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

AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Hubie Halloween (Netflix, 2020)

A bog standard Adam Sandler movie: expect gross out humor, good feelings, and lots of mild fun. Hubie Deboix (Adam Sandler) is the nicest/lamest guy in town but everyone makes fun of him. But when people start disappearing, he's the only one on the case.

Like I said above, this is a pretty average Adam Sandler movie. It's got some gross-out stuff for the kids, but everything is so mild and goodhearted that you can't really hate the movie for taking it easy. This isn't to say their aren't some good jokes: the part where Julie Bowen threatens to beat a women with her own cat (complete with CGI cat looking terrified) made me do a spit take when I noticed the cat and there's another part in the graveyard that got a good laugh out of me. Steve Buscemi fucking kills it as Walter Lambert, in one of his most physical roles to date and is a highlight of the movie. The visuals are all suitably festive and well done and the ending is actually pretty cool.

All in all, C+. Watch it once, have some fun, then forget about it.
 
chris

chris

AshburnerX said:
Hubie Halloween (Netflix, 2020)

A bog standard Adam Sandler movie: expect gross out humor, good feelings, and lots of mild fun. Hubie Deboix (Adam Sandler) is the nicest/lamest guy in town but everyone makes fun of him. But when people start disappearing, he's the only one on the case.

Like I said above, this is a pretty average Adam Sandler movie. It's got some gross-out stuff for the kids, but everything is so mild and goodhearted that you can't really hate the movie for taking it easy. This isn't to say their aren't some good jokes: the part where Julie Bowen threatens to beat a women with her own cat (complete with CGI cat looking terrified) made me do a spit take when I noticed the cat and there's another part in the graveyard that got a good laugh out of me. Steve Buscemi fucking kills it as Walter Lambert, in one of his most physical roles to date and is a highlight of the movie. The visuals are all suitably festive and well done and the ending is actually pretty cool.

All in all, C+. Watch it once, have some fun, then forget about it.
Click to expand...
The trailer felt like Adam Sandler wanted to make his own Ernest movie.
 
Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

Big Hero 6

Is it WEIRD that I consider this movie a pilot episode for the cartoon series? Because while its still a GOOD movie, I feel the show does a lot better with the characters and concepts. THAT and while Damon Wayans Jr was GOOD in the movie, I'd pick Khary Payton over him any day of the week, his voice is more modular.
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Yoshimickster said:
Phantom of the Paradise

Sweet cupping CHRIST was that amazing, TOTALLY slept own during its time! ALSO-it TOTALLY predicted auto-tuning, THAT is amazing, you know sci-fi is good when it predicts the future.
Click to expand...
A lot of famous directors (including Guillermo Del Toro) have quoted Phantom of the Paradise as a major influence on their work. It may not have become a huge hit, but the amount of influence it's had on cinema is undeniable.
 
Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

AshburnerX said:
A lot of famous directors (including Guillermo Del Toro) have quoted Phantom of the Paradise as a major influence on their work. It may not have become a huge hit, but the amount of influence it's had on cinema is undeniable.
Click to expand...
Immediately when I read Del Toro I thought "The Pale Man" from Pan's Labyrinth, like OBVIOUS!
 
Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

Addams Family (2019)

Watched this on a lark and...hm. Its not the WORST animated movie I've seen, a few chuckles here and there, liked some of the old references , but it ALSO feels a bit TOO family friendly at times, both in the humor and the "Acceptance" message. You can't make a modern PG Addams family movie, you make a CLASSIC PG Addams family movie where they could actually get away with being slightly edgey here and there. This is all made even worse with the continued musical numbers throughout the film making it vaguely "Dreamsworksy", the worst of it had to be the sad number where Lurch sings "Everybody Hurts" from the Real world.

ALSO-the character designs REALLY ran the gamut. Most of the Addamses themselves were fine, but the towns people could look weird, depending on the angle the assistant Glenn's head could look WAY too big for his neck, and all the kids had the same homegenized string bean body. And Parker's lips...*SHUDDER* just CREEPY looking, less so when she was goth but still. Of course who am I to expect ACCEPTABLE quality from Greg "Why should I treat animators like humans" Tiernan of Sausage Party fame, who made this film with only TWENTY FOUR million dollars! The film grossed 200 million...that is beyond fucked.
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Yoshimickster said:
Addams Family (2019)

Watched this on a lark and...hm. Its not the WORST animated movie I've seen, a few chuckles here and there, liked some of the old references , but it ALSO feels a bit TOO family friendly at times, both in the humor and the "Acceptance" message. You can't make a modern PG Addams family movie, you make a CLASSIC PG Addams family movie where they could actually get away with being slightly edgey here and there. This is all made even worse with the continued musical numbers throughout the film making it vaguely "Dreamsworksy", the worst of it had to be the sad number where Lurch sings "Everybody Hurts" from the Real world.

