Movies - where we can talk about movies

[Jerjo]

These movies usually clean up in a big way, but I was there last night, 7 PM opening night in IMAX 3D and the theater was mostly empty (like, barely 25% full).

Sounds like they may have gone to the well one too many times.

Ron Howard has taken over directing the Young Han Solo project after the producers had "creative differences" with the previous directing team. Who knows what kind of a movie we'll get. And St Joss Whedon took over finalizing the Justice League movie because Snyder had to leave after the tragic death of his daughter. Supposedly Whedon was supposed to do just reshoots but there's rumors that he's doing a whole lot more. I hope some of it is rewriting dialogue.

[battema]

I am a pretty big SW geek (SHOCKER), but I have no strong feelings about the Solo film either way. I'm not a huge fan of films trying to show the formative years of a beloved character. Sometimes it's best to leave them as they were -- fully formed in that moment. I'm down for a ticket but not really feeling much excitement or angst. It just is

Whedon doing Justice League...best of luck to him. I enjoyed Wonder Woman but otherwise the DC movies have left me pretty underwhelmed (and the things that I generally didn't like about WW were the things that made it "tie" to the DC universe feel, like the over-the-top CGI finale). Maybe it'll end up as another fun "case study" ala Transformers.

[battema]

I am very much looking forward to Dunkirk.

I really, really, REALLY want to enjoy Blade Runner 2: Deckard's Boogaloo. The director and music composer are both lovely and created one of my favorite films of last year (Arrival). But...I just can't figure out why BR needed a follow-up. It'd be like Inception 2, where you find out if the top fell at the end or not.

[mozo-pg]

Bladerunner is a top 10 movie for me. The new one has odds against it but I'll still definitely check it out when it's released without high expectations.

[JKL2000]

SSSHHH! Don't let the others hear that!!!

I can already sense the formation of Ephemeral Sun featuring John Battema!

[dropforge]

I voluntarily watched the latest Transformers cluster last night. I actually enjoyed it, but not really for the right reasons. It is fascinating and a little fun to dissect the film and realize just how many things were actually wrong with it. Not just the easy targets like the awful dialog, rampant sexism and racism...but the more structural stuff. Like, a fumbling switch of mcguffins midway through the film, disappearing characters, logic holes and disjointed editing. Much like Suicide Squad and Batman v. Superman, it's kind of an excellent sort of case study in how NOT to make a movie.

I hear this one's horrid. But I haven't bothered with any of them since the first one. I hate how the 'Formers look in Bay's movies. Way too busy.

Re: Batman v Superman, you need to watch the 3-hr Ultimate Edition. That restores a lot of footage the studio chopped from the theatrical cut in order to make room for more screenings. It's an example of why studios should not fuck with their directors so much. (Look at Wonder Woman. They didn't mess with Patty, and she delivered a fine origin film that's raked in 600 million worldwide in three weeks.)

And that warehouse scene where Batman takes out all the goons? That's the single best action scene in superhero cinema!

[dropforge]

Whedon doing Justice League...best of luck to him. I enjoyed Wonder Woman but otherwise the DC movies have left me pretty underwhelmed (and the things that I generally didn't like about WW were the things that made it "tie" to the DC universe feel, like the over-the-top CGI finale). Maybe it'll end up as another fun "case study" ala Transformers.

Apart from the "street level" heroes, I don't see any CBMs happening that will not utilize a CG-intensive finale or action centerpiece. It's part and parcel of the genre. The DC movies have better cinematography than Marvel's, too, with the exception of Suicide Squad.

(And if you haven't seen Guardians of the Galaxy 2, save your money!)

[dropforge]

Sounds like they may have gone to the well one too many times.

Ron Howard has taken over directing the Young Han Solo project after the producers had "creative differences" with the previous directing team. Who knows what kind of a movie we'll get. And St Joss Whedon took over finalizing the Justice League movie because Snyder had to leave after the tragic death of his daughter. Supposedly Whedon was supposed to do just reshoots but there's rumors that he's doing a whole lot more. I hope some of it is rewriting dialogue.

I hope not. He should have redone a lot of what made it into his two Avengers movies.

[Jerjo]

Trying to Find Meaning in the Best Worst Movie of the Year

http://www.esquire.com/entertainment...-henry-review/

[spellbound]

TV has been comPLETELY kicking the Silver Screen's ass for some time now.

