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I checked out Spectral last night, and it was honestly really bland. It does echo Aliens a lot, but by the point the Colonial Marines in that movie are getting ambushed by the Xenomorphs, the movie has already taken the time to establish most of the characters as being at least somewhat unique. In this none of the spec ops forces felt like people who were unique from each other, and I just could not care about what happened to any of them. While I wasn't expecting a masterpiece of character development and drama from a movie about soldiers fighting ghosts, it would have helped if the characters had quirks and dialog outside of exposition.
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Dec 12, 2016 01:18
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Also I found it really funny that engineer guy was totally okay with his device being used to destroy water sources, basically condemning people to die a horrible slow death, but using it to just zap people instantly was a bridge too far. To be fair he does realize at the end that you can't just trust people to use tools of destruction only the way you meant them to be used, but it's like a totally po-faced version of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op2hRvUgcms
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Dec 12, 2016 01:23
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Anyway, I'm making the choice right now between watching Patton and Once Upon a Time in the West before I spend the rest of my day studying for finals, and I don't suppose anyone would care to sway me on way or the other? I haven't seen either movie before.
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Dec 12, 2016 01:29
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:Also I found it really funny that engineer guy was totally okay with his device being used to destroy water sources, basically condemning people to die a horrible slow death, but using it to just zap people instantly was a bridge too far. To be fair he does realize at the end that you can't just trust people to use tools of destruction only the way you meant them to be used, but it's like a totally po-faced version of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op2hRvUgcms I think you're kind of putting more into it than is there. They specifically mention that he was originally told the device was for ending sieges not just blasting up water sources and leaving people to die, and I don't think getting cooked alive with a microwave gun is a pleasant way to go and would in fact be a war crime. You seem to want this movie to be some deep rumination on war when it's just an action film with some minor morality moments. It wasn't a great movie or anything, but some of stuff your condemning it for just seem kind of unfair.
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Dec 12, 2016 01:34
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Roth posted:Anyway, I'm making the choice right now between watching Patton and Once Upon a Time in the West before I spend the rest of my day studying for finals, and I don't suppose anyone would care to sway me on way or the other? I haven't seen either movie before.
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Dec 12, 2016 01:36
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girth brooks part 2 posted:I think you're kind of putting more into it than is there. They specifically mention that he was originally told the device was for ending sieges not just blasting up water sources and leaving people to die, and I don't think getting cooked alive with a microwave gun is a pleasant way to go and would in fact be a war crime. I don't think it's unreasonable to judge a film for how it handles moral dilemmas that it explicitly raises, to the point of having characters say out loud what the morals are.
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Dec 12, 2016 01:36
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I'm 20 minutes into The Wailing. What the hell is going on here.
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Dec 12, 2016 01:36
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Iron Crowned posted:I just finished watching Shut Eye. Yeah I thought it was pretty good, it's remarkably accurate about the Tarot stuff, but as you say much of the side stuff felt a bit half-baked (especially the hypnotist). Got a feeling it could be great. Also the main Gypsy dude is the guy who played Bear in Fargo.
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Dec 12, 2016 02:18
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:I don't think it's unreasonable to judge a film for how it handles moral dilemmas that it explicitly raises, to the point of having characters say out loud what the morals are. I don't disagree, but at the same time we're talking about less than a dozen lines of dialogue almost entirely relegated to single a character who did in fact act on them in the end. It just seemed more interested in telling about a story about army men fightin' ghosts which I thought it did fine at without becoming overtly jingoistic.
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Dec 12, 2016 02:47
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Franchescanado posted:It is nice. Haha yeah i noticed that too. Seems like stuff they don't have a proper trailer for gets a mashed up bit of clips and stock music.
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Dec 12, 2016 02:59
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Lucky Number Slevin is on Netflix. Definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it yet.
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Dec 12, 2016 03:27
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As a person who hasn't liked a single Rocky movie and dislikes most sports movies, Creed was loving phenomenal. Just top notch film making and acting from everyone involved.
