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

[bhamv3]

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3

If you'd told me yesterday that I'd be getting emotional over a cybernetic otter, walrus, and rabbit, I would've been very skeptical.

Anyway, overall I liked it, I think it's one of the stronger MCU offerings in Phase 4 and 5. It's a good send-off to the Guardians, because as I understand it several of them have said they don't want to play these roles anymore, and fair enough to them, they've done enough. The humor was good, the acting was good, the action was good, and the storyline was interesting. The High Evolutionary was a delightfully hateable villain, and I liked delving into Rocket's backstory.

On the less-good side, Adam Warlock felt quite extraneous, and he also felt exceedingly wimpy compared to his comics incarnation, plus I don't think Will Poulter was given much to work with. So overall Adam Warlock was a disappointment. And this might be relatively minor, but I didn't like all the out-of-character touches, such as Groot saying "I love you guys" and Drax dancing. Oh, and I wasn't a fan of how the trailers spoiled some of the better moments, like Groot's multi-arm gun trick.

Anyway, all in all it's rather good, and I feel very satisfied with the trilogy overall.

Finally, Gamora is hot, Nebula is hot, Mantis is hot, Lylla's voice is hot, Cosmo's voice is hot, and the High Priestess is hot in that strange disheveled way.

 

[Ravenpoe]

And this might be relatively minor, but I didn't like all the out-of-character touches, such as Groot saying "I love you guys" and Drax dancing.

How are these out of character? Drax dancing is to show that he's evolving by being able to be a dad again, and Groot didn't actually speak, instead like Gamora the audience finally understands him, showing the audience is now part of the family.

 

[Shawn]

How are these out of character? Drax dancing is to show that he's evolving by being able to be a dad again, and Groot didn't actually speak, instead like Gamora the audience finally understands him, showing the audience is now part of the family.

I agree with these. Drax dancing is character growth moment foreshadowed by his determination to not dance at the beginning of the film. He lost so much when his family died and he dedicated himself to killing Thanos and his conspirators. His goofy reaction to the kids when they are freaking out shows that he was indeed a loving and likely very goofy father. The end of the film we get to see him embrace that. Loved that for him.
And while the Groot theory isn't straight up confirmed I do think it's the most likely explanation. We as the audience just suddenly understand him just as the other characters all came to. I think that since this is likely the last time we will see Groot it's a perfect send off for him.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

I agree with these. Drax dancing is character growth moment foreshadowed by his determination to not dance at the beginning of the film. He lost so much when his family died and he dedicated himself to killing Thanos and his conspirators. His goofy reaction to the kids when they are freaking out shows that he was indeed a loving and likely very goofy father. The end of the film we get to see him embrace that. Loved that for him.
And while the Groot theory isn't straight up confirmed I do think it's the most likely explanation. We as the audience just suddenly understand him just as the other characters all came to. I think that since this is likely the last time we will see Groot it's a perfect send off for him.

James Gunn confirmed the fan theory about Groot on Twitter. The point of understanding what Groot says is that we, the audience, are now part of the Guardians family.

 

[bhamv3]

Fair enough.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

The Super Mario Bros Movie (2023)

Ehhhhhhh. It's very safe. The story isn't anything special. The animation is pretty, but nothing really great or memorable. It got a couple of chuckles out of me, but that's about it. Nothing really wowed me.

I kept meaning to see this in theatres but never got around to it. Now I'm kinda glad I happened across it on @GasBandit's Plex server, instead. I didn't hate it, but I would've regretted paying money for it.

 

[@Li3n]

James Gunn confirmed the fan theory about Groot on Twitter. The point of understanding what Groot says is that we, the audience, are now part of the Guardians family.

Wait... you guys don't understand Groot ?

It's, like, one of the easiest languages in the universe...

 

[Celt Z]

Wait... you guys don't understand Groot ?

It's, like, one of the easiest languages in the universe...

Not all of us had the opportunity to take it as an elective.

 

[mikerc]

Not all of us had the opportunity to take it as an elective.

