Movie opinions thread (what have you seen, what did you think?)

[dspoonrt]

Worst movie hitman ever: Dan Ackyroyd in Grosse Pointe Blanc.

Maybe so, but I still find his character both funny and menacing. A fat, middle-aged hitman trying to kill another assassin because he won't unionize is hilarious and plausible, despite the surrounding absurdity and plentiful one liners. Aykroyd's insane character only works in the quirky world of the film, but man, I love that flick.

 

[terry.330]

Speaking of Dan Aykroyd. I decided to keep the Tom Hanks train rolling with:

Dragnet- This would fit right in with all those terrible TV show movie remakes from the 00's like Starchy & Hutch and The Dukes of Hazard. They just did it 20 years earlier with the same results. On paper it might have looked like a solid idea but the end result is pretty terrible. The idea of updating a completely straight show that was essentially 2 ultra square hard nosed no nonsense cops busting filthy hippies and updating it for the modern era of 80s excess and making it a comedy could work but it's just too goofy for it's own good. Then you throw in the odd-couple stuff with Hanks hamming it up and ugh. It's not as offensively dumb as the remakes from the 00's but it's still terrible. Plus with the Naked Gun movies doing a lot of similar cop cliche gags but better at the time this one seems really redundant.

Oh well at least it gave us Dan Aykroyd rapping the ending theme song.

 

[terry.330]

Cosmos- This was extremely flawed but very interesting. It's an independent hard sci-fi movie from 2019. It's truly independent, no-one got payed to work on it, all of the production equipment was either borrowed or stuff that the filmmakers owned, same with the props. 90% of the movie takes place inside a station wagon with only 3 actors. The rest is just in a forest at night.

It's about 3 astronomers that go out and setup a bunch of scientific equipment to monitor radio signals and activity in space. One of the guys is working on a program that will map where frequencies are originating from in real time. While exploring a specific bandwidth he hears a very mysterious transmission. He sends out a response and a couple hours later the response is bounced back and looped but with underlying information hidden in it. That information is the original transmission sent from the Arecibo dish back in the 70s. It's binary code but this is not quite the exact same as was sent in the 70s. It's been slightly modified by someone. They then need to save all of this data as proof of contact.

All of the hard science stuff is really interesting and presented in a way that's easy to understand without being too dumbed down. The single location of the car works surprisingly well. The movie is also shot surprisingly well considering the budget.

The problems (and there are many) start with the glacial pacing and character development. Then escalate when they realized that they needed to build suspense and tension for what is essentially 3 guys sitting in a car and looking at computer screens for 2+ hours. They do that with almost action style editing which does not work at all. Then on top of that they add one of the most overbearing and manipulative scores I've ever heard. Imagine the editing and epic score from an action scene in Gladiator but it's just a guy sitting in the back of a car typing or plugging in cables.

The other major issue is that in order to build suspense and make things exciting there has to be stakes. Which leads to the characters making very dumb decisions about basic things that guys this smart wouldn't make. Like not bringing extra batteries to power all of their equipment. It just deflates everything.

Still I have to give them credit. The core of the story is as strong as the idea behind Arrival but much more believable. They just tried a little too hard in all the wrong ways.

 

[Average Joe]

Cosmos- This was extremely flawed but very interesting. It's an independent hard sci-fi movie from 2019. It's truly independent, no-one got payed to work on it, all of the production equipment was either borrowed or stuff that the filmmakers owned, same with the props. 90% of the movie takes place inside a station wagon with only 3 actors. The rest is just in a forest at night.

It's about 3 astronomers that go out and setup a bunch of scientific equipment to monitor radio signals and activity in space. One of the guys is working on a program that will map where frequencies are originating from in real time. While exploring a specific bandwidth he hears a very mysterious transmission. He sends out a response and a couple hours later the response is bounced back and looped but with underlying information hidden in it. That information is the original transmission sent from the Arecibo dish back in the 70s. It's binary code but this is not quite the exact same as was sent in the 70s. It's been slightly modified by someone. They then need to save all of this data as proof of contact.

All of the hard science stuff is really interesting and presented in a way that's easy to understand without being too dumbed down. The single location of the car works surprisingly well. The movie is also shot surprisingly well considering the budget.

