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Movie opinions thread (what have you seen, what did you think?)
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Shoulda used Eartha Kitt, Lee Meriwether, and/or Julie Newmar instead of Kravitz.
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Galaxy Quest and Spaceballs are as good as any actual Star Trek and Star Wars films.
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The Daytrippers
Just after Thanksgiving, a woman finds a love note behind her husband's nightstand. Unsure if it were actually written to her husband, she shows it to her overbearing mother, fed up father, rebel sister, and wannabe intellectual boyfriend of the sister. The husband is going to be at work all day and at a work party all night, but the family wants answers now. They pile into a barely functioning station wagon to make the drive from Long Island to Manhattan and figure out if the husband is cheating. Along the way, five family members in a station wagon turns out to be a recipe for tension.
It's short, funny, focused, and very '90s. Definitely recommended.
Just after Thanksgiving, a woman finds a love note behind her husband's nightstand. Unsure if it were actually written to her husband, she shows it to her overbearing mother, fed up father, rebel sister, and wannabe intellectual boyfriend of the sister. The husband is going to be at work all day and at a work party all night, but the family wants answers now. They pile into a barely functioning station wagon to make the drive from Long Island to Manhattan and figure out if the husband is cheating. Along the way, five family members in a station wagon turns out to be a recipe for tension.
It's short, funny, focused, and very '90s. Definitely recommended.
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I watched a documentary on Galaxy Quest last week, I knew it had it's fans but not the cult status it seems to have gained recently. I think it's a great movie but watching a group of fans cosplay as the aliens who refused to break character walking around like a bunch of autistic penguins was one of the most embarrassing things I've ever seen.
Also Sigourney Weaver be looking fine in it. That cleavage.
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True, I do remember that family cosplaying as the Thermians lol. I mean, people get into what they get into. But it doesn't detract from how great the flick is.
It was a cool doc, other than the Thermian family lol.
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Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. But I'm sure it would have doubled the cost of whatever they spent. I mean, I'm assuming it costs money to do deap fake shit, but I don't really know. And some of the voice clips were questionable for the material. But overall, I liked it.
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Would've been hilarious to just use all three ladies interchangeably and have Batman give no visible reaction, just like the old show and movie.
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That would be great. Maybe they still will, if they think of it or someone suggests it. Since it's just a homemade project, they can Lucas it anytime they want.
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Yeah but that’s not saying much. You have a pretty low bar in the first place. And Star Wars may have more good movies than Star Trek.
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Good Star Wars and Star Trek movies in no order:
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
Rogue One
The Wrath of Khan
The Search for Spock
The Undiscovered Country
First Contact
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I can see not liking Rogue One or Search for Spock but not liking First Contact is some PLANE.TICKET. shit.
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First Contact effectively changed the entire nature of the Borg from a collective to a hive.
The Borg Queen is one of the dumbest things ever added to Star Trek.
So dumb.
The Borg collective was far scarier than the Borg hive. Now they’re just stupid insects controlled by an overlord, before they were something else - something which entirely erased the individual and made him part of a greater whole. Now they’re slave robots. The idea that entire species was one - and communicated and thought as such is a lot cooler than a hive/overmind.
I’m sure there is some dumbass retcon lore about the Queen and how she is only an avatar of the collective itself, but that’s bullshit and I’m pretty sure they refer to the Borg now as a hive.
BORING.
The Borg Queen is one of the dumbest things ever added to Star Trek.
So dumb.
The Borg collective was far scarier than the Borg hive. Now they’re just stupid insects controlled by an overlord, before they were something else - something which entirely erased the individual and made him part of a greater whole. Now they’re slave robots. The idea that entire species was one - and communicated and thought as such is a lot cooler than a hive/overmind.
I’m sure there is some dumbass retcon lore about the Queen and how she is only an avatar of the collective itself, but that’s bullshit and I’m pretty sure they refer to the Borg now as a hive.
BORING.
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Wrath of Khan is the only good Trek movie because it’s not even a Trek movie, it’s Moby Dick.
Don’t get me wrong, I like a lot of the other movies but they’re not good. Most of the TNG movies are pretty bad.
