Author Topic: Respond to the last movie you watched  (Read 684820 times)

DarkeningHumour

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #440 on: February 09, 2017, 11:51:52 AM »
That's a pretty BS definition of white-washing. There's a lot of stuff in the movie that didn't happen both in favor of and at the expense of all of the characters in the movie, white and black alike. It's not shy about being a heavily romanticized version of events, depicting amalgamations of experiences and characters rather than 1:1 recreations.

Katherine Johnson has said that most of the racism at NASA depicted in the movie was not something she actually experienced there. That is a MUCH larger fabrication that much more severely changes the perception of race relations there, so if you're only complaining about the instances of positive depictions of white characters that seems pretty petty, and makes me question the motives of the article.

I don't like the movie enough to much care about the issue, but I do have a problem with the fabrications here, especially those that portray NASA as more racist than it actually was, which for a real life story movie sort of sounds like slander of a kind. Maybe Bondo could provide some legal insight into the issue...
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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #441 on: February 09, 2017, 01:10:13 PM »
John Wick: Chapter 2 (Chad Stahelski, 2017)

When John Wick came out in 2014, it made a splash. It was a surprise hit which relaunched the action career of Keanu Reeves, who had made a name for himself within the genre with such films as Point Break and The Matrix, yet had disappeared mostly from the genre landscape. It marked the directorial debut for longtime stunt coordinator Chad Stahelski, and proved that fresh air could be breathed into the genre once more. The film has since had it's slight detractors, claiming all the accolades and attention coming towards John Wick merely serve to underscore the fact that the action genre is so consistently disappointing, inartistic and generally a lower genre of films. It's not every year we can get a Die Hard or The Matrix to come out and redefine the genre. John Wick may not be on that level, but it's a fantastic action flick more than worthy of a sequel. And John Wick: Chapter 2 delivers.

After the events of the first John Wick film, John (Keanu Reeves) finds himself wanting to retrieve his beloved car from the Tarasov family. After a thrilling romp through numerous henchmen, Wick rolls up to his beautiful home in a broken car. Thinking this was the last piece to bring himself back into retirement, an old friend, Santino D'Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio) visits Wick and asks for his marker, which Wick gave to him in return for his help once, to be paid up. His request? To kill his sister, Gianna D'Antonio, in Rome, which would give Santino a seat at the big table. Forced by the code of honor among criminals to honor the marker, Wick travels to Rome, but soon finds himself in an impossible situation to escape, as gangsters from all over are out to collect the reward placed on his head. He seeks refuge with the father of the code (Ian McShane), a former target (Laurence Fishburne), as he tries tirelessly to simply retire, to get out of the game and back to his new dog.

Any time a surprise hit follows up with a sequel, there is quite a bit of expectation which goes along with it, a lot of expectation which wasn't there when the first film came out and made such an impact. Sometimes this can cause the film is fold under the pressures of its audience, never being able to live up to its unrealistic expectations. I was not one of John Wick's superfans. I found the film endlessly entertaining, and a rock solid action flick. That being said, even I had some expectation for Chapter 2, which may have been the reason it took me some time to settle back into this environment and to be able to throw everything out the window, as the film does, and sit back and enjoy the hellacious ride that this film takes us on. It is every bit as violent as its predecessor, with just as much, if not more, truly unbelievable sequences. Yet I suspended disbelief in favor of surrendering myself to the film's charms, of which there are many.

I think what ultimately makes a film like this so enjoyable is its structure. Anyone can make a cool, gory, high body count assassin movie where the lead is some mysterious dude who kills a ton of baddies, but I really got into the world of John Wick with Chapter 2. The way the film explores the way the world of assassins is setup into this prestigious and honorable fraternity with high tables, rules, organizations, etc. is really fascinating. It goes so much deeper here than I would have imagined, and by creating this structure, the screenwriter, the same as on John Wick (Derek Kolstad), has built-in character reasons. We don't have to worry about why John and the other characters are forced into these otherwise unbelievable positions. They have to be. They are forced by the rules of the game. It's a subtle way to assure the movie works, but in many ways it's also genius.

At times the film has a distinct video game feel to its action, which why not given the current video game culture. But the choreography of the action scenes is also impressive, which elevates the film above some rote rehash of what the filmmakers thought made the first movie work as well as it did, which can be a common crutch of filmmakers attempting to make a successful sequel. I don't have John Wick fatigue yet after Chapter 2, and I'm sure almost all fans of the first film will feel the same way. I am sure a third installment is forth coming, and after the thrilling experience of John Wick: Chapter 2, you can count me among those who are exciting, and anticipating its release. I just can't wait to see where John Wick goes as a character, and how the screenwriters will continue to develop this fascinating criminal world.

***1/2 - Great
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Melvil

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #442 on: February 09, 2017, 01:15:48 PM »
I don't like the movie enough to much care about the issue, but I do have a problem with the fabrications here, especially those that portray NASA as more racist than it actually was, which for a real life story movie sort of sounds like slander of a kind. Maybe Bondo could provide some legal insight into the issue...