The problems (and there are many) start with the glacial pacing and character development. Then escalate when they realized that they needed to build suspense and tension for what is essentially 3 guys sitting in a car and looking at computer screens for 2+ hours. They do that with almost action style editing which does not work at all. Then on top of that they add one of the most overbearing and manipulative scores I've ever heard. Imagine the editing and epic score from an action scene in Gladiator but it's just a guy sitting in the back of a car typing or plugging in cables.

The other major issue is that in order to build suspense and make things exciting there has to be stakes. Which leads to the characters making very dumb decisions about basic things that guys this smart wouldn't make. Like not bringing extra batteries to power all of their equipment. It just deflates everything.

Still I have to give them credit. The core of the story is as strong as the idea behind Arrival but much more believable. They just tried a little too hard in all the wrong ways.

 

[Average Joe]

Yeah, but did you see the part in Jason X when all those nanomachines turned Jason into Super Jason and he got all metallic and badass? That shit ruled.

No idea how my stupid-ass posted twice, nor can I figure out how to delete a post so that fucker is there for good.

 

[LoneSage]

Starsky and Hutch is forgiven for Ben's "DO IT" guy. Christ that was hilarious in a stupid way. I'd probably still laugh at it today.

 

[LoneSage]

Yeah, but did you see the part in Jason X when all those nanomachines turned Jason into Super Jason and he got all metallic and badass? That shit ruled.

No idea how my stupid-ass posted twice, nor can I figure out how to delete a post so that fucker is there for good.

Have you ever wondered if the nanomachines gave Jason a super penis

 

[Average Joe]

Have you ever wondered if the nanomachines gave Jason a super penis

 

[LoneSage]

Well, think about it sometime for me

 

[terry.330]

Scream (V)- Pretty bad. The whole "requel" thing is ultra lame. Having the main girl be the illegitimate kid of Billy Loomis is also lame and forced. All of the gen Z characters sucked, bunch of bland fodder. The weirdo girl killer was just awful, possibly the worst of any of the villains in the series so far. Also killing off the female sheriff and Dewey was a bad idea. Courtney Cox is borderline creepy looking with all her plastic surgery, especially next to Neve Campbell who seems to be aging pretty well. The kills were pretty brutal but don't really ad much to the movie overall. I could overlook most it's faults if it at least had some of the weird sense of fun that the previous ones had but it doesn't. It's like writers didn't understand it's not just about being meta and adding twists it also has to actually be entertaining. I guess it's perfectly serviceable for a modern slasher but I expected a little bit more. I'll adjust my expectations of part VI.

 

[jro]

Several...

Dredd (re-watch roughly 8 or 9 or 10 x) - it's still so damn good. Urban's commitment to the role is commendable, Garland's script is, just, yeah. Hard to choose between Dredd, The Thing, and Halloween for my single favorite movie of all time. It's that good.

Anyway, mortal--tier movies...

Downrange (re-watch)- yeesh, better than I remembered it. Nasty, violent, unpleasant in all the right ways. Strong recommendation if you like the genre, if not stay the hell away or you might not feel real good.

Kidnapped - goddamn the Spanish are srsly not kidding with their horror movies, the first one had dogs biting off kid's faces then this. Very fun. Home invasion thriller where eventually everybody dies. Like, fuck, man, that does not happen in American pussy horror.

Relic - okay, trend, everyone fucking dies here also. Like, jeez guys. JEEZ. It's quite good, but the plot just goes from is she bad to she's possessed in like 5 minutes. Well-made and well-shot and all that and it will make you uncomfortable but goddamn.

 

[SouthtownKid]

Scream (V)- Pretty bad. The whole "requel" thing is ultra lame. Having the main girl be the illegitimate kid of Billy Loomis is also lame and forced. All of the gen Z characters sucked, bunch of bland fodder. The weirdo girl killer was just awful, possibly the worst of any of the villains in the series so far. Also killing off the female sheriff and Dewey was a bad idea. Courtney Cox is borderline creepy looking with all her plastic surgery, especially next to Neve Campbell who seems to be aging pretty well. The kills were pretty brutal but don't really ad much to the movie overall. I could overlook most it's faults if it at least had some of the weird sense of fun that the previous ones had but it doesn't. It's like writers didn't understand it's not just about being meta and adding twists it also has to actually be entertaining. I guess it's perfectly serviceable for a modern slasher but I expected a little bit more. I'll adjust my expectations of part VI.

Eh, I liked it okay. I thought it was the first good one after 1 or 2. Not sure, because I don't really remember 2, but I remember I didn't like any after that.

