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Post by GamerL on Mar 29, 2019 6:57:38 GMT -5
Yea I can follow that, Griff. The movie touched on the state of the world, and there was a lot that was hinted at but it didn't really press the issue, and it definitely didn't get across the scope of Oasis. One big sequence from the book that I remember that they left out is Wade taking a bus trip through the US and passing by many ghost towns and abandoned buildings, the future is supposed to be in a semi-post apocalyptic state. Another element is as Wade becomes more and more immersed in OASIS it starts to get a bit creepy, he isolates himself in his apartment, never leaving, removing all his hair so he "looks like an extra in THX1138", ceases to communicate face to face with anyone and instead only talks to a Max Headroom replica AI that acts as a sort of Amazon Alexa thing (one of the many predictions in the book that have already basically come true) and when he's arrested they have to power saw his apartment door open, so cocooned is he inside it. Basically the book is a little deeper than people give it credit for, it's not just "weren't the 80s great?", the movie is basically what people thought the book was. Steven Spielberg is usually great at book adaptions, see: Jaws and Jurassic Park, but RPO is one of those sad instances where almost everything that made the book interesting is jettisoned for the movie.
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Post by Woody Alien on Apr 5, 2019 5:23:38 GMT -5
Jordan Peele's "Us".
I liked Get Out a lot but I feel this time he missed the mark. Maybe it's because I'm not familiar with some aspects of American history and culture (but I understood the nods to political correctness, slavery, conspiracy theories etc.), but I found the metaphors to be either overused or muddled and unclear, and the final part/revelation to be especially absurd and comical to the point of undermining the rest. I don't want to spoil anything but there's several parts in the ending that I found hilarious instead of creepy and scary. And even as a horror, after the first half it stops being scary and unnerving and gets just... weird.
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Post by windfisch on Apr 5, 2019 7:03:08 GMT -5
Coincidentally I watched Get Out just a week ago and was quite impressed. I'm not necessarily a "horror-person", but I think it successfully walked the line between dark comedy and horror. And like the best movies of this category its horror is derived from very real issues. It's paced really well, leaving the viewer in a state of unease and uncertainty most of the time. My only criticism would be that it goes a bit too over the top towards the end. While still feeling cathartic, this somewhat softened the impact the rest of the movie had on me.
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Post by toei on Apr 5, 2019 14:37:47 GMT -5
Jordan Peele's "Us".
I liked Get Out a lot but I feel this time he missed the mark. Maybe it's because I'm not familiar with some aspects of American history and culture (but I understood the nods to political correctness, slavery, conspiracy theories etc.), but I found the metaphors to be either overused or muddled and unclear, and the final part/revelation to be especially absurd and comical to the point of undermining the rest. I don't want to spoil anything but there's several parts in the ending that I found hilarious instead of creepy and scary. And even as a horror, after the first half it stops being scary and unnerving and gets just... weird.
I feel like Us was just Jordan Peele smoking a lot of weed while writing the script and constantly going "wow, this is deep" while adding more and more stuff that doesn't work with some of the stuff that came before.
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Apr 7, 2019 17:19:17 GMT -5
I finally got around to watching Spirited Away last night. I can see why it's so well-regarded. It's super creative and dream-like. The only thing I didn't like about it is how all major plots (Sen's parents, Haku, No Face) wrap up so hastily. It doesn't dethrone Only Yesterday as my favorite Ghibli, but it is close to the top.
Speaking of classics, I've been watching some Hitchcocks. Rear Window and Dial M for Murder are both totally gripping from beginning to end. Both simple stories done in a really good way. Psycho was kind of interesting, but the twist at the end is kind of laughable by today's standards. Especially they way they have a scientist (psychologist? I forgot) explain it at the end. Anthony Perkins is great as Norman Bates, though.
Vertigo is pretty intriguing and probably has my favorite twist/mystery from all the Hitchcock's I've seen. Rope and Marnie are a bit weaker, though. Marnie starts off interesting enough but kind of goes off the rails. It also has two main characters that are pretty interesting but only focuses on one (Marnie, naturally). It would've been cool if Sean Connerey's character was explored more. Rope is fine, but is a little predictable and James Stewart feels kind of miscast or something. Maybe because he portrayed such different characters in Vertigo and Rear Window.
Either way, I should watch some more.
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Post by Woody Alien on Apr 8, 2019 17:18:20 GMT -5
Saw other two movies thanks to YouTube. I always find it amusing that there are so many complete films on the site and yet I stopped creating personal channels since they always closed mine, because there were copyrighted clips that lasted like 1 minute... but I digress.
