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

wyo

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Well if wyo liked it, I change my opinion to hating it

anyone want to buy 20-something Dune books?
No thanks, the books are too much work. Gonna stick with the movie. Please keep us updated on its ongoing performance metrics.
 

jro

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I couldn't stand the original Dune.

Somehow, I really liked the new version, regardless of its obvious flaws. It's like it took the original story and made it comprehensible and also not campy. Don't get me wrong, the loss of Agent Cooper is a major obstacle to any film, but Chalamee's utterly uninterested performance somehow did the trick for me. Kinda thinking Villanueve's style won me over more than anything, but I'll hold out hope that the finale pays things off.
 
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SouthtownKid

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ShamWow was fine as Paul, and Chani & Stilgar are huge improvements in the new movie (sorry, Big Ed). But several of the new cast are gigantic downgrades from the Lynch movie.

Visually, the aesthetic is great for Arrakis, but too drab and barren for everything else. Especially everything House Atreides and planet Caladan. Maybe put the Villeneuve Atreides costuming on the Harkonnens. Then the Atreides can look like humans with a culture, and the Harkonnens don't have to look like the most boring Cenobites ever.
 

100proof

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Hit Last Night in Soho this evening. Edgar Wright still hasn't whiffed in my book, even if he's no longer making smart genre parodies with his friends anymore. Terrific use of color and sound (the giallo influence is obvious without being a blatant rip-off as it would be in a lesser director's hands) and the soundtrack is terrific as usual for an Edgar Wright movie. It's very female-driven and splashes around in the "something to say about gender dynamics" pool but it's not embarrassingly preachy or juvenile in the way it handles it like so many recent movies that cover similar ground. It makes great use of old Brit actors (Diana Rigg is great in her last role, Terrence Stamp gets a juicy bit part) and there's significantly more unattractive British people than you see in the average Hollywood movie. It's a ghost story on its face and relies pretty heavily on the standard "is there something supernatural going on or is she just crazy" trope pretty hard but it all worked for me.
 
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terry.330

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Alone in the Dark- From the director of The Hidden, starring Martin Landau, Jack Palance and Donald Pleasance and a host of other recognizables. A town wide blackout occurs and the security system on the local mental hospital goes down and everyone escapes. Like The Hidden it's more strange than traditional schlock horror and has a fair amount of offbeat humor. Donald Pleasance plays the pot smoking, new age quack head of the asylum, Landau a pyromaniac priest and Palance is a paranoid homicidal maniac. The whole thing is a lot of fun and tosses any sort of logic out the window almost immediately.
 

jro

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The Harder They Fall - every now and then Netflix gets one right, and they nailed this. Cast is just ridiculously good, and no one at all wasted (Regina King just killed every scene she had). Seriously, also, Lakieth Stanfield, love that dude. Far and away my favorite movie of the year, which I never would have expected.

Creep 2 - okay I guess. I like Mark Duplass for the most part, but the first one was much better. Lot more dong in this one though, so, uh, yeah.

Till Death - Megan Fox really was as good as advertised, pretty fun to watch for the most part. Maybe a little lack of clarity as to the plot in some parts, but it landed where it needed to and works as a very efficient and fun little thriller.
 

terry.330

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Scott Pilgram- I like this more every time I watch it. I enjoyed it when it came out but I think since I didn't care for the comic that somewhat hindered my perception of it as a separate thing. On it's own merits it's an excellent film. Though I still think Michael Cera while fine performance wise just doesn't look the part.
 

SouthtownKid

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I couldn't get into it. Jumping through a bunch of hoops just so he can date an underage girl? Yay, creepy grooming statutory rapist! As if Michael Cera wasn't unlikeable enough on his own already.

Like with terry, the comic already hindered my enjoyment. I bailed on the comic once I saw the formula set in, plus I hated the premise so much. Then I gave the movie a chance, but punched out about the midway point. Maybe the end is so great that it redeems the rest, but I'll probably never know. I don't see what the rest of you are seeing in this movie.
 

terry.330

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It's totally Edgar Wright's direction that I find so enjoyable. It's just made so damn well, it could easily have been a disaster in less capable hands.

The whole story and Scott's character arc is fairly embarrassing as it's supposedly written by an adult for adults but comes off as 9th grade schmaltz. With a heavy dose of nacasistic self empowerment as the cherry on top. Plus the whole angle of Ramona basically being a trophy/reward for Scotts "epiphany" is many thing but clever certainly isn't one of them.

