Movies you've just watched

[GaijinPunch]

$40 million... fuck me...

[GaijinPunch]

$40 million... fuck me...

The studio retains China and home entertainment release rights."

And now we know why Zhan Ziiy is in it.

[BrianC]

The Bishop's Wife (1947)
Meh, late 40's Christmas movie with Christian values crap. Cary Grant was cool here, but that's all.

Sorry. I should have mentioned it has some Christian themes in it (I'm a Christian). However, I did find the movie surprisingly dark at times and I liked Loretta Young and David Niven (Phantom/Sir Charles Lytton in Pink Panther) in it. I especially liked the scene where the bishop got stuck to a chair.

[soprano1]

The Bishop's Wife (1947)
Meh, late 40's Christmas movie with Christian values crap. Cary Grant was cool here, but that's all.

Sorry. I should have mentioned it has some Christian themes in it (I'm a Christian). However, I did find the movie surprisingly dark at times and I liked Loretta Young and David Niven (Phantom/Sir Charles Lytton in Pink Panther) in it. I especially liked the scene where the bishop got stuck to a chair.

Oh, no need to apologize, i'm supposedly Catholic.
The chair scene was funny, yes.

[Vexorg]

21 (2009): **

Rather average "based on a true story" drama about the MIT Blackjack Team that won a bunch of money from the Vegas casinos through card counting. Notable mostly for Kevin Spacey sounding incredibly creepy long before his career got torpedoed by the recent Pervnado accusations, and doing little to help his case. It's interesting to note that this movie was made with the full support of the casinos depicted on the theory that people would see the movie and then go to the casinos and lose money trying to count cards.

[Axelay]

Escape from La

Haven't seen it in years it still holds up.
The surf scene was still silly but it made me laugh.
Kurt Russel is just ice cold great stuff.
Need to watch the first now . Duke is number 1 .

Eraser .

Arnie is likeable and the emp gun or rail gun is still amazing.
I remember the alien weapon from turok having the same shot.
The scene with the crocodiles is stupid but the cast is great . James caan. And the bad guy from total recall.

[Skykid]

Bad Neighbours

I enjoy Rogen movies from time to time, and this one was a surprisingly enjoyable frat-humoured popcorn flick that had me laughing enough times for me to give it a thumbs up.

Bad Neighbours 2: Sorority Rising

A bag of total shit that's as thin as it is pointless, manages to reinvent nothing about the original and fails at almost every turn to actually be funny. The major grevious error is a sorority trying to have a great time doing 'girly things', being 'feminist' and 'true to yourself' is approximately 98% less funny a concept than the frat hijinks that went off in the first movie. What a train wreck. How the hell they didn't figure this out at the writing stage is beyond me, but it's really, really bad.

Also, $108 million against a $35 million budget, amazing they can dupe this many fools into parting with cash.

Special mention has to go to the following "movie critics":

"A bit of self-awareness goes a long way in elevating this comedy sequel above the 2014 original" - Richard Brody | New Yorker


"In a world in which so many comedy sequels fail, here comes a comedy sequel that isn’t just 'as good as the first movie,' it’s even better." - Mike Ryan | Uproxx

Blind bastards. Go and get a job you're good at, like cleaning dog shit off of sidewalks, and stop misleading people. Your critical faculties are nonexistent and you don't deserve to be paid.

[Zen]

Ex Machina (2014) - Alex Garland - re-watch

Spoiler

On initial viewing, the seeming ease at which Domhnall Gleeson's Caleb fell for Eva was too frustrating, I felt
This time around, it seemed less Caleb's fault and more the writing. Either way, I like this film a lot.

Re-watched in anticipation of Garland's latest; Annihilation (2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiqN6fygIdQ
There seems to be zero hype for it. I certainly cant see it being a commercial success.

Hopefully Natalie Portman doesn't make it a tough watch.

[GaijinPunch]

Re-watched in anticipation of Garland's latest; Annihilation (2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiqN6fygIdQ
There seems to be zero hype for it. I certainly cant see it being a commercial success..

The studio doesn't think so either. I believe it's getting a showing in the theaters for like a week, and then going to Netflix.
I'm pretty excited for it. Will drag the GF to see it at the theater for sure.

[Zen]

The studio doesn't think so either. I believe it's getting a showing in the theaters for like a week, and then going to Netflix.

Well, I'm going to interpret this as a promising indication
And with Anderson's - Phantom Thread (2017), this could hopefully, be a good few months for film.

[GaijinPunch]

]Well, I'm going to interpret this as a promising indication

Oh, it is - check it's Wikipedia page. It "tested poorly" and one of the producers pushed to alter it to appeal to wider audiences and change the ending. Other terms that could be read were "too cerebral". Garland and I believe another producer gawked, so Netflix is taking care of all markets sans US & China.

