because it holds back on big jump scares. Instead, it relies on holding that tension as the intensity rises throughout the film. It gets a little hokey at points. I think I saw it was listed as a horror or thriller comedy rather than straight horror or thriller. I didn't find it particularly funny, but I can kind of see where it might have earned that label.

Still, I had a good time with it. The presentation in the movie was interesting, as it cuts up the scenes as a menu, with each dish serving as a new act or scene in the movie. Definitely worth a watch.

Black Panther Wakanda Forever

Ehhhhhh, I don't know. I wanted to like this, but there's a lot more I didn't like than I liked. They were clearly struggling to find a solid narrative after losing Chadwick Boseman. Angela Bassett is a heck of a force in this, earning that Best Supporting Actress nomination. Tecnoch Huerta is a phenomenal Namor and I can't wait to see what he does next. I especially love the reworking of the character to include more Aztec or South American dressing.

Shuri takes center stage in this. And maybe I'm just bitter that Letitia Wright wasn't given the boot after her anti-vax stances, among other things, but I didn't find she really added anything to the movie. She was stilted and it often felt like she didn't even want to be there. Her character arc was interesting enough, given the fallout of losing Wakanda's king, but the actress was the worst part of all of it.

Plus, a LOT of the film was horribly lit to the point that it was too dark to see what was going on half the time. I tried playing with the settings on my TV to fix it, but to no avail. It was especially bad in the underwater scenes. But maybe I was spoiled by Avatar Way of the Water, because James Cameron KNOWS how to film underwater. There were also some REALLY awful green screen effects like a point where M'Baku and his men were clearly just standing in front of a green screen reacting to things around them.

So yeah, I wanted to like this, but it was a definite step down from the first one.

Marlowe

I stumbled across this existing at all when I was checking out the movies playing at my local theater. And I'm glad I did because it was awesome. It's an old school detective movie with Liam Neeson. His character, Phillip Marlowe, was the main character in many of Raymond Chandler's novels like Playback and The Big Sleep. This movie, in particular, is apparently based on John Banville's novel, The Black-Eyed Blonde.

But it really does feel like a Raymond Chandler story from beginning to end. The highpoint is Marlowe interviewing or interrogating suspects or bouncing off with the femme fatale in the movie. There is some phenomenal cinematography, too, including many seemingly long takes where the camera follows along with the character as they interview or stalk someone.

The acting isn't anything particular to write home about, but it's clear almost everyone had a good time filming it. I found the snappy dialogue a little too fast to follow at points. Having subtitles would have helped me.

But for the set design, cinematography, music, and story, I dug the hell out of this. Definitely going to buy a physical copy when I can.

Before Sunrise

I've always been curious about the "Before Trilogy," but never got around to it. Recently, my girlfriend and I watched it together and we loved it. It's very much an indie film, with little flair, but it has some excellent writing and even better chemistry between the two main actors. They really make you believe that they've slowly fallen in love with each other over the course of a night. I was impressed by how often the camera would just stay on them for a long take as they just chatted. And yet, I was never bored by the lack of camera changes.

We're probably going to watch the two sequels at some point. I look forward to them because I really enjoyed this one.

Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania

Maybe I went into this with lowered expectations due to the reviews and reactions, but I had a lot of fun with this one. It's firmly a middle-of-the-road MCU film in terms of quality, but it's a fun ride. There's not a lot in the sense of character development for anyone, but it's nice to see Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfieffer have more to do than previous films. It feels like Hope/Wasp is barely in the movie, for as little as they give her to work with (and she's another anti-vaxxer, so I'm not too disappointed in that). Paul Rudd does his usual thing and he's fun enough.

But by far, the stand out was Jonathan Majors, bringing the big acting guns with Kang. He has so many little acting ticks that show you there's more behind the character's stoic façade. I can't wait to see what else they have in store for him because I just want to see him in more now. That said, the movie felt a little heavy on not just establishing him but explaining him. It really felt like a movie created solely to establish him. Which is fine, he's a great villain in this. But it's clearly a movie designed purely to set him up. There's a lot of exposition around him that drags the movie down at times. But then he's on screen and you think "Oh shit, put this guy in everything."

Much like the other Ant-Man movies, I wouldn't rank it high on my MCU list, but I don't think it's the worst one of the bunch.
 