It's funny that the shitty comic has spawned far superior things (both the movie and the game) with the aesthetic and basic premise handled by far more capable people.
 

sylvie

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Was never drawn to Scott Pilgrim. I definitely would not like it. It's teen-age in the wrong ways for my tastes. I bet all the guys at Burger Records who got called out for fucking teens were into Scott Pilgrim though.
 

evil wasabi

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The game is excellent

Age difference between Scott and Knives Chau seemed like 4 years. When you're 20 that's a huge difference. When you're 27 it's not.
 

racecar

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No Time to Die started off very well but kind of fell apart towards the end. The villain was lame and all the build up of the previous Daniel Craig Bonds was wasted. Recommend passing on this one.
X2 this was different feel for a bond flick maybe it’s just the writing/ directing, don’t seem like typical bond movies and ending.
 

terry.330

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The game is excellent

Age difference between Scott and Knives Chau seemed like 4 years. When you're 20 that's a huge difference. When you're 27 it's not.
Agreed. The game is fucking great. Anybody who is a fan of classic beat em ups should at least try it. Plus the pixel art and soundtrack are fantastic.

Also he wasn't dating her because she was jailbait, he was dating her because emotionally he's still that immature and clueless. People seem to miss that and focus in the asian school girl thing.
 

evil wasabi

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Agreed. The game is fucking great. Anybody who is a fan of classic beat em ups should at least try it. Plus the pixel art and soundtrack are fantastic.

Also he wasn't dating her because she was jailbait, he was dating her because emotionally he's still that immature and clueless. People seem to miss that and focus in the asian school girl thing.
Also that she wanted him more than he wanted her. Are we allowed to mention that high school girls think there's status in dating college guys as much as college girls think there's status in dating rich professionals?

trust me, it's not like Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates were being the creepy guy trying to woo Mackenzie or Melinda. Other way around.

Pretty sure this discussion is verboten.
 
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sylvie

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You can get away with fucking a 16 year old when you're 20. It's 4+ years from then that it will be brought up by the younger party, then the uphill battle begins
 

LoneSage

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trust me, it's not like Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates were being the creepy guy trying to woo Mackenzie or Melinda. Other way around.
No wasabi, they are rich white men who used their wealth and power to entrap their wives, who are victims in a society where women have no choice but to choose the man with the most pants.

edit: I still remember the passionate fanfare for Scott Pilgrim, the kinds of people who see a movie more than once in theaters just to support it. I saw it as well but felt it was cringey. The only part I remember liking was the vegan superguy played by Brandon Routh.

I think people here liked the beat em up.
 

evil wasabi

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No wasabi, they are rich white men who used their wealth and power to entrap their wives, who are victims in a society where women have no choice but to choose the man with the most pants.

Mackenzie and Melinda are both authors. Which is crazy to think they would call themselves anything more than "married (a guy who became) a billionaire..."
 

racecar

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Eternals... pretty crappy i put it with the Tobey Mcguire spiderman tier .
 

HornheaDD

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Eternals... pretty crappy i put it with the Tobey Mcguire spiderman tier .
WTF this is so contradictory. The (first two) Rami Spidey moves are great. So you're saying Eternals was crappy... but great?

RE: Scott Pilgrim -
I watched the movie/played the game before I read the 'mics, but I actually enjoyed them for what they were. Quick read, not a huge heft of material, but I have to say that.. O.. leary? O'Neal? O'Shaunnesy? The creator of the comic whatever his name is - clearly grew up with the same games/toys as my era, but also seems very.. whats the word? Childish? Poseur-ish?

Kinda like how these dudes are on Youtube showing off their 'awezome retr0gamez culleckshun' and you can tell they are like 25 right now. So they didn't really grow up with the NES, SNES, Genny, etc. Their first console was the N64 or even the PS2, but they seem to know a lot about the 80s/90s gaming/pop culture.

That's the feeling I got from the comics. I enjoyed them, they were light reading, and had some funny parts/art.

Love the movie though. Jason Schwartzman as Gideon Graves? Shit - even before I read the comics I knew that sonofabitch was born to play that role.

I do agree that Scott could have been cast a little better, but I guess Cera was at the height of his popularity or some shit, so it kinda makes sense. Big fan of the girl who played Ramona tho.... #fappening
 

sylvie

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The Garden State, this guy Zach Braff who stars as the main character and also director of the movie probably wrote in unsimulated sex scenes with Natalie Portman and they had to tell him he couldn't do them
 

terry.330

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I just looked it, up Bryan Lee O'Malley was born in 79. So he's the right age but he strikes me as the same type of guy as the author of Ready Player One. Something about them just rubs me the wrong way. Trading on nostalgia as a substitute for talent or substance in their work. I can't put my finger on it. Poser isn't totally inaccurate but it's something else.

The Garden State, this guy Zach Braff who stars as the main character and also director of the movie probably wrote in unsimulated sex scenes with Natalie Portman and they had to tell him he couldn't do them
I hate that movie, it's emo wankery at it's finest. Right up there with 500 Days of Summer except that I actually respect Joseph Gordon Levit. Zach Braffs character on Scrubs was so annoying I can't ever take him seriously no matter how hard he tries to distance himself from that role.
 

evil wasabi

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N64 was 1996 to 2001, and pretty much dead before that. So if a kid is 25, they were born in 1996, and probably didn't have a game system or physical ability to really game until the GameCube, and realistically may not have gotten a game system until the wii.

unless their parents were gamers? I think that's a lot more likely now than in 1996 though.
 
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