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

I say this as someone who has read the book, watched all three adaptations, and has a mother who loved the books, but sometimes Dune, in any form, can be an incomprehensible mess. Even while I'm reading the book, there are times I have to reread parts because I'm not sure I understand what had happened, or why. Frank Herbert has some great ideas, but sometimes things would get described in SO MUCH detail you'd get lost, and other times there wasn't enough explanation for some of his more alien concepts. I sometimes wonder if some of that has to do with a lot of Dune being based on Middle Eastern and Islamic traditions, something we don't get a lot of exposure to in the west. I feel like Dune can be polarizing for that reason, because some people are okay the rhythm of it, and other people can be turned off by how it's not very "new to Herbert's train-of-thought" friendly. They tried to remedy that in the Lynch film by adding copious amounts of voiceover, and... it wasn't great.

I will say, this is the most streamlined adaptation I've seen, and some great casting, but I don't blame anyone who was confused by certain events/characters. I had to explain some things mid-movie to Mr. Z, who, rightly pointed out, "you shouldn't have to read a primer" for the 1st film in what hopes to be a series.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Seems to me a lot of old sci-fi didn't bother with background exposition and stuff. A lot of times guys like Heinlein and Asimov (and Herbert) like to just throw you in the deep end right from the start with characters talking to each other in a newly-invented jargon or referencing events that aren't explained, and they just imply that you as the reader are just expected to roll with it until you get up to speed 3/4ths of the way through the book. The onus was left to the reader's mind to infer things based on context or just file away "I don't understand this" moments until something happens later to clue you in - perhaps on your third or fourth re-read of the book.
 
Seems to me a lot of old sci-fi didn't bother with background exposition and stuff. A lot of times guys like Heinlein and Asimov (and Herbert) like to just throw you in the deep end right from the start with characters talking to each other in a newly-invented jargon or referencing events that aren't explained, and they just imply that you as the reader are just expected to roll with it until you get up to speed 3/4ths of the way through the book. The onus was left to the reader's mind to infer things based on context or just file away "I don't understand this" moments until something happens later to clue you in - perhaps on your third or fourth re-read of the book.
It's worth considering that a lot of those guys also got their start doing short stories for magazines, so they'd never have a chance to do world building like they could in a book until they could get books published.
 
Seems to me a lot of old sci-fi didn't bother with background exposition and stuff. A lot of times guys like Heinlein and Asimov (and Herbert) like to just throw you in the deep end right from the start with characters talking to each other in a newly-invented jargon or referencing events that aren't explained, and they just imply that you as the reader are just expected to roll with it until you get up to speed 3/4ths of the way through the book. The onus was left to the reader's mind to infer things based on context or just file away "I don't understand this" moments until something happens later to clue you in - perhaps on your third or fourth re-read of the book.
This is probably why I could never get into books by guys like that. Though I recall at least enjoying Asimov a little bit. But I tried reading Dune once in high school and couldn't get even 20 pages into it.

Despite that, I'm still tempted to see this new movie since it's getting a fair amount of praise. I do love me a good sci-fi flick.
 
A lot of times guys like Heinlein and Asimov (and Herbert) like to just throw you in the deep end right from the start with characters talking to each other in a newly-invented jargon or referencing events that aren't explained, and they just imply that you as the reader are just expected to roll with it until you get up to speed 3/4ths of the way through the book.
CAN CONFIRM.
This was the way of SF/F back in the day. It was written with the idea that at some point WHAM! -- you would eventually just grok it.

--Patrick
 
This is probably why I could never get into books by guys like that. Though I recall at least enjoying Asimov a little bit. But I tried reading Dune once in high school and couldn't get even 20 pages into it.

Despite that, I'm still tempted to see this new movie since it's getting a fair amount of praise. I do love me a good sci-fi flick.
This was my experience reading Dune. It had a VERY slow start. I eventually gave it another try and really loved the book in the end. The sequel was pretty good too, but subsequent books got stranger and stranger and I eventually lost interest.
 
I'll preface this by saying I think the movie is great, technically. And I mean technically literally.

I read, coincidentally, almost to exactly where the movie ends and while I wasn't confused at times it felt like events happened because "shut up they're supposed to happen.". Sarah, who had not read any of it, wasn't confused but said on the way out "It was an amazing movie that I didn't care about at all." and honestly I don't disagree. It's a strange beast where I want cuts, specifically do we need so many slow panning shots of just scenery and 0 dialogue(I get they're pretty and done to establish the vastness of Arakkis there was just so many), but at the same time want a longer run time because it felt like there was no time to develop some characters because everyone was cast perfectly.