ALSO-the character designs REALLY ran the gamut. Most of the Addamses themselves were fine, but the towns people could look weird, depending on the angle the assistant Glenn's head could look WAY too big for his neck, and all the kids had the same homegenized string bean body. And Parker's lips...*SHUDDER* just CREEPY looking, less so when she was goth but still. Of course who am I to expect ACCEPTABLE quality from Greg "Why should I treat animators like humans" Tiernan of Sausage Party fame, who made this film with only TWENTY FOUR million dollars! The film grossed 200 million...that is beyond fucked.
Click to expand...
All the Addamses look fine because they were based on the original artwork from the comics. Everyone ELSE is the problem.
 
Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

AshburnerX said:
All the Addamses look fine because they were based on the original artwork from the comics. Everyone ELSE is the problem.
Click to expand...
Agreed, its like they looked at the old books and based the Addamses on THAT style...but made an entirely DIFFERENT style for every other character, like WHY?! I assume to accentuate the differences, but it just ends up being disorientating.
 
Shawn

Shawn

Yoshimickster said:
Addams Family (2019)

Watched this on a lark and...hm. Its not the WORST animated movie I've seen, a few chuckles here and there, liked some of the old references , but it ALSO feels a bit TOO family friendly at times, both in the humor and the "Acceptance" message. You can't make a modern PG Addams family movie, you make a CLASSIC PG Addams family movie where they could actually get away with being slightly edgey here and there. This is all made even worse with the continued musical numbers throughout the film making it vaguely "Dreamsworksy", the worst of it had to be the sad number where Lurch sings "Everybody Hurts" from the Real world.

ALSO-the character designs REALLY ran the gamut. Most of the Addamses themselves were fine, but the towns people could look weird, depending on the angle the assistant Glenn's head could look WAY too big for his neck, and all the kids had the same homegenized string bean body. And Parker's lips...*SHUDDER* just CREEPY looking, less so when she was goth but still. Of course who am I to expect ACCEPTABLE quality from Greg "Why should I treat animators like humans" Tiernan of Sausage Party fame, who made this film with only TWENTY FOUR million dollars! The film grossed 200 million...that is beyond fucked.
Click to expand...
The movie came and went without leaving much of an impact. It held back the dark humor way too much. I think the 90s cartoon series took more risks.
 
Shawn

Shawn

Frankenweenie (2012) - This one came out just as I was getting married and basically ball'n'chained inside the house, so I never got around to seeing it until the other day. It was okay. Pretty standard for a Tim Burton animated film when it comes to the visuals and the characters, but The Corpse Bride was a far superior film in quality and story. I'd give Frankenweenie a C+
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Shawn said:
Frankenweenie (2012) - This one came out just as I was getting married and basically ball'n'chained inside the house, so I never got around to seeing it until the other day. It was okay. Pretty standard for a Tim Burton animated film when it comes to the visuals and the characters, but The Corpse Bride was a far superior film in quality and story. I'd give Frankenweenie a C+
Click to expand...
Yeah, I tend to prefer the actual short film that Frankenweenie was based on to the animated movie. It used to get a lot of play on Disney back when The Nightmare Before Christmas was still -just- a cult hit and not a merchandise phenom.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

I’ve seen the original but not the cartoon, and I’ll still agree.
I think of it every time I see Sleepy Hollow, since I swear they used the same windmill.
Shawn said:
I think the 90s cartoon series took more risks.
Click to expand...
Beetlejuice took more risks. And was all the more awesome for doing so.