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Dec 12, 2016 05:05
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:Also I found it really funny that engineer guy was totally okay with his device being used to destroy water sources, basically condemning people to die a horrible slow death, but using it to just zap people instantly was a bridge too far. To be fair he does realize at the end that you can't just trust people to use tools of destruction only the way you meant them to be used, but it's like a totally po-faced version of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op2hRvUgcms 2: He was against burning people alive in excruciating pain when he thought they might be given a choice to surrender. See 1. 3: We already have microwave weapons in use today that cause extreme pain on innocent civilians, so it's pertinent. 4: I had to look up po-faced because it sounds racist as poo poo, but I don't see how a bunch of british dudes in a comedy sketch is less po-faced than you example so I see no point in the link at all except you like blackadder or whatever that show was. 5: I really have a lot of trouble equating this movie with, specifically, Aliens, except that there's a little girl who survives, and also the enemies are mostly non-visible and can kill you by touch. AreWeDrunkYet posted:Lucky Number Slevin is on Netflix. Definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it yet. It's a caper. I think it's got one of the guys from SLiders in it. There's horse racing and stuff, it's a lot like (or is, I can't recall offhand) a Guy Ritchie Film. coyo7e fucked around with this message at 06:24 on Dec 12, 2016 |
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Dec 12, 2016 06:20
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AreWeDrunkYet posted:Lucky Number Slevin is on Netflix. Definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it yet.
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Dec 12, 2016 06:46
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coyo7e posted:4: I had to look up po-faced because it sounds racist as poo poo, but I don't see how a bunch of british dudes in a comedy sketch is less po-faced than you example so I see no point in the link at all except you like blackadder or whatever that show was. It means "humorless" or "disapproving." It comes from slang for a toilet, possibly influenced/encouraged by the similarity to "poker-faced." The comedy sketch is about a guy who invents horrible nightmare death machines in pursuit of a better checkout scanner at a grocery store. In the sketch, it's funny, because it's really obvious what his designs suggest to the viewer (horrible nightmare death machines) while his intentions are completely harmless. In the movie, you have a guy inventing weapons of war and expecting them not to be used to kill people, except they're not joking. coyo7e posted:5: I really have a lot of trouble equating this movie with, specifically, Aliens, except that there's a little girl who survives, and also the enemies are mostly non-visible and can kill you by touch. A team of military operatives go in to find out what happened to a group lost contact. They're being hunted by an enemy they don't understand and which they repeatedly underestimate. Both are driven behind-the-scenes by groups who want to capture the enemy and use it as a weapon. The main character in each is someone with unique insight into how dangerous the enemy is and how foolish it would be to try to try to control it. Both are metaphors for asymmetrical wars that had a deeply negative effect on the collective American psyche. They're incredibly similar apart from the attitude each film has towards the military-industrial complex; Aliens is very critical and doesn't waste any time indicating this. Spectral is still critical of it but the criticism is very wishy-washy and remote. Tuxedo Catfish fucked around with this message at 06:52 on Dec 12, 2016 |
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Dec 12, 2016 06:49
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:It means "humorless" or "disapproving." It comes from slang for a toilet, possibly influenced/encouraged by the similarity to "poker-faced." As for the Aliens stuff, I mean I guess I need to watch Aliens again to be reminded just what its themes were because I don't recall Ripley being some kind of savant hero super scientist who's roped into the mission to bring her super-equipment and the uber skills to build a whole brand-new set of plasma weaponry for several squads of soldiers out of essentially a big-rear end pile of radios and rifle optics - I thought she hid a lot and then killed the queen with a construction mech suit or something? But maybe 1 and 2 are running together on me - everything post-clone-Ripley is kinda the same, but I thought the little survivor girl was in Alien not Aliens, so I may be drastically mistaken and I'm sorry if so. coyo7e fucked around with this message at 07:25 on Dec 12, 2016 |
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Dec 12, 2016 07:22
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Ripley's not the same kind of expert that whatshisface is but that's not really significant. She knows the xenomorphs are dangerous because she's been traumatized by them, engineer guy figures out what the ghosts are due to scientific knowledge and lack of preconceptions. Either way, their background gives them a better understanding of what they're dealing with than the people who can't wait to get their hands on it. e: The little girl survivor is from Aliens. Tuxedo Catfish fucked around with this message at 07:30 on Dec 12, 2016 |
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Dec 12, 2016 07:24
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AreWeDrunkYet posted:Lucky Number Slevin is on Netflix. Definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it yet.