I still really hope we get a part 2 because I do think that will make me view this in a better light as the beginning of something rather than the disjointed visual feast that it currently feels like.

Also, some pretty prominent characters just disappear after an attack, and of course, the logical conclusion is if they aren't shown dying they'll likely return but it just feels like the movie forgot about them.

It is funny how many people I've seen criticize the voice as being a rip-off of the Jedi mind trick though. :facepalm:
 
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Dave

Staff member
I find it difficult to believe that they didn’t make both parts at the same time. But they haven’t started filming part 2 yet.
 
Yeah, they didn't go LotR on this one. I think there was still some concern that it might to be an expensive flop like the Lynch version.
 
I love Dune in all its forms (except Dune 84, I'm a Lynch fan and that movie's a mess) but that's mostly bc I'm anti computers and pro drugs
 
It is funny how many people I've seen criticize the voice as being a rip-off of the Jedi mind trick though. :facepalm:
All the jedi powers in the OT are classic mysticism, which Frank Herbert was also inspired by. Time is a flat circle and it's like poetry, it rhymes
 
Sorry to Bother You

SUPER poignant film, I as a gig-worker really resonate with the telemarketers wanting to unionize knowing the promise of upper level echelons is bull shit. ALSO
horse people.
 
Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997)
(AKA: "To Thine Own Self, Be True: The Movie")
Wife saw it was available for streaming, cooed with nostalgia, and told me we should watch it together. So we did. This was my first viewing, unspoilt.

Okay, so did you like Sixteen Candles (1984)? Then you’ll probably like this one, too. Oh sure, they were made almost a generation apart, had two different directors, and they don't share any of their cast nor plot, but they both have a very similar 80's feel to them. Romy and Michele are two unassuming gal pals who move in together away from home after high school and have been living together (platonically, we swear! The film even makes a point of saying so!) ever since. They hold no real secrets from each other, nor from the audience. They couldn’t hold their secrets (even if they wanted to!) because throughout the movie there isn’t a thought that comes into either one of their heads that doesn’t then immediately come out of their mouths, though this is canonically more in line with Lisa Kudrow’s oblivious Michele than Mira Sorvino’s contemplative Romy. There is also no distraction from this--no laugh track, no chorus, nothing to interfere with the audience hearing this when it happens. Anyway, Romy bumps into one of her high school classmates, Heather (Janeane Garofalo), who abrasively lets slip that their 10yr high school reunion is coming up. At home, the two go through their yearbook and, through the magic of flashbacks, reflect on just how little they've accomplished since high school and not only vow to go to the reunion, but also concoct a cockamamie, eleventh-hour plan/story to make their lives sound more impressive for when they have to face their classmates. Cue the hijinx.

Now I’m not a fan of what I like to call “Ben Stiller-type” humor, where a protagonist is repeatedly put through painfully embarrassing situations for the amusement of the viewers, so I admit I spent a LOT of the time watching this movie wincing and/or looking away, though it was not so much that it kept me from watching the whole thing. R&M embark on a crash diet/exercise binge, finagle a cool car, dump their usual bohemian outfits for something more formal and try to pass themselves off as wildly successful urban professionals. The stress of maintaining this façade is too much, however, and causes a rift between the two. We get to see a dream sequence (which btw has some surprisingly impressive prosthetic work AND many cleverly hidden callbacks to the earlier yearbook sequences) where we see what a potential future might look like were they to go (and stay) their separate ways. Then we exit the dream sequence to see how the reunion actually starts to play out for our (recently split) duo. Spoiler alert: not well. Jeneane Garofalo shows up again and steals the scene, and in the wake of this, our individual heroines become easy prey for the vicious prom queen and her entourage. Whatever shall they do?

Well, because this movie follows an 80's formula, of course the answer is that they team back up, do a quick wardrobe change back into their bohemian roots, and then stride back in and tell that bitch off to her face in front of everybody. That'll show her! Everyone else (including Jeneane Garofalo and even one of the prom queen's entourage!) is impressed by this, and then, to cap it all off, Prince Charming (Alan Cumming as the geek-turned-millionaire-hottie) swoops in to sweep Michele (and, by extension, Romy) off her (their) feet and legitimize their reunion (intentional double entendre in the movie title--oh, snap!) with a convoluted dance number that would've been right at home in yet another dream sequence. Also the prom queen gets a heaping helping of comeuppance blown up her skirt and the prom king gets his tables turned over for his past transgressions. The movie closes with a little epilogue of how going to the reunion was ultimately what accomplished the goal of putting the awesome into R&M's lives. It also leaves a little bit of curious ambiguity as to what exactly happened with Prince Charming, but we do get one last appearance of Jeneane Garofalo to steal at least a little bit more of the scenery. We never find out what happened to the cool car.

