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Author Topic: Respond to the last movie you watched  (Read 684305 times)

Corndog

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #4060 on: January 16, 2020, 09:14:09 AM »
Bad Boys for Life (Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah, 2020)

Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they make a new one after almost 20 years? Had to do it! While I am a huge fan of the first two Bad Boys films, one must think it is peculiar that after all these years, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence have decided to reunite for a third tale in their smash action movie saga. There was always a rumor that they wanted to make a third, but would only do so if the script was good, so it is conceivable that it took 15 years for somebody to write a good script, but what results is a film featuring two stars that are a shell of their younger selves, especially as it pertains to their characters in this story. However, that does present the opportunity to tell a slightly different, perhaps more mature story with these same characters.

We return to present day Miami with our heros Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence), where the latter is celebrating the birth of his grandchild. Life comes at you fast. Marcus is ready to retire, while Mike is still not ready to settle down after all these years. But soon important criminal justice figures in Miami are being murdered, and the duo must work together with a new special ops department called AMMO to figure out why this is happening, and who is doing it. The deeper they go into the investigation, the more Mike begins to realize it has to do with their past, which will eventually shift his views on both his present and future.

Honestly, after all these years, and with the absence of Michael Bay in the director's chair, I had my great doubts as to what this movie could be. And yet, among the traditional dumping ground that is January, Bad Boys for Life manages to hit on enough of the tropes that made the first two successful, and uses the new timeframe of these characters at the end of their careers to great benefit, resulting in an extremely watchable and entertaining movie. This is largely achieved by the film's two leads, who you can tell really buy into returning to these characters, and show they still have tremendous on screen chemistry.

That being said, I would still rank it as the least impressive of the trilogy, largely, I believe, due to the lack of Michael Bay. While Bay has been derided in recent years, his run through the 90s and early 00s as an action director is still largely appreciated by me, and that includes the first two films in this series, which utilize incredible energy and innovative shots to create intense and wildly entertaining action sequences. This film lacked that style and innovation, resulting in run of the mill, forgettable action scenes. Where the film does live up is the comedy, but the jokes also come at us at a much greater pace, resulting in the overall tone of the film being more comedy than action, often undermining the more tense and dramatic moments in the film. When I think of Bad Boys, I think of a great action movie, with real stakes, that also happens to be funny. When I think of Bad Boys for Life, it certainly seems to be a comedy that happens to have some action scenes in it as well.

I'm glad they decided to make another one of these movies. I'm even more glad they decided to buy in and make a good movie as opposed to just settling for a rehash cash grab. What Will Smith and Martin Lawrence did by creating these characters, and continuing them through three movies is the heart and center of the series. So while I may mourn the lack of Michael Bay (other than the "oh hey that's Michael Bay" moment in this film), in reality fans of this series are invested in Mike and Marcus and their partnership. Bad Boys for Life is no different and Smith and Lawrence make this movie and make this series. This will be an easy movie to recommend to fans of the series.

★★★ - Liked It
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

Junior

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #4061 on: January 16, 2020, 02:15:18 PM »
I'm checking that one out tomorrow. Your review made me even more interested. Will Smith looked locked in in the trailer, but Lawrence seemed a bit iffy. Glad to hear that he's still got it.
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Corndog

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #4062 on: January 16, 2020, 02:19:41 PM »
Smith definitely gives the better performance, he is fully committed. Lawrence reprises what we know and love about Marcus well, but because the film has more of a comedy slant than I would have liked, he definitely sticks out a little bit, in not always the most flattering ways.
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #4063 on: January 16, 2020, 02:36:44 PM »
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)
and boy are those last 20 minutes the most fun I've had with a Tarantino film in a long time.

I can’t wrap my head around this response. Those last 20 minutes are morally abhorrent. Not the  characters, but the actual filming of it and putting it out there. Gleeful violence against Nazis or slavers, sure, but trying to make brutal violence against women, even evil women, joyful is not a ride I want to be on. Took an unfocused but interesting C+ film and made it an F, worsted only by Joker.
What about violence against evil Nazi slaver women?

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #4064 on: January 16, 2020, 08:20:05 PM »
Joker is killer #FBC, OUaTiH less so, only in the convo because of QT being a #FBC godfather. I don't get the criticism of the end either though, I mean there's a guy with them who gets his nuts chomped by a dog, which is also great, didn't find it out of place with the last few, and surprised that these complaints are so amplified here when, if they were to gain a ton of traction, the bigger offender is H8ful 8.

Would I be okay watching BB4L if I haven't seen the other ones? Seems like there might be something okay there...even if Bay isn't behind the camera.

Bondo

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #4065 on: January 16, 2020, 09:15:47 PM »
I also hated Hateful 8, just because it is par for Tarantino's course doesn't mean it is okay.

Eric/E.T.

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #4066 on: January 16, 2020, 09:26:11 PM »
I just finished The Myth of the American Sleepover

Director David Robert Mitchell on Sex:
The Myth of the American Sleepover: C'mon, they're too young!
It Follows: I tooooolllld you they're too young.
Under the Silver Lake: Let's do this!

If the Lisbon sisters could've walked out their front door to end up in The Myth of the American Sleepover, they would've been saved. I really fell into this one myself. There will always be good art to mine from adolescent beauty and uncertainty. It doubtless draws comparisons to Dazed and Confused, but this one is much more set on wonder, hope, and anxiety than Dazed and Confused, which has both much more laugh out loud humor and a solid and recognizable plot in comparison. Dazed and Confused is an all-time favorite, don't think I'm going overboard, but The Myth should by all rights be judged on its own merits. I also appreciated that the kids weren't all the perfect size, shape, with all the perfect features, although there still lacks representation on the heavier end of the spectrum.

I think David Robert Mitchell is the current director I'd most like to have a chat with.

A witty saying proves nothing. - Voltaire

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #4067 on: January 16, 2020, 10:34:05 PM »
I've sat here for five minutes trying to think of the most polite way to say this but I guess I'll just say it: if you are offended by the end of OUaTiTW I can only assume you are deeply ignorant of the actual history and fate of the real Sharon Tate. QT made a gosh dang fairy tale in comparison to reality.

Will

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #4068 on: January 17, 2020, 03:46:57 PM »
I've sat here for five minutes trying to think of the most polite way to say this but I guess I'll just say it: if you are offended by the end of OUaTiTW I can only assume you are deeply ignorant of the actual history and fate of the real Sharon Tate. QT made a gosh dang fairy tale in comparison to reality.

Or maybe you just like to watch sadistic violence?

It's fascinating to me that people love the ending so much because the ending illustrates three things about Tarantino to me: 1. He can only imagine gruesome violence as the alternative to historic events, 2. He loves to indulge in sadistic violence towards women especially (notice how the two women in this scene get far more brutalized than a sole man) - he will take any excuse to ramp it up, and 3. He's in self-plagiarism mode now as he directly rips off INGLORIOUS BASTERDS with it.

There's a lot of problematic implications in the ending that have been talked about ad nauseam here and elsewhere. I would refrain from calling people ignorant from having a problem with the ending until you catch up.

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #4069 on: January 17, 2020, 08:52:33 PM »
That man gets his nuts chomped by a doggie!

 

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