Movies - General Discussion

[Cody_Russell]

frigging awesome. It was better than any of the Avenger movies or Marvel series.

Better than ... "Winter Soldier?!" High praise.
Interesting that you aren't a fan of "Wonder Woman", but really liked "Justice League." I'll have to catch it "for free" with my MoviePass. (not really free, but kind of).

Avengers 3 trailer dropped. Looks great ... then again, so did that darker themed Age of Ultron trailer. Age of Ultron disappointed.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZfuNTqbHE8"]Marvel Studios' Avengers: Infinity War Official Trailer - YouTube[/ame]

[edindetroit]

Well I have. Went and watched Justice League tonight and it was frigging awesome. It was better than any of the Avenger movies or Marvel series.

My wife and I really liked it too. Did you stay to the end of the credits.

[jaadam4]

My wife and I really liked it too. Did you stay to the end of the credits.

Yes indeed.

The first one was pretty kick ass but both were good.

[WingsFan]

Watched 'American Made' last night - not bad

[jaadam4]

I liked it. It’s tough to screw up a movie about coke and people burrying millions of dollars in their back yards

[millenwasmyfavorite]

Anyone read Southern Reach Trilogy?

Annihilation Trailers increasingly good.

Also, for anyone that has read: Garland essentially told studio execs to F off in terms of cuts -- so they transitioned overseas distribution to stream-exclusive, while maintaining conventional release in US. Studio execs wanted less of the book/more deviation due to ending and main protagonist character arc.

Those who have zero idea what I am talking about: Annihilation is a great book part of (as of now) 3 part series. Comes out in February. Directed by deux ex machina Garland (helped write 28 days later and Sunshine), Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac, and Jennifer Jason Leigh act.

General summary: A spontaneous space appears and the government actively recruits expeditions of varying sorts to investigate. Portman's husband was on previous expedition and reappears suddenly and terminally ill. Portman volunteers for upcoming deployment (She is a biologist). Enters space w/ crew. And very little of what happens after can be reconciled with typical previous scifi/suspense/psychothriller movies.

[Cody_Russell]

Haven’t read the book, but have seen the trailer multiple times.
“28 Days Later” is probably my favorite horror movie... seen it so many times. I remember seeing Garland’s name on the credits way back then.
Of course “Ex Machina” ... that was my favorite movie of 2015. Blown away by that.
Alex Garland is an up and coming talented person that deserves our attention until striking out. “Annihilation” looks very promising.
Sci-Fi/ Thriller is like my favorite combo of movie genres too!

Just discovered Garland did the screenplay for “Dredd.” Not surprised there... “Dredd” is an under watched comic book movie that’s really good.

[millenwasmyfavorite]

Yea,

28 Days Later and Sunshine are top tens for me.

[Cody_Russell]

"Sunshine" is that good? Have to check it out...

Couple movies I've seen recently for the first time:
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" - 7/10. Actually loved most of the comedy part of this movie. It went a little too far with it at some points, but mostly entertaining. Wasn't a fan of the 3rd act as it was kind of typical, Marvel villain meh. The old "thinly developed villain is going to destroy the world/ universe" that you see in a lot of their movies.

"Wonder Woman" - 6/10. Finally saw the entire movie. First 2/3, which I saw earlier this year, was entertaining. The No Man's Land scene was awesome. There were A LOT of issues with this film... partially the 3rd act again. Feel like this movie copied the first Captain America movie. Bad villains, again.

"The Big Sick" - 8/10. REALLY liked this. Cute comedy/ love story. No issues with it really.

"The Shape of Water" - 8/10. Again, REALLY liked it. Great theme of a character being misunderstood ... how people/ things can fill a void of something missing in you. Sally Hawkins' character was someone you care about. Great visuals (not as good as BR 2049). Issue relates to the plot kind of being predictable / spending too much time on some side plots. This is a LOL point: This movie almost has the plot of a South Park episode Free Willzyx. That distracted me.