—Patrick
 
Fun Size

Fun Size

I'm not listing everything, as I'm watching one or two a day while I work, but I do have a question. I'm rewatching Silent Hill, because I remember it not totally sucking as a generic horror movie. I am curious though - having only played a couple of the later games, do they actually involve any of this stuff with the kid and zealots, or is this just putting an explanation where one didn't exist before?
 
chris

chris

Fun Size said:
I'm not listing everything, as I'm watching one or two a day while I work, but I do have a question. I'm rewatching Silent Hill, because I remember it not totally sucking as a generic horror movie. I am curious though - having only played a couple of the later games, do they actually involve any of this stuff with the kid and zealots, or is this just putting an explanation where one didn't exist before?
Click to expand...
The movie is an adaption of the first game with elements of Silent Hill 2. The nurses and Pyramid Head doesn't make any sense thematically but were put in anyway because they are iconic. Personally I think the movie is not bad at all. It's a closer adaption of the game than the movie adaption of Resident Evil
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

What chris said.

Silent Hill is an adaption of Silent Hill that veers into a lot of the Silent Hill 2 stuff, as well as just creating it's own stuff. Interestingly, if you play Silent Hill: Homecoming, the cult stuff from that is very closely tied to the movie, to the point that it has the suited guys with pipes/tools patroling parts of Silent Hill when you actually get there. Stylistically, the Silent Hill games that came out after the movies have taken a lot from their visuals and sound design: the world rotting/rusting away transition is the go-to method for it Homecoming and Downpour.
 
Shawn

Shawn

The Witches (2020)
This is an hour and a half film that feels like three to get through. It's not even the terrible CGI effects or the terrible script that gets me the most, but the awful performances from some very talented actors. Anne Hathaway clearly had a lot of fun in this role but it is not one she will be remembered by fondly for. There is also the tone of this film, which begins emotional and deep but turns into a full live-action cartoon once they get to the hotel: with one-dimensional characters, giant mousetraps with comically large cheese, and at one point a witch screams for a mallet and another one pulls a giant mallet right from her purse. There is also this really odd decision to make the narrator's pet mouse SUDDENLY be a another child who was transformed before the events of the film. It comes completely out of nowhere, makes for a completely unbelievable coincidence, and adds absolutely nothing to the movie except now there are THREE children mice for the purpose of making mouse jokes. This film is just awkward.
And also... Chris Rock mouse is a crime against nature.

D+
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Shawn said:
Over The Moon (Netflix)
What a delightful tale. Beautiful animation, a couple of catchy songs, and decent writing.
B+
Click to expand...
I quite liked this, but I felt it was a bit too fast paced at times. They could have eliminated the Ping-pong sequence (which is great, but unnecessary) and used that time to let the movie breath for a bit and I think it would have improved it. Still, I'd recommend it to anyone with kids.
 
Shawn

Shawn

AshburnerX said:
I quite liked this, but I felt it was a bit too fast paced at times. They could have eliminated the Ping-pong sequence (which is great, but unnecessary) and used that time to let the movie breath for a bit and I think it would have improved it. Still, I'd recommend it to anyone with kids.
Click to expand...
I think the Ping Pong sequence gives weight to the Moon Goddess' character and also shows just how much Chen wants to help Fei Fei, even if her goal doesn't match his own.
 
Tiger Tsang

Tiger Tsang

With all the other things to watch, I've gotten lazy with watching my CC Bruce Lee set. Crisp scenes great audio. Now I begin the Fourth Adventure.

"Mr. Hahn, you're like something out of a comic book."
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

Parasite

Not bad. Not sure if I'd say it deserves the Oscar, but it's certainly a pretty good movie. Though I personally don't like bleak movies very much, so my personal tastes may be coloring my perception.

Anyway, the story is fairly interesting, with some nice comedic or touching moments. There were also some quite interesting and striking shots. The cast do well, I particularly liked Song Kang-ho as the father of the poor family.

Also Park So-dam is so damn hot.
 
Frank

Frank

Little Monsters, Australian horror comedy about a loser and a kindergarten teacher keeping a class of kids alive during zombies. Extremely charming and wholesome while having some of the most gut blastingly dark and mean spirited humour. If a fat kid getting hurt by an adult and screeching like a real five year old makes you laugh, totally worth a watch. It's short too which has become a major selling point in movies for me.

Also having Lupita Nyong'o in a leading role is never a terrible idea. She's fucking radiant.
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

Cats

Okay, so yes, this is a shit movie.

First, to clarify my perspective, I'm a big fan of the Cats stage musical. I've seen it 2 times, once in DC and once in London. I used to own the DVD. I can still sing probably 90% of the musical from memory.