I'm sure they're taking a cue from the losses of BR2049. money money money

[Skykid]

Ex Machina (2014) - Alex Garland - re-watch

Spoiler

On initial viewing, the seeming ease at which Domhnall Gleeson's Caleb fell for Eva was too frustrating, I felt
This time around, it seemed less Caleb's fault and more the writing. Either way, I like this film a lot.

Re-watched in anticipation of Garland's latest; Annihilation (2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiqN6fygIdQ
There seems to be zero hype for it. I certainly cant see it being a commercial success.

Hopefully Natalie Portman doesn't make it a tough watch.

She's the least of your worries. I liked Ex Machina and generally like what Garland does, be it directing, screenwriting or authoring novels - but that Hong Kong guy they keep using in movies of late is absolute crap as an actor; only upstaged by what I believe was a glimpse of Tessa Thompson, Thor: Ragnarok's shining star for the LGBTQ community (apparently) and also the worst thing in that movie by far. She's shit.

[Zen]

check it's Wikipedia page

That's an interesting read.

The idea of Scott Rudin and David Ellison going at it, is quite amusing. Methinks Ellison is going to regret that one

Gotta wonder where all these Netflix deals are going to lead. A future where they have more say in film production decisions, is looking more likely.

She's the least of your worries. I liked Ex Machina and generally like what Garland does, be it directing, screenwriting or authoring novels - but that Hong Kong guy they keep using in movies of late is absolute crap as an actor; only upstaged by what I believe was a glimpse of Tessa Thompson, Thor: Ragnarok's shining star for the LGBTQ community (apparently) and also the worst thing in that movie by far. She's shit.

It was indeed the cast that gave me most pause. Reading the full cast gave me a headache.
Re. "current year" golden child, Tessa Thomson, playing Valkyrie; I'm triggered and I didn't even see it

I'm sorely disappointed that Tilda Swinton did not get cast in the end. Quite partial to Tilda.

[soprano1]

I Was A Male War Bride (1949)
Another funny one with Cary Grant. Setting works great.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
First of all, way too fucking long. The music was nice, some of the technology used (mix of old and new) was cool. The bleakness looked too artificial and clean. Ryan Gosling was unremarkable, and Harrison Ford is too old for this shit.

[Vexorg]

Back to the Future (rewatch)

Last night my wife and I were rewatching this one (we have both seen it countless times,) and my wife asked why nobody in Hollywood has ever tried to remake this yet. I'm pretty sure that this is one of those movies that it would be impossible to remake and come anywhere close to the original. I don't think anyone could imagine this without Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd and the DeLorean. That said, there are some parts (especially the first 20 minutes or so) that are easy to fast forward through on repeat viewings. Yes, we know George McFly is a wimp and Biff is an asshole, we probably could have figured that out in less than half the time they spend on it.

[GaijinPunch]

I was expecting a remake in 2015, where they'd go back to 1985. Seems like a layup for those creatives in Hollywood.

[Jonny2x4]

A BTTF reboot/remake is never going to happen as long as Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale are alive. Which might as well be, considering how shitty that Ghostbusters reboot turned out to be.

[Zen]

Cold Skin (2017) - Xavier Gens

This is one of these films that concentrate your attention more and more intently, as you begin to take notice that, basically its has no flaws.

Then, of course, it all goes to shit.

First ten minutes or so, ticks all the boxes. Exceptionally high quality and very interesting. Then, the screenplay reveals bluntly and too quickly and the story turns out to be a catastrophic mess.
The two male leads turn out to be lightweight, particularly the younger of the two, David Oakes, who has fuck all onscreen presence.
He also gives the inescapable impression of being a poor man's, Anthony Andrews.

Still, its beautifully shot and has a quality (if not memorable) score.

I would call the themes, Lovecraft "light".
Worth a watch if that is your sort of thing.

[BryanM]

Yeah, Robert and Bob actually own their baby and aren't planning on selling it to "white slavers" as our friend Lucas calls The Mouse.

It obviously helps to have the original writer, write it. In the case of Ghostbusters, just lock Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis in a room together with ten gallons of vodka again. Maybe what comes out won't be "good", but even if it's awful, it'll be coming from a place of love instead of cold cynical apathy.

Never would happen in ten million years, though. And that's why Sony Pictures is such a disaster.

[Jonny2x4]

Harold Ramis is gone unfortunately. The Real Ghostbusters Part 3 would've happened a long time ago if Bill Murray wasn't such an uncooperative dick about it. Instead, we had to settle for a Dickless-directed reboot instead,

[BryanM]

Spoiler

The implied joke is that you would lock Harold's remains inside the bunker with Dan, Dan would drink until Ramis started talking to him, and the resulting masterpiece they would produce together would be unrivaled for all time.