That sounds like a you problem.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Elemental

Y'know, I quite liked it. It's not one of the best Pixar movies, but it's not one of the worst by any definition. The animation is wonderful, sometimes jaw-dropping. Because my inner 4-year runs the show sometimes, I giggled often at the puns in the background.

I thought it was interesting that the fire people were coded as immigrants, possibly Middle Eastern. And that the society around them was built not only to be unsafe for them, but sometimes on purpose by committee. Plus, when the fire girl meets the water boy's family, his family had tons of subtle and not-so-subtle racist comments. In fact, I would argue whether the movie's plot would have happened at all if not for proper government regulations and without systemic racism.

It's a delightful film, though. I grew to really enjoy both of the main characters. And because I'm a big softie, I cried a little at the end.

 

[drawn_inward]

Oppenheimer. Great cast. Cillian Murphy has been a favorite since 28 Days Later. The movie is too long. The time jumping story telling didn't work. And the "villain" reveal was silly. If we had streamed it, we would have likely turned it off and not finished it.

 

[Sara_2814]

Blue Beetle

I'm a fan of the Beetles, so I'm biased, but I really liked this. It had some pacing issues, but otherwise was everything I hoped for in a movie about Jaime Reyes.

The representation of Jaime is spot-on, Xolo Maridueña did a fantastic job. He's older than his origin in the comics, recent college-grad rather than high school, but it works much better. The most important aspect for Jaime's version of Blue Beetle is his family, and they nailed it. They have a realistic family dynamic. They are supportive of Jaime and keep him grounded. And Adriana Barraza as Nana steals the show!

Family is a central theme of the movie, and it also ties into the (dysfunctional) Kord family and even Jaime's nemesis, Carapax. Ted's sister (and current Kord CEO) Victoria (Susan Sarandon) talks a lot about family, but it's just talk. Her villain is soulless--she does not care about other humans. Not in an "I'll enslave them all in the coal mines to build my death laser" sort of way, but that she doesn't even see them unless they can do something for her (and even then, she doesn't remember their names). Which seems to represent corporate CEOs these days.

The movie treats the Beetle legacy right. Ted and Dan aren't in the movie, but they exist as the previous Beetles and are part of the story.

Now, where does Blue Beetle fit into the reboot? There are mentions of Superman, Batman, and Flash, but they are not specific to any particular version. James Gunn has apparently said that while Blue Beetle isn't a DCU movie, Jaime (played by Xolo) will be in the DCU. I don't know what exactly that means (especially given that after-credits scene), but here's hoping there are more Beetles in the future. I am forever holding onto hope for Blue & Gold!

 

[ThatNickGuy]

No One Will Save You

Heard some buzz about this on social media and decided to check it out. It's on Hulu, or Disney+ up here in Canucklestan.

So...it's a pretty neat sci-fi horror flick. Girl lives alone just outside of town. Everyone seems to hate her. So when aliens invade, she's all by herself.

Simple enough premise. And it pays off in a way I didn't expect. The ending alone is something to behold.

But here's the real kicker: there is almost ZERO dialogue. I think I could count on one hand the amount of spoken lines in this movie. So it has to survive primarily on the cinematography, the music, and Kaitlyn Dever's acting.

And fortunately, they pull it off. Any character details are handled in actions, expressions, and set dressing. You get a tiny amount of exposition in some letters, but that's it.

I'm honestly impressed the movie managed to pull it off.

Is it a great movie, overall? No, but it's a solid sci-fi horror flick with an interesting style choice. Worth at least one watch.

 

[bhamv3]

Elemental

I liked it. The animation is absolutely beautiful, with the fire and water effects being stunning. The story wasn't exactly groundbreaking, but it resonated with me as an Asian person who's lived in the west. The voice cast did well, and the music was nice.

Also my wife said Wade reminded her of me, which was nice.

Also Ember is hot.

 

[drawn_inward]

Reptile

Really liked it even though it left quit a few unanswered questions; which is fine with me. If Benicio Del Toro wasn't the lead I would have given it 5/10. He bumps it up to 7/10. He's quite captivating.

