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Post by Woody Alien on Feb 20, 2019 9:37:35 GMT -5
I liked it, too. It looks great and has beautiful music.
But just like Up it suffers a bit from a villain that feels tacked on (the first half of Up is so much better than the second). There is enough conflict already in that family and adding an external threat as a catalyst to solve all those problems is just lame and takes away time that could have been used to further explore relationships within the family. While the character that ultimately serves as the villain certainly is of some importance to the plot development, there was no need to go into super-evil-territory.
It's especially disappointing after Upside Down proved that Pixar is very capable of telling a powerful story without having to resort to a mustache-twirling nemesis.
True, however I felt that Wreck-It Ralph 2 having no clear villain didn't improve the movie, instead the final part was bogged down by the moral, and did we really need yet another lengthy racing sequence? By the way this time many critics praised it but I felt it to be inferior to the predecessor, and all in all mostly a self-indulgent Disney project. I'd hoped that the film featured computer games like the early rumors said...
Anyway I watched Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Really starting to get tired of superhero films, and Marvel films in particular, but this one was pretty damn good. Visually it was gorgeous, and despite telling yet again the same old story (multiple times, in fact!) it never really felt preachy and I enjoyed how the various Spider-People interacted with each other (though I'd hoped for Spider-Ham and Peni Parker to be a little more relevant). Plus it conveyed very well its themes with music, visuals, editing etc. More animated films like this one, please!
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Post by windfisch on Feb 20, 2019 16:54:52 GMT -5
True, however I felt that Wreck-It Ralph 2 having no clear villain didn't improve the movie, instead the final part was bogged down by the moral, and did we really need yet another lengthy racing sequence? By the way this time many critics praised it but I felt it to be inferior to the predecessor, and all in all mostly a self-indulgent Disney project. I'd hoped that the film featured computer games like the early rumors said...
Anyway I watched Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Really starting to get tired of superhero films, and Marvel films in particular, but this one was pretty damn good. Visually it was gorgeous, and despite telling yet again the same old story (multiple times, in fact!) it never really felt preachy and I enjoyed how the various Spider-People interacted with each other (though I'd hoped for Spider-Ham and Peni Parker to be a little more relevant). Plus it conveyed very well its themes with music, visuals, editing etc. More animated films like this one, please!
The first Wreck-It-Ralph was a lot of fun. I even did not mind the villain in that one - a movie about video games having an "endboss" felt appropriate. But I haven't seen the second one as trailers did not convince me and I find "the internet" to be a far less interesting topic than games.
Spiderverse looks really promising! It seems far more creative and fun than the current live-action re-re-boot (which I haven't seen).
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Post by windfisch on Feb 20, 2019 19:47:43 GMT -5
Not sure if this is the appropriate thread, but it's about movies and TV shows:
It's not an easy watch, but it's a topic that does not get talked about enough. I think this essay is spot on in pointing out the normalization of sexual violence and the connection to underlying homophobia and racism found in surprisingly large parts of entertainment media.
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Post by eatersthemanfool on Feb 21, 2019 23:14:01 GMT -5
Yea. That kind of thing was *so* normalized when I was a kid. It seems like it's less so now but it still hasn't gone away.
-ed: Oh! So I finally got around to seeing Lego Batman.
I enjoyed the hell out of it. It's pretty much exactly what I expected. Tons of references to Batman movies and comics, as well as references to lots of other WB properties.
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Post by Woody Alien on Feb 25, 2019 15:53:50 GMT -5
So I finally got around to seeing Lego Batman.
I enjoyed the hell out of it. It's pretty much exactly what I expected. Tons of references to Batman movies and comics, as well as references to lots of other WB properties.
Me too, it was a very funny and clever little film, with beautiful graphics, and also one of the most hilarious multi-brand crossovers I've seen in the past few years! But to me, one who's not too much of a Bat-fan, the funniest thing was to see that a super-mainstream kids' movie actually addressed the fact that Batman is an ineffectual sociopathic loner nutjob, not unlike other characters such as Punisher and Rorschach, and still always put together with the other clean-cut superheroes (the part where he's not invited to the Justice League party was one of the best IMO).
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Post by eatersthemanfool on Mar 1, 2019 0:53:48 GMT -5
So I finally got around to seeing Lego Batman.
I enjoyed the hell out of it. It's pretty much exactly what I expected. Tons of references to Batman movies and comics, as well as references to lots of other WB properties.
Me too, it was a very funny and clever little film, with beautiful graphics, and also one of the most hilarious multi-brand crossovers I've seen in the past few years! But to me, one who's not too much of a Bat-fan, the funniest thing was to see that a super-mainstream kids' movie actually addressed the fact that Batman is an ineffectual sociopathic loner nutjob, not unlike other characters such as Punisher and Rorschach, and still always put together with the other clean-cut superheroes (the part where he's not invited to the Justice League party was one of the best IMO).
I grew up a batman fan, but the stories that address that are always my favorites. Batman is barely better than the villains he fights, and there's a good argument that his presence in Gotham actually escalates crime.
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Post by toei on Mar 1, 2019 1:52:31 GMT -5
I only briefly read superhero comics as a child (though I had The Killing Joke on paperback), and I hated Batman Begins, so my idea of Batman is still Michael Keaton; less proto-facist and more lonely, quietly neurotic billionaire, confused by all those crazy villains he's fighting and completely overpowered by the Catwoman's sexuality. A complex character in his own way, yet sort of stiff and outshined by Danny DeVito's Penguin or Jack Nicholson's Joker in a way that somehow makes him more sympathetic.
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Post by ResidentTsundere on Mar 3, 2019 16:10:07 GMT -5
I love the Lego Batman movie.