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Wakanda Forever

Overall, I liked it. I know it underwent a bunch of rewrites when Chadwick Boseman died, but the final product does still feel like a coherent narrative instead of something patched together from multiple versions of a script. The overarching theme of the film is "grief", and how it can consume you. To this end, most of the cast were given meatier roles to work with in this film compared to the first one, and generally they did well. Angela Bassett was the standout, as many people have noted, but Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, etc. all impressed as well. Letitia Wright also performed competently in the lead role, perhaps not quite as impressively as the others, but overall no complaints from me. As for the storyline, it was fine, with Namor and the Talokan being an interesting new faction in the MCU.

Most of the action sequences were good, though there were a few that were too dimly lit (the car chase for instance) or looked really fake (like Nakia throwing her frisbee weapons). Some of the tactical decisions made were a bit wacky though. Also I thought Riri Williams was underused.

Anyway, overall this was a fine movie, a worthy sequel to the first Black Panther, and a good entry in the MCU.

Also everyone's hot. This includes Richard Schiff as the US representative at the UN. Boy he's rocking that peppered beard look.
 
Scream 6
It's not the best Scream movie I've seen. Maybe it's second worst? But for Scream that's not truly terrible as, let's face it, there isn't a terribly unentertaining movie in the bunch as of yet (Even 3 has a place in my heart despite being "the worst").
Scream is consistent in that it manages to stay updated with the trends and tropes of the horror that is currently popular for the time period. Scream 4 was the reboot era. Scream 5 was the re-quel era (think Halloween 2018). Scream 6 is kind of a re-quel sequel (e.g. Halloween Kills) but more focuses on itself being a "Franchise" where the rules have changed to keep the shocks and subversions going to keep the IP alive (Yeah. it's meta in a weird way). Everything is more flashier and even legacy characters can, and will, die (e.g. Star Wars), etc.
Good points: It's got some good action and it is surprisingly a very tense movie. There are scenes that keep you in suspense for a good several minutes. Ghostface in this is relentless and even shockingly cruel for Ghostface, straight up executing random people with shotguns and really taking up on his promise to "gut you like a fish" more graphically than I've ever seen Ghostface be. And the opening to this chapter is probably one of the best I've seen in the franchise. It upends things quite spectacularly and does something none of them have tried before. Bit of a spoiler: Samara Weaving has a wonderful cameo in the opening, and even gets to use her natural (and very sexy) Australian accent.
I think some of the areas that Scream 6 loses me is in some of the drama that occurs between the actual plot of the film. There is, what I feel, a large chunk in the beginning that is just dedicated to the returning characters from part 5 moving on with their lives and coping with the events of the previous year. Most of which is completely irrelevant to the fact that there is a new Ghostface stalking the street. There are also a lot of really dumb character moments in this one more than anything else such as not calling the police or rushing to help when it would have been faster to do so. And I may need another rewatch but the Killer reveal at the end felt underwhelming. I won't spoil who it was. But I am going to spoil who it wasn't: Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard). Let me explain:
I think the intent was to actually get some of us Scream fans thinking it was going to be Stu Macher, despite the fact that he clearly died in the very first Scream (1996). There's a few weird moments where they make mention of him and linger on things like the exact year of his death and conspiracy theories that he survived a TV being pushed on his head (which in hindsight was definitely making fun of the same fan theories that exist). Matthew Lillard even made a few comments recently that made me wonder if he might appear in this film. And honestly bringing him back would have probably been the most "jumping the shark" moment the series has ever gone through. But the weird thing is I can't decide if I would have hated it or if I would have absolutely loved it. Matthew Lillard is a joy in anything he's in first of all. But if they wrote him in and gave him a fantastic reveal moment, and perhaps part of his plot was to connect with the main character Sam because she is Billy Loomis's daughter (Spoiler for 5 but its a plot point that's brought up very early in the film) and try to recruit her to be his partner out of his friendship with Billy. But they didn't. Stu is dead and I feel they lost their only relevant opportunity to bring him back if they wanted to.
Overall.. if you are a Scream fan. Go see it. If you haven't really enjoyed them in the past, I'm not sure this one will do it for you.
 
Fall

Not many characters, not many locations, not much CGI. Just a nice tense script, some "oh Fuck no, that's too high" shots & a clever use of a trope that normally has me rolling my eyes.