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Dec 12, 2016 07:43
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TychoCelchuuu posted:Counterpoint: this is the worst movie I have ever seen. If you have archive access, you can dig up the thread I made which is devoted to how much I hate this movie. Watching it right now for the second time in a decade. You're wrong. So wrong.
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Dec 12, 2016 07:47
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I dunno I remember Lucky Number Slevin being weird and bad also.
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Dec 12, 2016 15:27
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Rough Lobster posted:I dunno I remember Lucky Number Slevin being weird and bad also. It was.
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Dec 12, 2016 16:13
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It's bad, and I remember Tycho's thread did a good job of pointing out how shamelessly it was trying to be a Tarantino movie but without understanding what makes Tarantino so good. For instance, fast talking dialogue with lots of little quips, but in a Tarantino film the dialogue usually has some sort of meaning and stays interesting through multiple viewings.
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Dec 12, 2016 16:18
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I really liked Lucky Number Slevin the first time I watched it but every time I re-watch it I find more to dislike about it. About the only bit I still like is the "gently caress you both" scene, which belongs in a much better revenge film.
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Dec 12, 2016 16:18
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Spectral was real bad. I can't get over how bad the science was. I usually don't care about such things, I'm just along for the ride you tell me something vaguely plausible and we're good. This was not vaguely plausible. Throw in forgettable characters and an uninspired plot and a lengthy montage of a guy building guns out of binoculars. What a dumb movie. Also worst Independence Day speech ever.
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Dec 12, 2016 17:45
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TychoCelchuuu posted:Counterpoint: this is the worst movie I have ever seen. If you have archive access, you can dig up the thread I made which is devoted to how much I hate this movie. The movie certainly has its issues but I don't think it ever quite plumbs the depths that thread reached.
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Dec 12, 2016 18:37
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Gareth Gobulcoque posted:Spectral was real bad. I was going to post almost this same thing. i thought it started fairly strong, but collapsed quickly. It had some ok bigger ideas, but yeah I laughed at the scientist superman who built these highly complex weapons in a couple hours.
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Dec 12, 2016 18:56
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Rough Lobster posted:I dunno I remember Lucky Number Slevin being weird and bad also. Yeah I just had to Google it just to even remember which mid-00s edgy crime movie it was. It's not unwatchable or the worst movie of the decade but it's just not that good either.
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Dec 12, 2016 19:28
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precision posted:Yeah I just had to Google it just to even remember which mid-00s edgy crime movie it was. It's not unwatchable or the worst movie of the decade but it's just not that good either. It's not a masterpiece of cinema. It really doesn't even hold up to a second viewing. But it's fun enough if you enjoy that genre of semi-serious crime movies with various plot lines all coming together at the climax, and you managed to miss it when it came out a decade ago. Is the bar for recommendations here really all that high? 
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Dec 12, 2016 20:27
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Scrooged is still a funny movie but the dynamic of Frank and Claire's "relationship" hasn't aged well at all, and the character development is very lacking. Yet it somehow has an ending that somehow hits the right note of a cynic reconciling his misanthropy, and still manages the charm and joy of the source material, as well as how ridiculous it is. The soundtrack, creature design and Bobcat Goldthwait are all in top form.
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Dec 12, 2016 20:45
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Franchescanado posted:Scrooged is still a funny movie but the dynamic of Frank and Claire's "relationship" hasn't aged well at all, and the character development is very lacking. Yet it somehow has an ending that somehow hits the right note of a cynic reconciling his misanthropy, and still manages the charm and joy of the source material, as well as how ridiculous it is. Speaking of things that haven't aged well, him shooting up his office after being fired and them playing it for laughs is really uncomfortable now.
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Dec 12, 2016 21:04
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AreWeDrunkYet posted:It's not a masterpiece of cinema. It really doesn't even hold up to a second viewing. But it's fun enough if you enjoy that genre of semi-serious crime movies with various plot lines all coming together at the climax, and you managed to miss it when it came out a decade ago. Is the bar for recommendations here really all that high? I didn't mean to sound all that harsh, it's a good Sunday hangover movie, just trying to offer an opinion between the 10s and 0s.