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Post by windfisch on Mar 9, 2019 12:27:02 GMT -5
Spider-Man Homecoming
How can a movie be really clever one minute and extremely dumb the next? That sums up my experience with Homecoming - it had some moments that made me laugh and a couple of interesting side-characters. But it did focus too much on lightheartedness, lacking a real emotional core, which undermined the tenser and more dramatic moments. I liked Keaton's Evil Birman, but he did not get much screentime, neither did aunt May. Instead there's this whole Tony Stark "mentor"-plotline, which not only felt shallow and false (Tony and his bodyguard are pretty much assholes throughout), but also provides some lame excuses for deus ex machina moments (high-tech Spidersuit was a big mistake imo). Due to this Homecoming struggles to develop it's own identity and ends being merely okay. (Credits animation was pretty good, though.)
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Mar 10, 2019 12:23:41 GMT -5
RE: Lego Batman, I saw it recently too, and it was very entertaining. Probably the best Batman film I've seen.
I also actually got a good movie while randomly watching something on Netflix the other day, the recently released Paddleton. I didn't know anything about it other than the synopsis (it's about two neighbors, one of which gets diagnosed with cancer). I don't want to spoil anything about it, but it gets very touching at the end.
Still, it is always a gamble. You might end up watching something like Manson Family Vacation. A movie about two brothers who haven't seen each other in a long time, one of which gets involved with a group of Charles Manson supporters. The morale seems to be that even if your brother literally supports a racist insane person who is behind a bunch of murders and shaves his head to look more like Manson, he's still your brother.
Also watched THX 1138. It's George Lucas' directorial debut, and he actually went and CG'd the fuck out of this one too when it was rereleased in the 00's! What the hell's that guy's problem! Not that the movie is that good either way, but christ does bad early 00's CG not fit with a movie from 1971.
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Post by lurker on Mar 10, 2019 12:49:16 GMT -5
As much flack as Stephen Spielberg gets for also revising his movies, at least he's better at re-releasing them in their original forms.
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Post by Bumpyroad on Mar 10, 2019 15:17:44 GMT -5
Alita: Battle Angel
R.Rodriguez shows signs of maturity. I liked this better than live-action Ghost in the Shell for comparison.
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Post by jackcaeylin on Mar 11, 2019 15:43:00 GMT -5
i watched 3 movies 2 days ago:
-Black Mass of the Nazi Sex Wizard (2015)
I watched this movie. At first, I thought the slaughtered vomit dolls trilogy was finished, thus I was surprised to see that another movie was produced and it was a prequel to the trilogy and not the sequel to Slow Torture Puke Chamber". It has kinda the classic problem of every finished trilogy. What is the purpose? The story was finished and 4th title doesn't really add something to the metaverse of the trilogy. I mean, you see people cutting eyes, licking blood, weird sexual things, destroying body parts, puking and eating puke etc., but this is nothing new and fairly normal. I do admit that the eyehole scenes were hardcore, nevertheless it was not really shocking, but in the end it doesn't really justify the existence. It is just a lazy. It doesn't even has an artistical meaning or something else. It is just boring. Edit: BTW, please do not google search, if you have a weak stomach. Certain pictures/scenes can make people sick.
-Mad Max: Fury Road (Black and Chrome edition)
I am glad that I waited until the release of the Black and Chrome version. To me, it is visually better than the colour version, because the colour version is too orange and not really enjoying to watch. The car scenes are really beautiful in this version and it makes the scenes dieselpunk and goth at the same time. I really love how they treated feminism in this movie. I wish more movies would to this kind of approach. The costumes are great and from a technical point, it was just awesome.
-The House That Jack Built
I was okay, but without Matt Dillion the movie would suck. He is kinda rescuing the whole movie. I am surprised that Dillion didn't get at least an oscar nomination. I mean, the girlfriend arc and the family arc had kinda the same meaning, but with just small differences. The existence of both arcs were unnecessary. He should have chosen just one of them and adding something else. There are themes that could be told, instead of the unnecessary one. The ending is interesting, but Lars von Trier kinda sucked with its artistical approach, not from a visual point, but from the point of the philosophy of the main character. The approach is very smart and kinda rare in these times, but it is obvious that he hasn't read "Faust" from Goethe and is just using the famous story as a excuse, because the purpose of Faust was quite different than the Dillion character and the outcome had a whole different meaning. To a certain degree, the philosophy that was used is kinda anachronistic and doesn't really work in this age and time. I wonder, if he had production problems, because the movie is to a certain degree uncreative in certain aspects. I expected a bit more, so I have mixed feelings about it.
Yours sincerely
Jack Caeylin
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Post by eatersthemanfool on Mar 14, 2019 5:22:52 GMT -5
I watched Wreck It Ralph 2.
You know, I've heard some mixed things about it but personally I loved it. I enjoyed it as much as the original, possibly more.
The whole core of the story is about recognizing when to let go and let people do what's right for them.
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Post by Woody Alien on Mar 14, 2019 7:26:10 GMT -5
Speaking of Lego movies, I saw the other day Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.
While still very funny, hilarious and entertaining, it's not as clever and insightful as the first one. There's still a ton of pop culture references and totally random cameos, but references to Lego history and obscure sets are much fewer this time, the teamwork angle is mostly gone with most of Emmet's team being kinda useless or little more than cameos (Vitruvius is nowhere to be found) and the lesson this time can be summarized with "don't be an asshole". I guess it was hard to make a reveal as effective as the one in the first film (but there's still an interesting revelation about this film's villain) and probably it would've been better to not wait 5 years to release this one in order to make the spin-off movies first. Especially since Lego Batman is still a selfish jerk and seems to have learned nothing from his own movie.
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