When Becky wakes up to find that Hunter has fallen of the ledge and now she's all alone up there, only no she was having a nightmare & Hunter's fine? Nope, Hunter did fall off earlier, Becky's been hallucinating ever since & she is all alone up there.
 

Dave

Staff member
Just got back from the Dungeons and Dragons movie. It was very disjointed and the plot at the beginning was pretty thin but it had lots of laughs, which is what I wanted. I don’t think this movie is for everyone, but if you’ve gamed you’ll probably enjoy it.
 
John Wick: Chapter 4

I hate saying this, but...meh?

The cinematography and choreography was excellent, but outside of that, I found I was just bored half the time. Especially during the action sequences. They just drag on for SO LONG without much of importance happening. John Wick (and friends) fight a seemingly endless horde of bad guys. And there's only so many times I can see the same moves performed over and over, sometimes to the exact same anonymous thug. The action sequences are FAR too prolonged.

There's a LONG action sequence near the end where John has to get from Point A to Point B within a certain time, but it just goes on and on and on. And it's entirely meaningless when all you want to do is get to the goddamn main event.

Are there some cool action sequences? Sure. There's one extended sequence that's like a top-down view like a video game. And it's a neat view, but it's entirely pointless and again, drags on far too long. It's refreshing to see the action in some clearly well-choreographed scenes (and seemingly long takes, though I don't think they are). But all the clear shot, well-choreographed action gets dull after awhile if it's just the same thing against a faceless horde.

What also makes these action sequences inevitably tedious is nearly everyone is wearing bulletproof clothing. Bulletproof riot gear, bulletproof 3-piece suits, bulletproof kimonos. So they'll empty entire clips at each other and it's completely pointless, just drawing out action.

It reminds me of playing with pretend guns as a kid where my friend and I are "shooting" at each other, nearly point blank range and shouting:

"I got you!"
"No you didn't!"
"Yes I did!"
"Nuh uh, I got you first!"
"Nuh uh, my shirt is bulletproof!"

It's that, but for adults. So nearly everyone is bulletproof and requires a minimum of a dozen bullets fired at them before finally going down, on top of and endless wave of thugs I don't give two craps about.

During nearly every one of these video game-like sequences, I'd look at my watch and ask myself "Fucking hell, when does this end?" or just "Get on with it!" John Wick is supposed to be this masterclass efficient assassin but he struggles with nearly every thug in the same way.

I will say, the marquee fights are worth the price of admission. Once we finally got to the promised final action scene, it's ALMOST worth pushing through the other tiresome sequences. Almost.

The other thing is I just don't give a crap about this world it's set in. It was interesting in the first movie or two, but I feel like they've gone up their own butt with world building. It just feels like a lot of boastful posturing and ancient traditions.

So yeah, I don't know. I felt this way about the third movie, too. It seems like this is the last one and I'm glad because I don't think I could stand to keep checking my watch during most of another one.
 
Just got back from the Dungeons and Dragons movie. It was very disjointed and the plot at the beginning was pretty thin but it had lots of laughs, which is what I wanted. I don’t think this movie is for everyone, but if you’ve gamed you’ll probably enjoy it.
It definitely had a weird pacing to it, and "disjointed" is a good term. It did not like to linger in any spot for too long.
John Wick: Chapter 4

I hate saying this, but...meh?
Absolutely agree with you. They have managed to somehow make John Wick action boring. You have to wade through basically case after case of John just getting close enough to get a bullet through all the padding on every single assailant just to get to the occasional cool or unique kill.
The ending is great. It could have gotten there sooner and I would have enjoyed it better.
 
The Tetris movie was pretty good. Over-the-top characters in an espionage thriller all around a video game. It barely even mentions the Tengen side of the licensing issues and is still so convoluted as to who owned what and when, I'm surprised anyone ever got to play the damn game.

Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game
I'm a sucker for these biopics and I got two similar ones so lucky me lol. Another "history of the game" about the guy who was responsible for getting cities to accept that pinball was a game of skill and not chance, and therefore should not be banned as a gambling device. I wish I liked anything ever as much as this guy liked pinball.
 
Just got back from the Dungeons and Dragons movie. It was very disjointed and the plot at the beginning was pretty thin but it had lots of laughs, which is what I wanted. I don’t think this movie is for everyone, but if you’ve gamed you’ll probably enjoy it.
I'm not sure I agree it is disjointed so much as it doesn't really breathe between legs of the overarching quest. So it basically tumbles from one goal to the next but in a highly focused (not disjointed) way. It is definitely a pacing issue at its heart, but one it survives due to its charisma.
 