The only likeable character in Rogue One was the droid.
Though I did like the the guys who still knew of, and believed in, the force. I liked the “I am one with the force and the force is one with me” bit.
Don’t get me wrong, I like a lot of the other movies but they’re not good. Most of the TNG movies are pretty bad.
The only likeable character in Rogue One was the droid.
Though I did like the the guys who still knew of, and believed in, the force. I liked the “I am one with the force and the force is one with me” bit.
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The Dead Zone- I was somehow oblivious to the fact that this was directed by David Cronenberg, that was a nice surprise. I haven't read the Stephen King story but this certainly stands on it's own and even though I'd seen it before it's been since the late 90's and I'd forgotten most of it so it was nice to watch it going in mostly fresh. The movie is excellent, Christopher Walken is perfectly cast, the pacing is good and it's a nice focused story. It's fairly bland looking which is a trademark of Cronenberg's earlier movies (outside of the special effects) but the style serves the story well enough. Martin Sheen is also fantastic as the shitbag politician and it's funny to think he went on to play the president for all those years on The West Wing.
Highly recommend.
Highly recommend.
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The Northman
Very different compared to The Witch and The Lighthouse in most ways (this isn't an A24 movie and it doesn't quite feel like one), but still uses very foundational storytelling and filmmaking techniques. It's a take on the story that Shakespeare adapted into Hamlet. Definitely recommended if you can stomach some gore.
Very different compared to The Witch and The Lighthouse in most ways (this isn't an A24 movie and it doesn't quite feel like one), but still uses very foundational storytelling and filmmaking techniques. It's a take on the story that Shakespeare adapted into Hamlet. Definitely recommended if you can stomach some gore.
I love this one. It's feels very "eating bagel pizza on the couch on a sick day made for TV movie" but it's kinda better because of that.
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They introduced the Borg Queen in First Contact so there would be someone for the other Star Trek characters to interact with. It was for dramatic (story) reasons.
I didn't like it at the time- it felt forced, and didn't make much sense, given the collective nature of the Borg. The fact that the Borg had no leader, was one of the things that made them a unique enemy in Star Trek.
So, for Borg stories after that, it tended to be that the Federation characters only had to beat the Queen herself to win, rather than beat the collective.
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Dude. I know right. Holy shit. Every joe has its day, I guess. Took him 15 years though.
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Saw The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent a couple of nights ago. It definitely favors someone who is either a Nic Cage fan or is at least in on the Nic Cage joke. He takes plenty of opportunities to poke fun at his image of being a self-involved over-actor. The actual narrative inside the movie is pretty forgettable (Nic Cage is not getting good roles anymore and his kid hates him so he takes a million dollars to show up to a super-fan's birthday party who may or may not be a drug kingpin... shenanigans ensue and he learns to be a better parent/person along the way) but the meta stuff is super fun without being a lot of REMEMBER THIS THING YOU LIKED HAHA. It also has a movie-within-a-movie idea that folds in on itself a couple of times. So yes... if you like Nic Cage or at least appreciate his particular brand of weirdness, I'd definitely give it a try. Otherwise, it might be a little too thin.
Spoiler:
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Saint Maud- Gotta say I was pretty disappointed by this one. On one hand it's extremely well made, the performances are stellar, the sound design is great and it's quite original. On the other it's shockingly predictable. I knew almost everything that was going to happen and the reasoning behind it within 20 minutes.
I'd definitely recommend it though and in a way the predicability actually works in it's favor but I think it also hinders it just as much. I was expecting something along the lines of Hereditary and this is more in-line with The Blackcoat's Daughter.
I'd definitely recommend it though and in a way the predicability actually works in it's favor but I think it also hinders it just as much. I was expecting something along the lines of Hereditary and this is more in-line with The Blackcoat's Daughter.
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Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off- This was pretty damn good. A good chunk is spent on his early life and career, I was afraid they'd fawn all over his success in the late 90s and early 00s. They barely talked about the video games and modern sponsorship. He's a pretty candid guy and wasn't afraid to get personal and discuss his short comings in both his career and personal life.
