Author Topic: Respond to the last movie you watched  (Read 683928 times)

1SO

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2480 on: June 25, 2018, 03:30:06 PM »
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

The movie gets even dumber once everybody gets back on the mainland, and I still had a good time with it.
I feel too many people want to crap on the movie for being one of the dumbest films ever made, which is also an argument that shows how many stupid films that person has avoided, but in doing so they ignore the fact that a film can still thrill and scare. On a visceral level a stupid film can still provide some entertainment if skillfully made.

I also love that first scare, though I pull short of saying it's better than anything in the last film.



Kingsmen: The Golden Circle

At a tight 100 minutes this might have been delightful. At a bloated 140 minutes, it's kinda boring, filled with obvious twists and characterization that goes nowhere.

Also, every time they do the super-fluid camera during fight scenes it gets a little less special. Another reason for it to be shorter.
I kept thinking how much effort was being put into the action scenes, but with all of them cranked up to 10... to quote Incredibles "when everyone's super, no one will be."

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2481 on: June 25, 2018, 03:43:09 PM »
Two really good points. I think JW:FK proves that a great director can still make a good movie with a bad script. And yeah, it's clear that the majority of the pilers-on have never seen stuff like the later Nightmare on Elm Street movies. I'm sad that the JP movies after the first have been kind of terrible, but I'm glad I still get to see big dino-horror helmed by clever directors (well, in the non-Trevorrow movies).

As much as I don't like that line in The Incredibles, it really suits the action scenes in Kingsmen 2. And there's some cool fight choreography that gets hidden in the camera flashiness!
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2482 on: June 26, 2018, 03:28:58 PM »
Black Panther (2018)

Wakanda is the true star of Black Panther. The afro-futuristic country comprised of five tribes lead by the titular warrior king provides a rich tapestry that does more than contextualize the film, but stands at the forefront of what makes this film such a unique and interesting blockbuster. It is a film rooted in the ideas of how the land shapes a people.

In the most literal image, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) is buried in the earth after taking the nectar that will give him the supernatural power of the Black Panther, sending him to the spirit realm where he speaks with his father. The dirt tells the story of the ancestors and tradition runs deep in the veins of Wakanda’s people.

Wakanda hides another treasure: vibranium, a valuable metal that came from space that launched the country forward decades ahead in technology, allowing them to disappear from the rest of the world and develop the most advanced society on earth. And while this might sound like the foundation for a utopia, there is an internal power struggle among the five tribes for who will rule the nation.

That alone might have been enough to make Black Panther an interesting film, but the film stretches for more ambitious political messaging as it expands the scale of both politics and religion outwards into a gripping piece of sci-fi. With echoes of Frank Herbert’s Dune, the film slowly peels back layer by layer of the socio-political implications of a tribalistic society that controls the most powerful technology on the planet.

This is where antagonist Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) elevates the film by challenging Wakanda’s society. Here is a man marginalized by Western civilization that has spent years in a world oppressing the black man and here he finds his African brothers have the means of easy liberation. Surely a king who allows his brothers to suffer, who fails to send aid, is a bad king. And if the tribe is led by a warrior king, isn’t the better warrior the better king? And why shouldn’t a warrior king conquer?

Black Panther doesn’t shy away from dark questions of generational violence and oppression and the great injustices left upon the land. The people proclaim “Wakanda forever” even as they stand upon a land watered in the blood of its own tribes and own people. Nations are messy and uneasy affairs and the people that rule them often find the balance teeters on a knife edge.

What does it mean then to be a place and a people? Should the people be ashamed for all the darkness and evil done in order to keep a nation together or is there a reason for Wakandans to hold onto their national pride. Is tradition and order simply controlled, contained violence or is there a rich and vibrant story to be told, one that may not always be clean and easy, but one that tells the story of a people?

In an era where blockbusters are sleek, palatable affairs, the confrontational message mixed with one of the more intricate explorations of culture in a recent blockbuster makes Black Panther an intriguing watch. It’s a journey into an altogether different kind of superhero film and the world is better for it.

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2483 on: June 26, 2018, 07:01:50 PM »
Good to read you back in form, Sam. I think of Black Panther as minor Marvel, but the world building makes it one of the most rewatched titles for me, and I would’ve thought Thor:Ragnarok would’ve been viewed more often because of the big laughs and pretty colors.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2484 on: June 26, 2018, 07:10:46 PM »
The actual narrative and action scenes leave a lot to be desired, but it's one of several Marvel films that actually felt like it captured a place and a world I actually enjoyed being in for a couple of hours.

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2485 on: June 26, 2018, 08:09:27 PM »
Real nice review, Sam.

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Junior

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2486 on: June 26, 2018, 08:59:36 PM »
Agreed. I didn't write much about that movie because I thought I didn't have much to add to the huge conversation. You, on the other hand, really nicely articulated why it's so good with the combo of worldbuilding and an excellent antagonist.
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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2487 on: June 27, 2018, 01:45:47 AM »


Thoroughbreds
Cory Finley, 2017

I might be underrating this one slightly. I really appreciate that the filmmaking had personality to it (an all-too-rare thing lately), but I hate that I could tell that this story of two girls emanated from a male mind. Also hated how the parents were written. A bit derivative perhaps (Diabolique meets Heathers?), but not in a debilitating way. Very nice use of sound and score.

Grade: B-



Blockers
Kay Cannon, 2018

This is a film I watched. That might be all there is to say. Call me when female characters can have their own fun movie about teenaged sexuality without getting eclipsed by their (male) parents. Please cast Geraldine Viswanathan in that one as well and capitalize on her star potential.

Grade: C-



The Rider
Chloé Zhao, 2017

I have no concrete criticisms of The Rider, other than it felt like a film I'd already seen a few times before. I appreciated the blending of fact and fiction in the storytelling, but I was still left wanting more.

Grade: C+

Avengers: Infinity War
Anthony Russo & Joe Russo, 2018

The cinematic equivalent of that dream where you show up for a final exam you forgot to study for. I know the professor mentioned the Scarlet Witch in a lecture at the start of the semester, but for the life of me I can't remember who she was.

Grade: B-



I like movies, I swear.

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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2488 on: June 27, 2018, 09:32:31 AM »
I know the professor mentioned the Scarlet Witch in a lecture at the start of the semester, but for the life of me I can't remember who she was.
Best line you've written in a while.

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2489 on: June 27, 2018, 11:00:18 AM »
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