65

Man, was this a forgettable movie. Which is impressive considering it's about Adam Driver fighting dinosaurs.

Driver is largely wasted in the lead role, with his character summarized as "grim determination while increasingly injured". He's not really called upon to stretch his acting skills at all. The kid who played Koa did well enough, I think she could have a good future career in Hollywood if she wants it, but ultimately her role was just "traumatized kid" and little more.

The storyline was simultaneously predictable, contrived, and illogical. At times I felt like this movie would've worked better as a video game. I also wasn't sure about the decision to make the two main characters unable to understand each other's languages, I thought this removed a lot of potential for interactions and character development. Also I think the climactic battle was meant to be against a dinosaur the movie was setting up as the nemesis of the main characters, but that's a hard sell considering that dino's only shown up for, like, two total scenes.

The visuals and effects were also mediocre. Too much of the movie took place in the dark, which means the audience couldn't see the acting or the action sequences clearly. The dinosaurs were animated convincingly enough, but many of them were unrecognizable. I mean, okay, I get that we haven't exhaustively catalogued every creature from the Cretaceous period, so some unfamiliar creatures is understandable. But frankly if I'm watching a dinosaur movie then I wanna see some classic dinos, and I didn't see many in this movie.

All in all, this wasn't a totally horrible film, but the interesting premise is largely wasted on a bare bones story, mediocre effects, and some baffling directing decisions.

Also the girl who played Adam Driver's daughter reminded me of my niece.
 
It really is. It was a similar problem in the third movie involving thugs in head-to-toe bulletproof riot gear. All it did was drag out any interaction John Wick had with them.
I for one enjoyed how the guys in hard body armour where more affected by getting hit by bullets then the guys in cloth Kevlar...
 
The Super Mario Bros Movie

I have not read or watched any review for this movie. It was imported for me to go in blind and unbiased to not sullen my mood for the it. Even though I would have watched it anyway since it is important for me to see it.

First thing first. It's not a terrible movie. But it's also not a movie that will win many awards or change the world.

It's biggest fault is, to be made by Illumination. It is a Illumination movie through and through, for better or worse. That means it is loud and busy. There is never a slow moment where a character get a bit of time for reflection of the situation or their relationship with each other. Overall the story feels a bit rushed. Like watching a abridged version of the movie.

I liked that Peach is not the damsel in distress this time.

What else? A lot of easter eggs and references not only to Mario games but to other Nintendo properties too. Too many to spot in just one sitting. Pop songs (thankfully nothing from the last 20 years), Jack Black is in the movie so Bowser sings a song. Oh, and end credit stinger is not worth the wait. I would have seen something more for a sequel bait.

Overall I would say the movie is like Super Mario Sunshine. It is a Mario story but maybe not the best.

The question is how much of the movie will be canon and what it means for the future of new Mario games.
 
The Super Mario Bros Movie

It's biggest fault is, to be made by Illumination. It is a Illumination movie through and through, for better or worse. That means it is loud and busy. There is never a slow moment where a character get a bit of time for reflection of the situation or their relationship with each other. Overall the story feels a bit rushed. Like watching a abridged version of the movie.
Saw the movie with my kids on Wednesday, and while I fully agree with you, I do want to add that this movie was made for kids. Illumination knows their audience, as the whole reason they took off in the first place was less Gru and more the Minions and their often quick, ridiculous moments.

As a person that went to film school and loves cinema, I always attempt to get my kids to watch a bit more complex stories with arcs and character development and all that jazz, and almost without fail we never finish them. I was actually excited when I showed them the first trailer for the Mario movie and they said they wanted to see it. When the credits rolled my son looked at me and gave me a thumbs up, "5 out of 5!", while my daughter said "OMG that is my new favorite movie!"

It's definitely not going to win any awards, but I sometimes feel we can lose track that some movies are not designed to be deep character driven operas for adults. They easily could have tried to shoe-horn in some family drama between Luigi and Mario to build a thematic tension, but I can respect the fact they just wanted a consistent showing of love and care between two siblings that carried on till the end.

Not trying to downplay your concerns, they are spot on from the lenses of anyone that loves character driven movies, but watching my kids eyes light up during the climax of the movie and singing "Peaches" in the car made me realize it's okay to just let kids have that bright and fluffy cinema cake now and then. That is what Mario is, with the cameos and easter eggs there to give us older Millennials a little love too.
 