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Dec 12, 2016 21:17
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Guy Mann posted:Speaking of things that haven't aged well, him shooting up his office after being fired and them playing it for laughs is really uncomfortable now. Nah, it's fine.
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Dec 12, 2016 21:22
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Guy Mann posted:Speaking of things that haven't aged well, him shooting up his office after being fired and them playing it for laughs is really uncomfortable now. He starts off drunk and suicidal and trying to kill Frank who has intentionally hosed with his life (and then continues to do so unintentionally). What's interesting is that Frank comes back from experiencing a fiery death, elated to be alive, and is now "changed", which frightens Bobcat's character into murderous obedience. He offers to give him his job at twice the salary and his own giant office and say-so on every future project if he holds everyone, average people just doing their jobs on Christmas, at gunpoint. Which he does, firing the shotgun randomly, still drunk, and forcing the hostages to dance and "be merry". While this happens, the censor, who's had her rear end kicked the entire movie for trying to enforce her role on the production (which is heavily needed), decides to take the opportunity to sexually assault/molest/possibly rape Frank's rival, a guy who's overall pretty decent (if a little smarmy and competitive), who saved the production while Frank was having a breakdown, who is tied up, gagged, held at gunpoint, and crying. Bloody Hedgehog posted:Nah, it's fine. It works, because it's showing how ridiculous the original A Christmas Carol is.
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Dec 12, 2016 21:41
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Cross - /krôs/: A thing they nail people to.
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Dec 12, 2016 22:00
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:Imagine Aliens only at the end Burke goes "gee Ripley, those xenomorphs really are too dangerous to use, good thing you were around to figure it out for us." It's really toothless from an anti-war / anti-imperialism standpoint despite making faint gestures in that direction. Honestly, Burke being completely cartoonish is probably my only issue with Aliens, though. Any actual corporate executive would have gotten the sweet holy gently caress out of dodge and written the whole thing off the second they saw what happened to LV-426. I get that it fits the movie's ultimate message ("gently caress you corporatism") but it kind of stretches believability. AreWeDrunkYet posted:It's not a masterpiece of cinema. It really doesn't even hold up to a second viewing. But it's fun enough if you enjoy that genre of semi-serious crime movies with various plot lines all coming together at the climax, and you managed to miss it when it came out a decade ago. Is the bar for recommendations here really all that high? Yeah, it's okay. It's kind of like Diet Smokin' Aces, iirc. WeedlordGoku69 fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Dec 12, 2016 |
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Dec 12, 2016 23:40
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I both enjoyed the movie when I saw it and also acknowledge that any movie that revolves around an ending twist is not gonna be as good on repeat viewings.
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Dec 12, 2016 23:48
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The Wailing's really good and you should watch it. Unless you're sick as hell and having fever dreams like I am right now. The original Rollerball is on Amazon prime, and is another really good movie you should watch. It's probably more relevant now than it was 40 years ago, and I enjoy how soft spoken and "aw shucks" likable James Caan is in it. girth brooks part 2 fucked around with this message at 01:14 on Dec 13, 2016 |
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Dec 13, 2016 00:37
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girth brooks part 2 posted:The Wailing's really good and you should watch it. Unless you're sick as hell and having fever dreams like I am right now. It's also on Hulu, thanks for reminding me to watch it.
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Dec 13, 2016 03:21
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The Ones Below is a pretty good watch . I have some issues with the plot but it's an entertaining little slow burn thriller.
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Dec 13, 2016 03:27
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I just noticed that Down Terrace, the first film by Ben Wheatley (A Field In England, Kill List, High-Rise, Sightseers) is available on Prime. Started watching a bit and am enjoying it. Sort of a black comedy with British crime story elements, done in a very documentary/fly-on-the-wall style. Also, A Field in England is available on Prime. It's real good. If you like black and white psychedelic flicks set during the English Civil War. And Michael Smiley. And High-Rise is on Netflix US. Haven't watched it yet, but it's based off a JG Ballard story and stars Tom Hiddleston, so I'm already sold. This has been your semi-annual Ben Wheatley streaming availability post.
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Dec 13, 2016 05:15
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