You must have different TV than we have. While I agree that the recent crop of movies has been dismal, the broadcast TV we have could not kick high enough to reach a gnat's ass. Can't afford cable. I'm just gonna read.

[JKL2000]

Trying to Find Meaning in the Best Worst Movie of the Year

http://www.esquire.com/entertainment...-henry-review/

Sounds terrible! The thing is, even if it was supposedly good I wouldn't see it.

I still haven't seen the 7th Star Wars movie, but they don't really seem to care who directs these things anymore, do they?

[SteveSly]

You must have different TV than we have. While I agree that the recent crop of movies has been dismal, the broadcast TV we have could not kick high enough to reach a gnat's ass. Can't afford cable. I'm just gonna read.

Although I would agree most regular broadcast TV is not so great, I totally agree with Paulie that if you count HBO, Netflix, FX, AMC, and some others, movies are having their asses kicked right now. We are living in the golden era of TV drama right now and most movies can’t hold a candle to much of what the best in television are doing right now IMO. I very rarely see a new movie that totally fulfills me these days, but there are several current TV dramas that I think are brilliant.

[JKL2000]

Although I would agree most regular broadcast TV is not so great, I totally agree with Paulie that if you count HBO, Netflix, FX, AMC, and some others, movies are having their asses kicked right now. We are living in the golden era of TV drama right now and most movies can’t hold a candle to much of what the best in television are doing right now IMO. I very rarely see a new movie that totally fulfills me these days, but there are several current TV dramas that I think are brilliant.

My wife just watched the dramatic series about Albert Einstein that was original content for the National Geographic channel and loved it. Starred Geoffrey Rush, and as good as he is, my wife thought the guy playing Einstein as a young man was even better. There's going to be a second season next year.

[Scott Bails]

You must have different TV than we have. While I agree that the recent crop of movies has been dismal, the broadcast TV we have could not kick high enough to reach a gnat's ass. Can't afford cable. I'm just gonna read.

Broadcast TV is dying. It's all about cable and subscription services now.

[progeezer]

Every 2 weeks on Friday someone comes to clean my apt. and I disappear to the movies for 2 hours so I'm not there or else she would be here for 3 hours,with an hour of her not shutting up. I let her talk to my cat instead.

There was nothing I was excited to see, so I opted to go see Rough Nights, since I wanted to see what Scarlett J. would do in a profane slapstick "Hangover" type movie and also because I love Kate McKinnon on SNL.

Scarlett was OK, but Kate was horribly miscast as an Australian. She does a great Hillary and an even better Jeff Sessions, but her attempt at "g'day" talk was a dismal failure.

The movie overall was barely mediocre.

[dropforge]

Every 2 weeks on Friday someone comes to clean my apt. and I disappear to the movies for 2 hours so I'm not there or else she would be here for 3 hours,with an hour of her not shutting up. I let her talk to my cat instead.

There was nothing I was excited to see, so I opted to go see Rough Nights, since I wanted to see what Scarlett J. would do in a profane slapstick "Hangover" type movie and also because I love Kate McKinnon on SNL.

Scarlett was OK, but Kate was horribly miscast as an Australian. She does a great Hillary and an even better Jeff Sessions, but her attempt at "g'day" talk was a dismal failure.

The movie overall was barely mediocre.

ScarJo's hotness is distracting. As an actress, she's kind of overrated.

[Progatron]

ScarJo's hotness is distracting. As an actress, she's kind of overrated.

I mentioned a few weeks back that I watched the Woody Allen film Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which I really enjoyed. But what's interesting in this context is that Scarlett's beauty in that movie is actually one-upped by the gorgeous Rebecca Hall. It's not often (if ever) that that happens.

[SteveSly]

My wife just watched the dramatic series about Albert Einstein that was original content for the National Geographic channel and loved it. Starred Geoffrey Rush, and as good as he is, my wife thought the guy playing Einstein as a young man was even better. There's going to be a second season next year.

That looked like it would be really good. I hope to catch it either On Demand or if they re-run it. I just have too much good stuff I am watching right now.

[progeezer]

My wife just watched the dramatic series about Albert Einstein that was original content for the National Geographic channel and loved it. Starred Geoffrey Rush, and as good as he is, my wife thought the guy playing Einstein as a young man was even better. There's going to be a second season next year.