Dungeons & Dragons: HAT

Fluff and nonsense. Excellent popcorn movie. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and I really wanted to hate it (stupid hasbro/wotc). Plot holes? Sure. Did I care. Not really. Very much enjoyed watching the paladin character, even if his role in-universe was mainly to rob the main characters of their agency apparently. Enjoyable villains, beautiful sets, nice practical effects.
 
Xenk was 100% a DMPC. Shows up, knows everything as well as speaks nothing like any of the others, way too strong and min maxed like crazy, feeds necessary info, gets them their needed item and then fucks off out of the story in the MOST direct way possible.
 
Saw the movie with my kids on Wednesday, and while I fully agree with you, I do want to add that this movie was made for kids. Illumination knows their audience, as the whole reason they took off in the first place was less Gru and more the Minions and their often quick, ridiculous moments.

As a person that went to film school and loves cinema, I always attempt to get my kids to watch a bit more complex stories with arcs and character development and all that jazz, and almost without fail we never finish them. I was actually excited when I showed them the first trailer for the Mario movie and they said they wanted to see it. When the credits rolled my son looked at me and gave me a thumbs up, "5 out of 5!", while my daughter said "OMG that is my new favorite movie!"

It's definitely not going to win any awards, but I sometimes feel we can lose track that some movies are not designed to be deep character driven operas for adults. They easily could have tried to shoe-horn in some family drama between Luigi and Mario to build a thematic tension, but I can respect the fact they just wanted a consistent showing of love and care between two siblings that carried on till the end.

Not trying to downplay your concerns, they are spot on from the lenses of anyone that loves character driven movies, but watching my kids eyes light up during the climax of the movie and singing "Peaches" in the car made me realize it's okay to just let kids have that bright and fluffy cinema cake now and then. That is what Mario is, with the cameos and easter eggs there to give us older Millennials a little love too.
I agree and maybe I came across a bit cynical. It is a great movie for kids and that's all it's need to be.
Afterall I left the cinema happy and not angry.
 
Xenk was 100% a DMPC. Shows up, knows everything as well as speaks nothing like any of the others, way too strong and min maxed like crazy, feeds necessary info, gets them their needed item and then fucks off out of the story in the MOST direct way possible.
There where also several moments where the DM obviously came up with something on the fly to move them along after they screwed up the puzzle / encounter, the most obvious being the portal gun (which then almost derailed 1 PC's personal story, requiring some quick thinking by the DM).
 
Xenk was 100% a DMPC. Shows up, knows everything as well as speaks nothing like any of the others, way too strong and min maxed like crazy, feeds necessary info, gets them their needed item and then fucks off out of the story in the MOST direct way possible.
I appreciated that he was a smarmy but likable Paladin. He was like the cool cop. Works with the group only because he has a strong holy hunch that they will do the right thing when push comes to shove. Even let’s them insult him with a smile on his face because he understands their true destiny better than they understand it themselves.
 
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Tetris
Really enjoyed this. It's embellished, but the real Henk Rogers said the embellishments (like the exciting drive to the airport) were used to represent their emotional states. Tetris was one of the first games I installed on my shiny new 286, so a lot of nostalgia. I spent a lot of hours on that game!
Fantastic movie with a fantastic casting. Highly recommend.

Edit: For some weird reason it's the second video game related movie I watched this week that have "Holding out for a hero" in the soundtrack.
 
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M3GAN

Been wanting to see this for awhile and finally had a chance to watch this with the girlfriend last night.

It was a LOT of fun. It does exactly what it advertises, doesn't try to be anything else, and winds up being a fun horror flick. There's some things I kind of wanted them to explore more, like the ramifications of letting technology run our lives. There's also an Alexa-style gadget in the main character's house that is only used once, so when it comes up again, I completely forgot about it.

Even still, it's advertised as a "killer robot doll" movie and that's exactly what I got. It won't rank among my all-time favourite horror flicks, but I can see myself rewatching this once in awhile.
 
We went and saw the Super Mario Bros. movie with our niece and nephew (and my wife's mom) yesterday. It was an absolute blast and everything we wanted out of a Mario adaptation. Will likely go see it again with my wife's brother's family and will do so gladly. It was a lot of fun.
 
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