It mainly focuses on what drives him to the level he's achieved and the ramifications of that. Namely physical injury and relationships with his family. They get some great interviews with Rodney Mullins, Andy McDonald, Christian Hosoi and Stacy Peralta. As well as his family members.
Though I was never a huge fan of Hawk. When I was first into skating in the 90s it was all about street, there weren't any skate parks so vert wasn't even really a thing anymore, he seemed antiquated and bland. Then when I got back into it around 2000 everything had changed, the sport was huge and very commercialized. Between the rise of the X-Games, all the video games and just an overall shift in the culture it didn't feel as special anymore. That said I always respected Hawk, there was never any denying his skill and work ethic but he represented a lot of the commercialized stuff about the culture that I disliked. I came to appreciate him more as I got older, he's a likable guy and a good ambassador for the sport.
It's on HBO Max and I recommend it if you were ever into skating in the 80s or 90s. I'd also recommend to people who never skated, it does a really good job at showing just how difficult and punishing it is and examines the intangible "thing" that anyone who has ever tried to learn even the simplest of tricks has felt.
It mainly focuses on what drives him to the level he's achieved and the ramifications of that. Namely physical injury and relationships with his family. They get some great interviews with Rodney Mullins, Andy McDonald, Christian Hosoi and Stacy Peralta. As well as his family members.
Though I was never a huge fan of Hawk. When I was first into skating in the 90s it was all about street, there weren't any skate parks so vert wasn't even really a thing anymore, he seemed antiquated and bland. Then when I got back into it around 2000 everything had changed, the sport was huge and very commercialized. Between the rise of the X-Games, all the video games and just an overall shift in the culture it didn't feel as special anymore. That said I always respected Hawk, there was never any denying his skill and work ethic but he represented a lot of the commercialized stuff about the culture that I disliked. I came to appreciate him more as I got older, he's a likable guy and a good ambassador for the sport.
It's on HBO Max and I recommend it if you were ever into skating in the 80s or 90s. I'd also recommend to people who never skated, it does a really good job at showing just how difficult and punishing it is and examines the intangible "thing" that anyone who has ever tried to learn even the simplest of tricks has felt.
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The Lighthouse
Took me this long to see it
Didn't like this nearly as much as The VVitch. Personally I didn't see this as a supernatural film at all, but as a depiction of the effect cabin fever and the dt's on already flaky people. Some of the references felt quite on the nose. 2,5/5
Machine Soul
Documentary about Finnish electronic music, very limited in scope, superficial, and cliquey. All in all quite disappointing, many familiar faces though. 2/5
Took me this long to see it
Didn't like this nearly as much as The VVitch. Personally I didn't see this as a supernatural film at all, but as a depiction of the effect cabin fever and the dt's on already flaky people. Some of the references felt quite on the nose. 2,5/5Machine Soul
Documentary about Finnish electronic music, very limited in scope, superficial, and cliquey. All in all quite disappointing, many familiar faces though. 2/5
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Thirteen Ghosts- I don't often consider something a guilty pleasure movie but this certainly qualifies. It is objectively a bad movie, possibly even terrible. It makes almost no sense, it's loud, jarringly edited to the point of seizures, the casting is mostly baffling, the characters if you can even call them that are terrible and the acting ranges from scenery chewing to comatose. It's also late 90s as fuck. The hair, the clothes, I mean shit the cast themselves. Then there's those fucking glasses...
Despite all that I love it. The setting and practical effects are second to none. The ghosts are for the most part pretty creative. There is always something happening, often too much intact (that's the editing problem I mentioned) and there's just a sort of method to the stupidity that somehow works. At least most of the time.
I can certainly see why people hate it but I know a lot of people also embrace it's particular brand of shittiness.
Despite all that I love it. The setting and practical effects are second to none. The ghosts are for the most part pretty creative. There is always something happening, often too much intact (that's the editing problem I mentioned) and there's just a sort of method to the stupidity that somehow works. At least most of the time.
I can certainly see why people hate it but I know a lot of people also embrace it's particular brand of shittiness.
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