The trade-off for this was that, in return, my wife had to then watch a movie from my teenage years -- The Secret of My Success (1987) (AKA: "The Teen Wolf of Wall Street"), which is a movie that has parts which, as @Celt Z puts it, "did not age well." But in my opinion it's still as much of an 80's classic as was Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). But this review is not about them, it is about Romy & Michele (and Jeneane Garofalo).

--Patrick
 
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Killer Sofa

Stumbled across this while skimming Amazon Prime. Trailer made it look dumb but fun. And it is...at first. It starts out simple and dumb enough: ex-boyfriend seemingly dies and possesses his ex-girlfriend's recliner to stalk her. Hilarity ensures.

And if they'd just stuck with that and leaned into it, it could've been something on a similar level with Killer Klowns From Outer Space. Unfortunately, they decided to add other factors into the story and made it far more complicated for what should have been a dumb, simple concept. The added complications make zero sense and it just drags everything else down to the point that it's unwatchable.

Don't waste your time with this one. It's not even a "so bad it's good."
 
Killer Sofa

Stumbled across this while skimming Amazon Prime. Trailer made it look dumb but fun. And it is...at first. It starts out simple and dumb enough: ex-boyfriend seemingly dies and possesses his ex-girlfriend's recliner to stalk her. Hilarity ensures.

And if they'd just stuck with that and leaned into it, it could've been something on a similar level with Killer Klowns From Outer Space. Unfortunately, they decided to add other factors into the story and made it far more complicated for what should have been a dumb, simple concept. The added complications make zero sense and it just drags everything else down to the point that it's unwatchable.

Don't waste your time with this one. It's not even a "so bad it's good."
I prefer the original "Death bed: The bed that eats" .

Heh, I'm actually not sure if I've seen that movie or not.
 
Black Widow

Finally got to see this movie, not much to really say about it, other then a generally fun MCU movie.

Only really wanted to mention one thing, that ever since becoming a father, any movie or show that shows a kid in distress or losing their childhood absolutely destroys me. Out of all the parts of the movie, the opening is the only one that continues to linger in my mind. The kids having to flee their normal lives, Belova dropping her My Little Pony doll as the soldiers sedate her, it being picked up by her "father" as she is limply carried away from him, the opening credits with them being locked in a cargo container with a bunch of other young girls, crying and scared as soldier open it to take them out, all the cut away shots to little stuffed animals and toys dropped in the mud and dirt while the girls are lined up to be taken to the Red Room. Fuck. It didn't help that my own daughter is almost the same age as Belova in that sequence. At one point I think I started crying, and it almost killed the movie for me. I know they are actors, I know those little girls made a decent amount of money, that the whole thing is fictional, but man, it's hard to just disconnect myself from that protective need when they throw that shit at me right out the gate.
 

Dave

Staff member
Actually the biggest issue I had with the film was the complete tonal shift. I think it would have been a much better movie had they stayed grim dark and not changed to “Goofy man fat!” and “I can out-quip my ‘sister’!”

It was a very strange direction to take after the super serious and weighty beginning.
 
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I'll have to think about it more before any particularly detailed thoughts, but I really liked THE ETERNALS. Like its comic counterpart, it plays with some big ideas. They don't all work out perfectly, but it's certainly not without trying.

The diverse cast is top notch and everyone gets a chance to shine. Compared to other Marvel movies, there are surprisingly fewer jokes. There's still some, but some (not all) stoic characters and some pretty major stakes are more at hand here.

In my rankings, I don't think it'll break into my top 10 MCU films, but it'd say somewhere on the top 15. So somewhere with Dr Strange, Ant-Man, etc.

It's nowhere near as bad as the current Rotten Tomatoes score might have you believe.
 
I’m seeing a lot of signs that critics are shitting on it just because they are tired of Marvel movies in general, and not that it’s actually bad.
Yeah, someone else pointed out that, for some reason, critics who have been tired of superhero movies chose this movie to be the one they take a stand on. Which is just...odd. Like, I get that some people are tired of the dominance of superhero movies, but that shouldn't affect whether any individual movie is good or not.
 
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Actually the biggest issue I had with the film was the complete tonal shift. I think it would have been a much better movie had they stayed grim dark and not changed to “Goofy man fat!” and “I can out-quip my ‘sister’!”

It was a very strange direction to take after the super serious and weighty beginning.
The first x-men film opened with the holocaust, and a jewish child miraculously bending the gates of auschwitz, and ended with "do you know what happens when a toad is struck by lightning?"
 