 

[terry.330]

Eh, I liked it okay. I thought it was the first good one after 1 or 2. Not sure, because I don't really remember 2, but I remember I didn't like any after that.

My main problem is that most of the new characters just weren't interesting or even likable compared to the ones introduced in 4.

 

[SouthtownKid]

My main problem is that most of the new characters just weren't interesting or even likable compared to the ones introduced in 4.

Ah, I'm not sure I remember liking any of the Scream characters ever to begin with.

 

[fake]

Mysterious Skin
This felt exactly like something I'd have rented from Blockbuster's indie section in the mid-2000s. One teenager thinks he was abducted by aliens and experimented upon as a child. Another is a rebel and gay prostitute (oh, excuse me, "sex worker"). The connection between the two is pretty up-front: they were both abused by their little league coach. It seemed like realistic portrayals of the fallout of sexual abuse, and having two distinct characters was solid juxtaposition. I'd recommend it but, like I said, it wreaks of mid-2000s indie movie.

 

[terry.330]

I'd recommend it but, like I said, it wreaks of mid-2000s indie movie.

Yeah, that's how all of Greg Araki's movies feel. JGL was doing quite a bit of that stuff at the time, the only one that holds up is Brick.

 

[famicommander]

My main problem is that most of the new characters just weren't interesting or even likable compared to the ones introduced in 4.

6 is head and shoulders above all the other sequels. Samantha especially shines much more than she did in 5.

 

[NeoSneth]

Outland
1981 Sean Connery Gritty Sci Fi
I knew nothing about this film until a few days ago. I watched the trailer, and I knew I had to see it. The art direction is very early 80's sci fi like Alien and Blade Runner. It's awesome. The movie itself is not all that interesting, but I loved every minute of it. It's often compared to High Noon, and I see the similarities. It was a good reminder that Sean Connery on his worst day was absolutely untouchable. That man must have slayed in his decades alive. The movie is worth it for the setting alone, while the rest of the movie is passable.

 

[wataru330]

How does Outland compare to Zardoz?

 

[NeoSneth]

How does Outland compare to Zardoz?

yeah my friend immediately asked that. One is a groovy 70's space opera. The other is brutal mine quarry run by weyland yutani-like corpo.

 

[Burning Fight!!]

pls don't entice me to watch zardoz again

 

[famicommander]

oh no

Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan are combining their two Karate Kid franchises into one movie.

Even though the Cobra Kai writers/producers have explicitly said multiple times that Jackie's movie and the animated series are not set in the universe of their show. So either Sony Pictures is ignoring that or this is some multiverse bullshit.

Terrible idea. The Jackie Chan movie sucked hard and wasn't even about Karate.

 

[terry.330]

Scream VI- What a mess. Is it better than part V? It's hard to tell. The kids from part V have a little more character but they're still unlikable especially the little sister, who is someone we should care about. The main girl gets some character development but it's hindered by the bad writing and general stupidity of the plot. Which is the biggest problem. The shrine and entire last 3rd of the movie is straight up retarded and makes zero sense.

There's also the issue of elevating the Scream lore to such an epic degree and taking it so serious but then still doing a ton of stupid little things that completely detract from it. Like making jokes after you just saw your friend get butchered. Or getting stabbed to death in public without anyone noticing. Or the killer being a tiny girl that can throw people through walls or take a serious beating but not have any bruises or cuts in the next scene. Not to mention magically be 6' tall in the Ghostface costume etc. The reason the earlier movies got away with that shit is because they were fun and Wes Craven knew exactly how to ride the line so you didn't mind overlooking them.

Also Courtney Cox's transformation into a lizard is now fully complete and it also looks like Hayden Panititeri's had some work done too, her face was completely paralyzed. Oh and bringing back Kirby added nothing to the movie and was just more lazy writing.

I liked the nyc setting and they used it well for the most part, the movie looked pretty good and the kills were brutal but that's about all I enjoyed.

 

[famicommander]

Wes Craven himself insisted that Kirby survived Scream 4 so to me they had to bring her back at some point.

 

[famicommander]

welp

They just fired Melissa Barrera (Samantha Carpenter) from Scream VII due to making this post on social media:

They better pay up and get Neve back now or they're totally fucked. There were already rumors of Jenna Ortega having a reduced role in this due to her absurdly busy schedule.