Yeah, this discussion has actually kind of soured me on the movie because of the depiction of NASA more than anything. NASA is a pretty awesome example of an institution pushing progressive idealism and inclusiveness, so it's a shame they felt the need to invent a sordid past for the story instead of just focusing on how awesome the main characters' accomplishments really were as a part of that effort. I think there were better ways to contextualize the times.

Junior

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #443 on: February 09, 2017, 01:24:42 PM »
I am quite excited for John Wick 2. Might have to check that one out this weekend. I'm glad it is getting good reviews!
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #444 on: February 09, 2017, 01:59:11 PM »
Still haven't seen John Wick.

Junior

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #445 on: February 09, 2017, 02:03:22 PM »
You should. It's not the best thing of all time, but it's a great action movie.
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Melvil

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #446 on: February 09, 2017, 02:33:55 PM »
Yeah, I think I was a little underwhelmed by John Wick after it had been hyped up so much, but it's the kind of movie that would've been an awesome surprise to come across if it had stayed more under the radar.

I'm still a bit skeptical about a sequel though.

Bondo

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #447 on: February 09, 2017, 07:50:28 PM »
I haven't seen Hidden Figures so I'm not sure what legal question is being asked. Title VII regarding employment discrimination went into effect in 1964, if that helps.

Ok, looked at context and it seems the question is more about slander? I'd expect a work of drama would get pretty broad license to make untrue allegations provided they put in broad disclaimers.
« Last Edit: February 09, 2017, 07:53:02 PM by Bondo »

smirnoff

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #448 on: February 09, 2017, 08:53:01 PM »
Yeah, I think I was a little underwhelmed by John Wick after it had been hyped up so much, but it's the kind of movie that would've been an awesome surprise to come across if it had stayed more under the radar.

I was underwhelmed by it as well. I don't recall if the hype preceded my experience or not. I thought it was on par with other recent action films like Denzel's The Equalizer, or Liam Neeson's latest. Really generic, with with a couple of well above average fire fights. I never was engaged with the narrative. I'll skip Part 2.

smirnoff

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #449 on: February 10, 2017, 12:42:19 AM »
Do you mean Alicia Vikander? As in Ex Machina Alicia Vikander
Was that her? She was great in that. I'm not sure why she was still playing a robot in Bourne though.  :-\



Dead Poets Society

I like a good "Oscar moment". I think we all do under the right circumstances. I'm pretty convinced that watching the Oscars themselves is not the right circumstance. If you haven't seen all the films you might catch a clip of something that without the context of the film itself just seems way too big and grossly overdone. I did myself a bit of a disservice in that way with regards to Dead Poets Society in that I listened to the I Was There Too episode about it, and learned of the iconic standing on desks ending. I felt like I should've felt more in that moment than I did. But then I've never been moved to tears during a Peter Weir movie, as much as I've enjoyed some of them.

Would anyone argue that Robin Williams is not the most enjoyable part of the movie? Like when he's not on screen what are we watching? Boys goofing around. Parents being dicks. A headmaster being a hard-case. All pretty standard stuff. I'm not really that interested in following along as Knox Overstreet attempts to steal the snobby girl away from the dumb jock and all the hi-jinks that spawn from that. I mean it's not a bad story line, and the stories of the other students aren't bad either, but watching yet another scene of Neil Perry's overbearing father tell him what not to do is not what's exciting about watching this movie. It's all about what's happening in the classroom.

It's a balancing act of course. If the film were all classroom we would have nothing over which the characters are triumphing when the ending comes. I think though the balance here is a tad off. I could've done with one or two fewer student stories. Or just an abbreviated version of what's there. Or perhaps less of the reading poetry in a cave, which for me didn't amount to anything more than an extension of the "boys goofing around". I never felt like the characters that participated in that Society ever evolved in their appreciation of poetry, or surprised themselves in what reading poetry could do for them. Or looked at another way, I didn't come away from the film entertaining the idea of starting a Dead Poets Society of my own. I wasn't seduced by the idea... and I'm very easy to seduce! Take Fight Club as an example. I remember watching that film and being seduced by Tyler Durden, right along with the main character. How he seemed to have answers for things, his confidence, his genuineness. There I am a third of the way into the movie daydreaming about being in a Fight Club! Crazy, but that's how good of a job the movie is doing. Of course it goes other directions as things progress, but up to that point it's a good example of what I would've like to feel from The Dead Poets Society. A genuine attraction to the idea. An arc perhaps where the boys start out skeptical about it and then begin to take it seriously, and then get really good... or if not that progression, at least some journey. Instead I felt like it ended in pretty much the same shape in which it began... a goof in the woods.

At it's core though the movie is strong. Williams character, what he teaches, and how he teaches it is enough to make it a worthwhile experience.


 

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