Watch, Watched, Watching: Mr and Mrs Smith and Other Famous Hits

[RhaenysBee]

I watched Anatomy of A Scandal.  It’s really more like the Epidermis of A Scandal, or even a Post-Facial Epidermis of a Scandal. Netflix, please, just stop. If you can’t saying anything coherent and/or meaningful, better not say anything at all and remain quiet. What an absolute waste of 4 and a half hours. 

[briantw]

I too watched The Batman and I feel about how most people here seem to.  I loved the visuals and the story was great up until the end of the Falcone plot line, then the movie just sort of fell apart.  The entire last act felt completely unnecessary and ridiculous, and the dark, gritty noir feeling was dropped entirely in favor of a disaster movie set-piece ending and a silly gun fight scene where all the gunmen conveniently secure themselves to a line so there's no chance of them falling to their deaths when Batman inevitably beats the living shit out of them.

That final act lacked confidence.  It's like someone behind the scenes didn't trust that the movie could do well without a big, dumb Marvel-esque action scene at the end.  The film should have ended with Batman's conversation with Riddler, or in a scene right after that sets up the next film.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

I'd shit myself twice and then start crying. The separation in time between these events would be so small they'd be practically simultaneous. I WOULD SHIT MYSELF TWICE, SIMULTANEOUSLY!!! 

<shudder>

 

 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

6 hours ago, briantw said:

The entire last act felt completely unnecessary and ridiculous, and the dark, gritty noir feeling was dropped entirely in favor of a disaster movie set-piece ending and a silly gun fight scene where all the gunmen conveniently secure themselves to a line so there's no chance of them falling to their deaths when Batman inevitably beats the living shit out of them.

I bet that highway chase had more than its share of collateral damage. 

I would have been happy if the film ended on Riddler's rendition of Ave Maria.

On rewatch I'm convinced that this version of Jim Gordon might be the Brick Tamland of the DC cinematic universe. He rarely has an original thought. His Spanish is terrible. He looks confused all the time. He never arrives at his own conclusions unless it's right in front of him. He's constantly repeating people or narrating really obvious shit.

I don't know what to make of this. 

[Ran]

8 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

I thought it was Batman: Year Two. I thought that's how it was advertised. Maybe it's Batman: End of Year Two.

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The Joker scene at the end mentions he was put in Arkham a year before.

 

So, the actual Batman: Year One  comic starts in January and ends in early December, and at the end of it Gordon says someone named the Joker is threatening Gotham. I think it improbable that the Joker is such an easy case that Batman bags him immediately, so in all likelihood in the comics he should have been put away maybe early in Year Two after Batman foils his plans a time or two... and then in the cut scene

Spoiler

IIRC. the Joker says it's nearly the one year anniversary since he was put away in Arkham. Placing it in Year Three. I'm pretty sure..

Although, looking at it again, maybe he means it's almost the first anniversary since they met (early December a year ago). And since the film takes place starting on Halloween... yeah, this is the tail end of Year Two. Thanks!

 

[IlyaP]

2 hours ago, Ran said:

And since the film takes place starting on Halloween... yeah, this is the tail end of Year Two. Thanks!

This was my takeaway as well. 

Also, I think the diaries he keeps suggested it was year two as well, in one Blink and You Miss It scene in the batcave. 

[IlyaP]

8 hours ago, briantw said:

That final act lacked confidence.  It's like someone behind the scenes didn't trust that the movie could do well without a big, dumb Marvel-esque action scene at the end.  The film should have ended with Batman's conversation with Riddler, or in a scene right after that sets up the next film.

I'd say it was all worth it just for this glorious shot courtesy of cinematographer Greig Fraser. (My gods, the lighting in this movie was terrific!)

[3CityApache]

9 hours ago, briantw said:

That final act lacked confidence.  It's like someone behind the scenes didn't trust that the movie could do well without a big, dumb Marvel-esque action scene at the end.  The film should have ended with Batman's conversation with Riddler, or in a scene right after that sets up the next film.

I watched this few weeks ago and I literally don't remember what action scene you are referring to. That is saying something in and of itself.

[IlyaP]

27 minutes ago, 3CityApache said:

I watched this few weeks ago and I literally don't remember what action scene you are referring to. That is saying something in and of itself.

The fight against an army of Riddlers in the indoor...arena/center place.

[Veltigar]

Finished Our Flag Means Death yesterday and I have to say, I was positively suprised. My preliminary view was enjoyable, but not essential about the series, but it sticks the landing pretty well, so I'd actually bump it up to very enjoyable. I did not expect them to take the route they went with and I quite like their approach.

Although Black Sails did it first of course  

[Quijote Light]

2 hours ago, IlyaP said:

This was my takeaway as well. 

Also, I think the diaries he keeps suggested it was year two as well, in one Blink and You Miss It scene in the batcave. 

They do. When he closes the journal at the beginning it says year two on the cover. 

[briantw]

3 hours ago, IlyaP said:

The fight against an army of Riddlers in the indoor...arena/center place.

Also the flood.

[sologdin]

HBO Batman - Furries vs. Incels.

love that.