More to come in an attempt to catch up with 2017 movies... like "The Disaster Artist", "Baby Driver", "The Post", "Three Billboards Outside Missouri", "Lady Bird", "War for the Planet of the Apes", "Spiderman- Homecoming", and "Cocoa"
So far, nothing has beaten "Blade Runner 2049" as the best.

[millenwasmyfavorite]

Sunshine is danny boyle/cilian murphy sci fi w/ John Murphy score.

Shape of Water was good. But, can't envision myself watching for fun many times in the future.

Disaster Artist was great. Why?

Because, if you are like, you go into it thinking it is a mockumentary -- laughing two hours at the expense of Wiseau. But, you end up realizing that Franco genuinely admires Wiseau -- which lends credence to some interesting back story:

Franco, during the early genesis of his hipster-academia renaissance, attempted a grassroots production of McCarthy's BLOOD MERIDIAN and because of the difficulty of adaptation (universally accepted at the time and many times prior to Franco's effort) and general shittiness of Franco's test footage -- Franco was slammed by critics/academics/literaries/movie-buffs, etc. etc. etc. That effort was never reignited.

I'd argue Franco not only found Wiseau's story narratively compelling, but encouraging to someone who had done something so similar, but had halted at the first sign of vehement scorn.

TL;DR: Wiseau is Franco's muse. I hope he assembles a team to make Blood Meridian

Liked BR a lot.

Probably seeing 3 BB MO this weekend. As well as I TONYA.

Dunkirk still reigning supreme for me.

[LightninBoy]

Blood Meridian is one f'd up book. I wouldn't trust Franco to adapt that material.

[millenwasmyfavorite]

It isn't about Franco being solely responsible for adaptation, but continuing to spearhead the effort to adapt it.

[Mainevent]

I read Annihilation but didn't get to the next two books. It sort of fell off my list after hearing some not so great reviews of book 2. Need to pick it back up again.

Agreed on Wonder Woman, it was fine. Gal Gadot is great and her chemistry with Pine is excellent. It was a solid super hero movie starring a woman.

Baby Driver was awesome (though with some 3rd act issues itself), but I'm an Edgar Wright disciple so I'm the right audience for that one.

And Coco was amazing. The level emotion in that movie was incredible. My daughters were alternately bawling their eyes out in sadness and happiness at various times. It even got a little musty in the old theater for dad a time or two. And the visuals were stunning as always with Pixar.

And honestly, Thor Ragnarok might have been the best pure fun of any movie I saw last year. It was ridiculous, silly, colorful, funny, didn't take itself seriously in any way and everybody looked l liked they were having fun making it.

[millenwasmyfavorite]

Same boat for annihilation, but I am taking plunge over next work travel.

The criticisms seem to mostly revolve about the sequels not being conventional, not necessarily being bad. We will see.

[Cody_Russell]

More movies. Movie Pass has made it cheap to see new movies...

"The Greatest Showman" - 8/10. Extremely entertaining musical. VERY shallow plot that is almost annoying because of how basic it is. Simply rating it high because of the music. Hugh Jackman had an awesome 2017 when it comes to movies.

"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri" - 9/10. Excellent drama, acted perfectly with great performances by everyone... particularity McDormand and Rockwell. Woody Harrelson doesn't deserve an Oscar nomination for his role in this movie because he is just Woody Harrelson. I don't see a transformation when it comes to acting. I mean, he is always great... if you give an Oscar nom for this role, give it to every Woody performance.

"Lady Bird" - 10/10. Omg... it's right there with my favorite movie of 2017 with BR2049. Perfect coming of age movie where you care about every character. Saoirse Ronan is so real, which is amazing considering her Irish accent. If you like "Boyhood", like me, this is for you.

"Spider-Man: Homecoming" - 7/10. Good and entertaining comic book movie. Didn't blow me away or anything... solid in a lot of areas.

2017 is a year is so many great movies. Then again, it's easy when you pick and choose certain movies.