 

[General Specific]

Elemental

Dill and I watched it the other night and I thought it was really good. I agree with @bhamv3 above that the water & fire effects were very well done. The love story really got me, though. I don't know if it's just I'm more in touch with my emotions now or I'm just allowing myself to be more expressive, but I was tearing up at certain scenes.

 

[IronBrig4]

I finally sat down at watched Cujo. It only took me 40 years. When Steve King wrote the novel, rabid dogs were a huge problem in the US. The idea of a huge dog like a Saint Bernard coming down with rabies would have sent chills through a lot of parents.

I'm also noticing that kids in the late '70s/early '80s either had bowl cuts or Kelso hairdos while their fathers looked like they had just crawled out of a Cro-Magnon cave. I was born in '82 and had curly hair as a kid so at least I was never subjected to a bowl cut.

 

[General Specific]

The Little Mermaid (2023)

The live action movie that came out earlier this year. It was.... fine. Halle Bailey absolutely saved the movie from being bad. Everyone else was passable in their roles except for Awkwafina. She was terrible. Can she stop being in every movie now? Please? Javier Bardem, while cutting the figure of King Triton well, just seemed unenthused by the whole thing. Like any moment now he was going to be asked to say "By Grabthar's Hammer, what a savings." Melissa McCarthy as Ursula was at least entertaining, but there wasn't a piece of scenery left without her teeth marks all over it. It's also a good thing they were able to hide the horrible CGI monstrosity she turns into at the end. It was so deep in the uncanny valley she was passing Tom Hankses left and right.

The new songs were, for the most part, awkward and bad. They were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who must be tired by now and should ask to take a break from writing all the music for everything. The movie shined the most when they were covering the more familiar territory. And once again Halle Bailey shines there. When I said earlier she saved the movie, I meant it. She puts the entire thing on her back and single-handedly kept it from being utterly unwatchable.

 

[Sparhawk]

The Little Mermaid (2023)

The live action movie that came out earlier this year. It was.... fine. Halle Bailey absolutely saved the movie from being bad. Everyone else was passable in their roles except for Awkwafina. She was terrible. Can she stop being in every movie now? Please? Javier Bardem, while cutting the figure of King Triton well, just seemed unenthused by the whole thing. Like any moment now he was going to be asked to say "By Grabthar's Hammer, what a savings." Melissa McCarthy as Ursula was at least entertaining, but there wasn't a piece of scenery left without her teeth marks all over it. It's also a good thing they were able to hide the horrible CGI monstrosity she turns into at the end. It was so deep in the uncanny valley she was passing Tom Hankses left and right.

The new songs were, for the most part, awkward and bad. They were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who must be tired by now and should ask to take a break from writing all the music for everything. The movie shined the most when they were covering the more familiar territory. And once again Halle Bailey shines there. When I said earlier she saved the movie, I meant it. She puts the entire thing on her back and single-handedly kept it from being utterly unwatchable.

Generally, see what I did unintentionally did there, I agree with your review. Halle was just fine, the movie looked fine, with the exception of the underwater scenes that didn’t have a water environment feel to them. I hated the new versions (the look of the characters) of Flounder and Sebastian. I felt that McCarthy played a very restrained Ursula, and would have really enjoyed seeing her play a full off-tilt Ursula and really chewed all the scenery to pieces.

 

[Shawn]

The problem is they used a script for a cartoon to make a live action movie. You can’t convey the same kind of cartoony expressions and action when you are doing it with “realism”. Sebastian works when he has a face to express with. Not when his only two available expressions are “mouth open and mouth closed”. This is the same with pretty much anything in the film. If they used the original Hans Christian Andersen story and developed a brand new script with intention of making a live action movie, what they made would have worked so much better.