Here's the guy who played young Einstein, Johnny Flynn, who I agree with your wife was brilliant, in his other incarnation:

https://youtu.be/B60HAn2eu3o

And another one with Mumford & Sons:

https://youtu.be/tsKdrrZCpyw

[Rogue Mail]

I caught the last half of an odd little movie called Gunbus (Sky Pirates) on tv earlier.

The improbable plot involves two US cowboys who rob banks, deciding to come to England and getting involved in WW1. As you do...

A real curiosity - I remember ads and posters in the trade papers for this when it was being filmed in the UK. It was directed (very badly) by one Zoran Perisic, who was an effects guy mostly known for doing the flying effects and optical work on the Reeve Superman movies.

Even the part of it I saw, it looked an utter mess, and reading about how many people they employed to do the construction, effects and model work (it apparently holds a record for this), I don't know how they ever expected it to make money. And I cannot imagine the effects (lots of old process screen shots) looked good even back when it was made.

It never got a cinema release in the UK, unsurprisingly. Another notable mistake during the films US release was that the poster depicted the two cowboys hanging from an airship in modern clothes.

MV5BMDE0ZmE5NDAtYTZlNi00NDA2LTgwZGQtNjMxNjVjMjJiMTg0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTY5MDE5NA@@._V1_.jpg

[Paulie]

You must have different TV than we have. While I agree that the recent crop of movies has been dismal, the broadcast TV we have could not kick high enough to reach a gnat's ass. Can't afford cable. I'm just gonna read.

Well, if you don't have cable, Netflix, or Amazon Prime, then there's no comparing TVs. Broadcast TV blows. HBO, Showtime, AMC, FX, Netflix, Prime all offer top notch programming these days. HBO alone has completely blown my mind in recent years. Game of Thrones, The Leftovers, The Night Of, Divorce, Pretty Little Lies, and the list goes on and on. Episode nine of GoT's last season was perhaps the most insane piece of film-making I've ever witnessed anywhere in my life, let alone network TV.

[SteveSly]

Well, if you don't have cable, Netflix, or Amazon Prime, then there's no comparing TVs. Broadcast TV blows. HBO, Showtime, AMC, FX, Netflix, Prime all offer top notch programming these days. HBO alone has completely blown my mind in recent years. Game of Thrones, The Leftovers, The Night Of, Divorce, Pretty Little Lies, and the list goes on and on. Episode nine of GoT's last season was perhaps the most insane piece of film-making I've ever witnessed anywhere in my life, let alone network TV.

Agree, HBO has totally raised the bar. Their shows are movies, just spread out over the course of years. Yes, they have had a few duds here and their, but HBO's best stuff blows most cinema away these days.

[EssayWriter]

HBO movies and TV series are awesome. The whole world is waiting for the new season of Game of Thrones. And this is only one example. You can find a lot of qualitative content there.

[Progatron]

I also agree. HBO, AMC, Netflix, etc... all have had such fantastic series over the last decade or so that network TV simply can't compete with. In fact, I don't watch network TV at all now apart from Saturday Night Live and Modern Family. I don't watch sports, I read the news online, and I don't have the time of day for anything that involves a studio audience, a panel of judges, or anything that falls under the 'reality' (snicker) TV banner. In this day and age, it's hard to believe that people still flip through channels to see "what's on", including the endless barrage of mind-numbing commercials and the white noise of shrieking American audiences. I can't think of a bigger waste of time.

[spellbound]

I have seen, and enjoyed, a few of the better cable series on DVD. I'm not entirely ignorant. I certainly agree there is no comparison between cable and broadcast. Broadcast TV is good for one thing. It is the best soporific known to man, and unlike drugs, has no side effects (provided you don't stay awake long enough to listen to, or heaven forbid, believe, any of the slime comin' out of your TV set). I long ago trained myself to mute the audio and ignore the visual of TV commercials. Now, the broadcast TV programs themselves are so dull that I am always asleep within a few minutes of sitting down in front of the idiot box, which I try not to do unless I really need the sleep.

How many seasons of Game of Thrones have aired? I am trying to see it all on DVD. Recently watched season 6.

I don't watch sports

Almost all sports have been removed from broadcast TV and can only be seen on cable.

I don't have the time of day for anything that involves a studio audience, a panel of judges, or anything that falls under the 'reality' (snicker) TV banner

I feel the same and have never watched any of that, excepting occasionally "Jeopardy," but even that is not as good as it once was.