I like that there are two cuts of the miami vice movie, one that eases you into it and one that kicks the door open and expects you to try to keep up
 

Dave

Staff member
I just got home from "The Eternals". My friend gave it an 8. I gave it a 4. I had a lot of issues with it. It's disjointed, the editing is all over the place. The characters act in strange and obtuse ways. People change their allegiance at the drop of a hat for the strangest of reasons. Well, maybe not the strangest of reasons, but each time it's rather abrupt. Strangely enough, Angelina Jolie had the most interesting character in my opinion. The best character in the movie isn't an Eternal at al but I'm not going to even hint at this one because it's really nice.

And the whole gay thing people were (are) in a tizzy about? A gay couple had the temerity to kiss each other goodbye. *gasp*! Not a big deal. But there was a lot - and I mean a LOT - of exposition in this movie. Long, slow, boring parts where they do nothing but explain things. And one of the major fight scenes takes place in a forest. At night. So, of course, you see two things - fuck and all.

I will say the end fight was extremely satisfying, even though they did the whole crazy
allegiance switching
thing.

They also talk about the Blip quite a bit but it almost seems like they did so just to tie the Eternals to the MCU, however tenuously.

Frankly, I found the movie to be rather boring overall and felt it added almost nothing. I have a lot of nit-picks with this one, especially how they ended it. The Eternals will be back! And I'm not sure I care.
 
I don’t want to go into too much detail to avoid spoilers, but in my opinion you are being a little harsh. There were some flaws, yes, but I think the movie was good overall. For example, a few mentions of The Blip here and there didn’t feel forced; it felt like the sort of thing people would talk about sometimes if they had lived through it.

Pros:
  • Most of the acting was good
  • Beautiful cinematography
  • Fight scenes were engaging and well-crafted
  • Kumail Nanjiani, Angelina Jolie, Bryan Tyree Henry, and Gemma Chan were all great
Cons:
  • Some of the other actors were stiff and wooden
  • The conclusion felt illogical (not because of character actions/motivations, but rather how certain things seem to work)
  • Uneven pacing
Overall: Good, not great. Middle of the pack for the MCU. Using the 10 scale @Dave mentioned, I would give it a 7.5 or so.
 
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Black Widow

This movie feels a lot like a Bond film, and I use that comparison very positively. Specifically, it feels like something from the Brosnan era, or maybe the Moore era. There's spycraft mixed with spectacle, there's quips galore, there's gadgets and stunts, there's ridiculous tech... hell, there's even a burly Russian guy who's used as the comic relief. Yelena also sort of plays the role of the Bond girl, in the sense that she's the main character's companion through most of the movie and they trade barbed wisecracks with each other.

Apart from the obvious Bond comparisons, I thought overall the film was pretty good. The cast generally all deliver good performances, the story was interesting, and even though the climax turned into another MCU CGI extravaganza, I thought the action was generally thrilling enough. The jokes also generally landed with me, with the running gag about the Black Widow pose being my favorite. The villains were underwhelming though; Dreykov felt like he was barely in the movie, and Taskmaster's ability to copy fighting styles wasn't really showcased that well.

Also there were lots of hot women in catsuits, so that's good.

Overall I was satisfied with this film. It's not perfect, but it's pretty danged good.
 

Dave

Staff member
Finch

Watched this last night and I quite liked it. Yeah, I know there’s an anthropomorphic robot simulating feelings, but at least this time it’s actually programmed that way. There are a few plot holes but for the most part this movie is a very Tom Hanks movie. You root for him and his acting is top notch as always. Not going to win any awards but it’s worth a watch.
 
Bill and Ted 3

I mean...


Listen I'm just glad Keanu Reeves got to have some fun, you know?
I find there are only two responses to this film.

1.) This film is hot garbage and Keanu Reeves can do better.
or
2.) While this film isn't by any means "good", it's a very sincere and heartfelt message of appreciation to the fans of the original and a touching (if goofy) take on the universality of music and those who love it. This is how I felt while watching the movie and while I doubt I'll ever watch the movie again, it certainly left an impression on me and I felt uplifted after watching it.
 
I find there are only two responses to this film.

1.) This film is hot garbage and Keanu Reeves can do better.
or
2.) While this film isn't by any means "good", it's a very sincere and heartfelt message of appreciation to the fans of the original and a touching (if goofy) take on the universality of music and those who love it. This is how I felt while watching the movie and while I doubt I'll ever watch the movie again, it certainly left an impression on me and I felt uplifted after watching it.
My take on the movie was that it was dumb and goofy and made me happy, and it was a time when I really needed that, so I loved it. I give it a STATION! out of ten.
 
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