 

[Shawn]

Five Nights at Freddy's
The movie currently has a 28% score on Rotten Tomatoes and I have this feeling it's because the majority of those negative reviews are posted by people who know very little about the games. I myself have never played the games, but I'm an avid watcher of Markiplier's run-throughs and Matt Pat's lore coverage. Going in with that perspective I absolutely enjoyed myself. This is a classic Ghost in the Machine type film, but I can see that without some knowledge of the lore going in someone might see the film as a little jumbled. And If the quick explanation they give of "spring locks" doesn't give you enough to explain what occurs in the film then you may reasonably feel like you missed something.
As much as I would have loved to see an R rated version of this, I think they work well within the confines of PG-13. There's a lot of cutaways. Some shadow kills. There's a little gore but nothing that is going to upset stomachs. If Hailey asked to see this I think I would be OK with it. There were a few young kids in the theater that seemed to enjoy themselves. The tone is suspenseful and it sprinkles in just the right amount of comedy to take the edge off. The Jim Henson creature shop work here is fantastic and it's great to see a film that uses a lot of practical effects again.
If you are a fan I highly recommend seeing it in theaters with a full audience of like-minded folks. For anyone else just curious to watch it I recommend seeing it on Peacock.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Five Nights at Freddy's
The movie currently has a 28% score on Rotten Tomatoes and I have this feeling it's because the majority of those negative reviews are posted by people who know very little about the games. I myself have never played the games, but I'm an avid watcher of Markiplier's run-throughs and Matt Pat's lore coverage. Going in with that perspective I absolutely enjoyed myself. This is a classic Ghost in the Machine type film, but I can see that without some knowledge of the lore going in someone might see the film as a little jumbled. And If the quick explanation they give of "spring locks" doesn't give you enough to explain what occurs in the film then you may reasonably feel like you missed something.
As much as I would have loved to see an R rated version of this, I think they work well within the confines of PG-13. There's a lot of cutaways. Some shadow kills. There's a little gore but nothing that is going to upset stomachs. If Hailey asked to see this I think I would be OK with it. There were a few young kids in the theater that seemed to enjoy themselves. The tone is suspenseful and it sprinkles in just the right amount of comedy to take the edge off. The Jim Henson creature shop work here is fantastic and it's great to see a film that uses a lot of practical effects again.
If you are a fan I highly recommend seeing it in theaters with a full audience of like-minded folks. For anyone else just curious to watch it I recommend seeing it on Peacock.

Looks like Scott Cawthorn directly worked on this. Eh, I'll pass.

 

[Shawn]

Looks like Scott Cawthorn directly worked on this. Eh, I'll pass.

You mentioned that before. Political views aside if you’re not a fan of the games it probably wouldn’t be up your alley anyway.

 

[Yoshimickster]

Just finished Star Trek 4: The Journey Home a.k.a. Free Will: The Prequel.

IT...sure was a long episode of Star Trek all right.

 

[GasBandit]

Just finished Star Trek 4: The Journey Home a.k.a. Free Will: The Prequel.

IT...sure was a long episode of Star Trek all right.

Skip 5 entirely, trust me. 6 is pretty good though.

 

[Tress]

Skip 5 entirely, trust me. 6 is pretty good though.

And you don’t need 5 to understand the plot in 6.

 

[Frank]

Watch Five and bask in the crapulence that is Bill Shatner's dream Star Trek project. He was entirely in charge creatively.

I think Yoshi would enjoy how bad it is.

 

[drawn_inward]

Megan
Not sure if it was meant to be funny but I laughed all the way through. Super fun movie.

Emily is a criminal
Thought I was going to hate it but ended up really enjoying it. Kept my attention all they way. I like Plaza here better than the weird/quirky girl shtick she usually does.

 

[General Specific]

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - First off, I'm not a fan of musicals, I generally find them clunky and over dramatic. This movie was no exception. Bleak and unrelenting melancholy except for one fantasy scene that was the only source of color or humor in the entire film. It wasn't bad, it entertained me at least and didn't drag, it just wasn't very good. Well, I guess I should say its not to my taste as my spouse absolutely loves it and adores the play version even more. We watched it Halloween night and I just wished I was watching something else the entire time.