A lot of the things that people didn't like about this film didn't actually bother me that much. I didn't find the cats to be very uncanny-valley-y, I thought James Corden and Rebel Wilson were reasonably funny, and I thought the special effects were fine for their purpose. Instead, my criticisms of this film mainly come from its transfer from stage to screen. Cats is a very whimsical stage musical, probably the most whimsical I've ever seen, and the nature of whimsy on the stage doesn't transfer well to a movie. This is primarily because the physical possibilities are more limited in a real-life medium like the stage, so what works as a whimsical and visually impressive stage performance becomes comparatively boring in a movie. For example, in the stage version of the Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat sequence in the stage musical, the performers grab disparate pieces of junk and props and turn it into a facimile of a locomotive. That's something that requires imagination, planning, and coordination from the director, choreographer, prop designer, and cast, so when the audience sees it pulled off on stage, it's a visually impressive yet delightfully whimsical sight. For the film, however, it simply involves the cats singing and prancing on train tracks and through a train car - pretty much the most predictable version of events you could get for this song in a movie. Other examples of this problem include lengthy dance sequences that would work on stage but just become boring in a movie, and the final song The Ad-dressing of Cats feeling incredibly bizarre lyrically and contextually. Heck, even Mr. Mistoffelees's magic trick to bring back the abducted Old Deuteronomy worked better on stage than in the movie, which is surprising because the secret to the trick is incredibly blatant in the stage version (the trick takes place in front of an obvious pipe). In the movie, they cut away, they cut back, and suddenly Old Deuteronomy is there. That's it.

In terms of the music and singing, generally speaking the cast do well, though I'm not sure about the decision to cast Ian Mckellan and Judi Dench. Vocally it feels like they can't keep up with their younger brethren. Also, I wasn't really a huge fan of how they did most of Memory, with Jennifer Hudson meekly squeaking out the lyrics to the lion's share of the song before finally being allowed to cut loose. I mean okay, I get it, she's sad and lonely and nostalgic for a happier time, but if Elaine Paige can pull off those emotions while still giving a vocally competent performance, I'm pretty sure Jennifer Hudson could as well. This is a problem that was similarly encountered in the movie version of Les Miserables (also directed by Tom Hooper, boy this guy just doesn't get it, does he), in which the cast were so busy acting they forgot to sing. Well okay, mainly just Hugh Jackman.

Anyway, overall Cats was not a successful experiment. I can see why non-musical fans would hate this film, but even for a fan of the Cats musical like me it fails to impress.

Taylor Swift prancing around like a cat was hot though. And Francesca Hayward was REALLY hot.
 
Bubble181

Bubble181

Finally a review that brings things to the table I care about! Thank you, I'm a huge stage fan as well (I've seen it live on Broadway and West End, in Antwerp, in Brussels and in Capetown), but haven't seen the movie yet.
Must reviews just say it's boring, the story doesn't work and the sfx aren't what they should be. But I could honestly live with creepy sfx and the stage story easily, if the singing was good and the effects and possibilities of the medium were used well. Seems not, shame.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Tinwhistler said:
Watched The Old Guard on netflix streaming. I enjoyed it so much, I bought the comic.
I was surprised at how closely it followed the comic, with only a couple of minor changes (which I felt improved the story for the better, honestly). It's a good flick.
Click to expand...
Fun fact: the big romantic speech one of them gives about their lover? Greg Rucka had one demand about the script: that the the speech, pulled line-for-line from the comic, remain unaltered.
 
Shawn

Shawn

Ghost in the Shell (2017).
Say what you will about it but I enjoyed this film. I've put it off for years just because I heard all the negative opinions, but after seeing it I feel like it was a very faithful adaption of the original material. It's been years since I've seen the original anime, but I remember the American Dub having some awful dialogue and pretty basic voice acting quality compared to dubs nowadays. So complaints that the live-action film has bad writing seems pretty tame in comparison. Visually the movie is stunning and I think it conveys a future exactly as intended in the series. Major's history is explored differently here than the original series and I think it actually does her some credit and gives her a little more character. Despite the not-so-great writing I feel the acting was actually well done, especially on Johansson's part. I know there was some controversy on her casting, but honestly it's not that big a deal for me because of how great her performance was and how the story actually addresses why she looks the way she does anyway. As far as anime adaptions go it's one of the best, if not the very best.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top