... you know what. That scenario is a better premise for a movie than "let's just throw something together to make money".

Honestly I'm not emotionally attached to the names of franchises - at any time Dan and Reitman could get together and make a ghost hunting movie on a budget of $500,000, and that'd be Ghostbusters 4 to me. A name is just a name.

Ghostbusters 3 is the video game. Answer the Call is just something that helped me take a nap one day. (Which is an even trade for something I paid $0 to see.)

Maybe something good will happen but it probably won't.

[Jonny2x4]

I've tried to be open-minded towards Ghostbusters 2016, but the fact that half of the jokes were references to better movies (Jaws, Ghost, Road House, Exorcist) just made me wish I was watching those movies instead.

I sometimes forget that Dan Aykroyd really believes that the Ghostsbusters movies are biographical.

I much rather they do a new Ghostbusters animated series or feature at this rate, but chances are they could butcher that too.

[BryanM]

On one level I am kind of glad it's not a complete zombie franchise like The Simpsons has become.

The unlicensed Zootfly prototype did look pretty cool.



A serious CGI movie like that would be acceptable to me, but probably not to Sony. It's an absolutely new market for the movie industry - CGI movie that's not completely 100% targeted to kids. It can't make billions of dollars, only a few million from a niche. But I expect that to not happen, and to see more day-glo nickelodeon green, Diablo 3 cartoon style nonsense.

Which was the direction they started moving since Ghostbusters 2 took ques from the cartoon series.

[BrianC]

I've tried to be open-minded towards Ghostbusters 2016, but the fact that half of the jokes were references to better movies (Jaws, Ghost, Road House, Exorcist) just made me wish I was watching those movies instead.

I might watch it eventually since I got it for free though that Movies Anywhere promo, but I'm not looking forward to watching it.

[soprano1]

Cool Runnings (1993)
Oh boy, funny shit. Another one I haven't seen in more than 20 years, ha ha.

[Vexorg]

I don't think the 2016 Ghostbusters movie was terrible, nor did it warrant all the political backlash it generated (although I think some of the reviews were judging the movie on its political correctness instead of its actual merits) but it was a very average movie overall. The big problem was that it couldn't decide if it wanted to be a followup to the originals or a completely separate movie, and suffered for its inability to make the distinction.

[Mischief Maker]

I don't think the 2016 Ghostbusters movie was terrible, nor did it warrant all the political backlash it generated (although I think some of the reviews were judging the movie on its political correctness instead of its actual merits) but it was a very average movie overall. The big problem was that it couldn't decide if it wanted to be a followup to the originals or a completely separate movie, and suffered for its inability to make the distinction.

If you want a non-political analysis of how awful the movie was, sit back and let Mr. Plinkett explain.

[Jonny2x4]

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Midnight's Edge channel on Youtube, but there was an active attempt at marginalizing Ivan Reitman's involvement from Amy Pascal's part, which they documented in this video. It's pretty fascinating stuff.

[Skykid]

I don't think the 2016 Ghostbusters movie was terrible, nor did it warrant all the political backlash it generated (although I think some of the reviews were judging the movie on its political correctness instead of its actual merits) but it was a very average movie overall. The big problem was that it couldn't decide if it wanted to be a followup to the originals or a completely separate movie, and suffered for its inability to make the distinction.

It was absolutely awful. I tried on three separate occasions to sit through it and gave up each time. Plinkett's review is the most entertaining thing to come out of the whole debacle.

[BryanM]

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Midnight's Edge channel on Youtube, but there was an active attempt at marginalizing Ivan Reitman's involvement from Amy Pascal's part, which they documented in this video. It's pretty fascinating stuff.

I'm not certain of many things, but I'm absolutely certain that Aykroyd, Reitman, and Ramis have never thought or said the words "the ghost world" in their entire lives.

I dunno if "the director of the original film is unsuitable to direct the sequel" (which is bullshit coating the actual core of narcissism involved: "I want to hijack this project to get more money and fame for me") is worse than "fuck that loser" as a sign of disrespect of a franchise and its original creator.

Just read a few youtube comments on the trailer, on the official Sony Pictures Entertainment channel. It's a real river of slime brimming with negativity, as you can imagine. Why are there comments there? Why are they not disabled? Because the suits that would care if they knew they controlled this, don't know they're in control of this. Complete incompetence.

It's much worse than Jeb! Bush leaving a forum of horrible racist comments about his family up on Youtube. Because at least that ultimately helped him get a massive raise, in the end.