The Pale Blue Eye - Loved it. A nice thriller/mystery set in the 1800's around the murder of a West Point cadet. Stars Christian Bale, who is excellent as always. I'm trying to figure out what to say about it that will not spoil any plot points. I'll just have to say that I wish we'd watched this on Halloween instead.

 

[AshburnerX]

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - First off, I'm not a fan of musicals, I generally find them clunky and over dramatic. This movie was no exception. Bleak and unrelenting melancholy except for one fantasy scene that was the only source of color or humor in the entire film. It wasn't bad, it entertained me at least and didn't drag, it just wasn't very good. Well, I guess I should say its not to my taste as my spouse absolutely loves it and adores the play version even more. We watched it Halloween night and I just wished I was watching something else the entire time.

The play and Broadway versions are definitely better. They cut out -alot- of stuff for the film version and most of it involved the innocent romance between Johanna and what's his face. In fact, without those scenes, a lot of his motivation to go against the judge who wants to kill him doesn't make sense.

 

[Sara_2814]

The Pale Blue Eye - Loved it. A nice thriller/mystery set in the 1800's around the murder of a West Point cadet. Stars Christian Bale, who is excellent as always. I'm trying to figure out what to say about it that will not spoil any plot points. I'll just have to say that I wish we'd watched this on Halloween instead.

I saw this when it popped up on the recommended in streaming. I said "eh, Christian Bale, why not?" and I'm glad I watched it. It does a great job of unfolding the mystery. Also, Harry Melling who played Dudley Dursley is in it and he's fantastic.

 

[phil]

Godzilla: king of monsters

This whole movie could have been an email. Every character has one piece of information that, if all put together, would reveal that the best course of action would have been to do nothing in the first place.

Also why was Elevin allowed to be with her mom in a top secret facility like The Mighty Monarch and then also be taken with Tywin Lannister's terrorist cell and also be not confined to quarters until the plan is fulfilled.

Also gotta love the "humanity is the virus, we need a hard reset. Humanity causes so much pollution and shit. Anyway I'm off to a bunker to ride this out along with, let's face it, no one from the global south because fuck em"

 

[Celt Z]

Also gotta love the "humanity is the virus, we need a hard reset. Humanity causes so much pollution and shit. Anyway I'm off to a bunker to ride this out along with, let's face it, no one from the global south because fuck em"

in a way, that would fit in with the thesis of the original movie. If I'm remembering correctly, Godzilla/Gojira was in direct response to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But I haven't seen King of Monsters, so I don't know how far from that it is now.

 

[phil]

in a way, that would fit in with the thesis of the original movie. If I'm remembering correctly, Godzilla/Gojira was in direct response to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But I haven't seen King of Monsters, so I don't know how far from that it is now.

Oh for sure. I mean you have to go into these movies with the understanding that the real monster is, usually, man (or in this case a white woman from the suburbs)

But as much as these movies love to touch on the monster being Man they always have to leave it as the general "mankind" and not the very specific handful of people who decided to drop bombs on civilians in WW2. So the eco terrorists in this film target humanity as a whole instead of using their control monsters machine to target like... Amazon and Congress and stuff.

Spoiler

Godzilla was just chilling and leaving humanity alone. But Godzillas presence was keeping the other Kaiju at bay because Godzilla is an apex predator at their level. So Tywin let's King Ghidorah out from under some ice to fight Godzilla and let the other Kaiju wreck shit. They are surprised to find out that when a 3 headed dragon takes down a 1 headed dragon now you have a 3 headed dragon to deal with and it turns out that's worse! Who knew?!?!

So Dr. Let them fight has to hand deliver a nuke to Godzilla and blow it up manually because he's more done with this movie than I am apparently. Supercharged Godzilla goes to Boston to fight King Ghidorah, wins, and then suddenly all the other Kaiju who were wrecking shop around the globe hit fast travel and show up to bow to the king (of monsters) and then END OF MOVIE

 

[chris]

Oh god, Rodan's bow.