Creepshow 2: Nice example of low-budget pulpy horror film from the 80s, with various (mostly) jerks and unpleasant people getting killed by supernatural forces. Nothing too special but good to pass the evening. Also features a cameo of Stephen King as a goofy trucker. Those cartoon shorts between the segments are pretty ugly and uninteresting however. Thanks for the ride, lady!! The Host: Korean monster movie that made quite a splash in the mid-2000s, and in fact it's quite good and well-made with action, suspense, satire and some sweet moments. The few comedy moments are very jarring and unfunny though. The director went on to make Snowpiercer which is even better. Too bad that those sequel and remake never got off the ground, since it's an interesting property that deserved more attention.
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Post by eatersthemanfool on Apr 19, 2019 22:21:03 GMT -5
I reallu liked Us. Felt kind of junji ito ish.
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Post by kaoru on Apr 20, 2019 13:25:11 GMT -5
Just came from watching Shazam. It's just fine. Which I guess ranks it already pretty high on DC superhero movies. It's sometimes funny, sometimes stupid, and the sudden grimdark scenes (like the beginning) don't really fit the "just an idiot kid in an adult superpowered body" rest. But it was Oh Kay.
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Post by lurker on Apr 23, 2019 9:35:37 GMT -5
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Post by windfisch on Apr 24, 2019 13:14:43 GMT -5
Welcome to Norway
A satire/comeday about a man, who tries to make profit by turning his failed Hotel into a refugee home. At first he doesn't really care for the people moving in there, but getting to know them better makes him change some of his former views. Luckily the movie has enough weird and bitter moments that it doesn't get too sacharine-sweet/kitschy. Good movie.
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Post by kaoru on May 2, 2019 1:44:45 GMT -5
Captain America: Civil War. I liked it quite a bit! It's probably one of my favorite MCU movies. Which I still think are all decent, even if some like the first Thor and Captain America are retrospectively a bit boring, mostly because they don't stick out in the sea of MCU movies we got in the last decade. But I liked the bad guy just being a normal dude without a big plan, just a personal vendetta to errode the Avengers from within. Which kind of works out but not really. The movie feels more personal and down to earth, and handles its big cast (it's really more Avengers 2.5 than Captain America 3) rather well.
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Post by X-pert74 on May 3, 2019 1:13:29 GMT -5
Get Out
Finally saw this; it was incredible! I tried to go in while knowing as little as possible (unfortunately I had a bit of idea of what it would be like, thanks to having a bunch of friends rave about the film when it was new)... but I ended up really liking it quite a bit. It was quite clever, and really tense throughout.
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Post by windfisch on May 6, 2019 16:45:27 GMT -5
Venom
I was hoping for a movie so bad it's good, dreading the possibility of it being just bad.
Surprisingly it was neither (for the most part, it still had a few "bad" moments). It's a dumb movie for sure, but the people involved knew that and were willing to have some unapologetic fun with it, throwing elements of over-the-top horror and dark comedy into the mix, at times reminding me even of the Raimi Spidermen. Of course Venom is nowhere as good as those, but pretty entertaining nonetheless.
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on May 7, 2019 13:26:12 GMT -5
I watched Avengers: Endgame in an absolutely jam-packed theatre last week. Fun movie, though I didn't really get why Captain Marvel has the power she has, since I haven't seen that one yet (among a couple other marvel movies).
It's fun to be part of such a big cultural event. The audience was clearly very excited and reacted pretty strongly to certain scenes. I don't think we'll ever see a cumulation of 22 movies ever again. I mean, this model can't stay succesful forever, right?
But I do think it's time to move away from popcorn being the default movie snack.
I also finally watched Die Hard, and it sooooo lives up to the hype. I mean, holy shit.
Also, Solaris (2002). It uses an interesting plot to play around with themes of grief and regret, and George Clooney and Jeremy Davies were pretty good in it. It does move at a snail's pace at times, though, and some of the CG literally looks like it could be rendered in real-time cutscenes on like a PS4 or something.
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Post by windfisch on May 7, 2019 14:37:43 GMT -5
Also, Solaris (2002). It uses an interesting plot to play around with themes of grief and regret, and George Clooney and Jeremy Davies were pretty good in it. It does move at a snail's pace at times, though, and some of the CG literally looks like it could be rendered in real-time cutscenes on like a PS4 or something. So it is a bit like the Tarkovsky version then? That one is great because of its deliberate slow pace. It also has the best kind of CG (none).
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