 

just for this glorious shot

totally.  and the dark hallway brawl, lit only by gunfire.  plenty of great images.

 

much more engaging than i expected, twilit batman. 

[Spockydog]

Outer Range is pretty good. 

[RumHam]

7 hours ago, Veltigar said:

Finished Our Flag Means Death yesterday and I have to say, I was positively suprised. My preliminary view was enjoyable, but not essential about the series, but it sticks the landing pretty well, so I'd actually bump it up to very enjoyable. I did not expect them to take the route they went with and I quite like their approach.

Although Black Sails did it first of course  

I also finished this yesterday. I liked it a lot but it's no What We Do In The Shadows. Though few shows are that funny. I then learned he was a real guy. So spoilers from wikipedia:

Spoiler

Quote

While awaiting his execution, Bonnet wrote to Governor Johnson, begging abjectly for clemency and promising to have his own arms and legs cut off as assurance that he would never again commit piracy.^[74][75][76

I don't know if they'll go that far, but the image of Rhys Darby with peg-everything cracks me up.

 

 

RE: Batman my nitpick is small:

Spoiler

There's no way in hell those cops carried him from the church to their nearest precinct and then started discussing taking off the mask. But whatever, fun movie. I hope the shakeup at WB doesn't get in the way of it's sequels and spin-off shows.

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

3 minutes ago, RumHam said:

RE: Batman my nitpick is small:

  Reveal hidden contents

There's no way in hell those cops carried him from the church to their nearest precinct and then started discussing taking off the mask. But whatever, fun movie. I hope the shakeup at WB doesn't get in the way of it's sequels and spin-off shows.

 

Here's hoping the shake up at WB brings us what we need: a Batman Beyond movie.

[Mexal]

On 4/19/2022 at 2:34 PM, DMC said:

Watched the new Batman yesterday as well, gotta say I'm surprised I really don't have any strong opinions on it.  It was definitely much longer than it needed to be - I enjoyed the epic tone and pace but I think it would've been better served at more like 140-150 minutes.  Pattinson's Batman was also a little too brooding and emo for me, but I suppose I'm not the audience they're targeting there, and in general he was pretty good.  OTOH, I didn't really mind the third act nearly as much as I thought I would (albeit complaints about it on here likely altered my expectations).  Compared to your standard nonsensical cgi-fest climax these days, really wasn't that bad.

I think I'd still prefer the Burton Batmans (and certainly Nolan's), but I wouldn't argue with anyone that said this was better than Burton's and Dark Knight Rises.

I saw it too last night. It was fine. I came out of it not really feeling much. It was a good movie but didn't move me in any way. It was also very one note all the way through. I appreciate the noir detective feel but would have liked it to be a lot tighter. When you have a movie with the tone of Seven (2 hours long), it's really hard to sustain that over almost 3 hours and not be drained. Thought everyone played their characters well, just got really tired by the end.

 

On 4/18/2022 at 10:31 PM, dbunting said:

Question for anyone who watched Euphoria S2

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Are we supposed to wonder is Nates dad molested him when he was around 9?  When Nate and his mom are drinking and talking in the kitchen she mentions how sweet he was and that around age 9 he changed and became dark.  Put that with his dads sexual tendancies to underage boys/girls, and Nates nightmare where his dad was having sex with him... The dream could also obviously tie in to Nate having seen the videos and him wanting his dad to love him or show him affection but when the mom said he changed and became dark it made me wonder.

 

Spoiler

That's when he found his Dad's videos of his sexual encounters. You see this in Season 1. it changed him significantly.

 

[Ran]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

Here's hoping the shake up at WB brings us what we need: a Batman Beyond movie.

Speaking of, I ended up watching Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker today on HBO Max. It actually looks wonderfully sharp, colors really pop, and of course Conroy and Hamill are the canonical best Batman-Joker combination (even if it's retired, aged Bruce Wayne). Great twist to it. And loved Ace the Bat-Hound having a role.

I've just started Russian Doll's second season.  Three episodes in, amusing so far

Spoiler

Love the 1980s New York City milieu Nadia finds herself in.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I liked The Batman quite a bit, possibly more than a lot of other people here judging by the mixed reactions.

Thought the tone was excellent throughout.  Really liked seeing a Batman who was consumed by the role he'd taken on, and kind of on edge, rather than in control of everything.  Didn't miss the socialite element of Bruce Wayne and wasn't bothered by the length of the movie (possibly because I was watching at home).

Also thought the music was excellent and fit perfectly.

With regard to the ending -

Spoiler

I loved that the Riddler basically thought that he and Batman were on the same side.  Felt like that was a good twist, and believable.

Wasn't bothered by the existence of a big final fight scene.  But if I have a complaint, it's along the same lines as others have pointed out - would have strongly preferred they stick to the Riddler by himself and not brought in his followers.  I'm good with a final confrontation, but wish it was different from what they did.

Also like somebody else mentioned - not entirely sure why the Riddler went from vigilante justice, exposing corruption among the elite and powerful to.....flooding the city and hurting everyone.  I guess you can answer it by saying he was insane, but doesn't really fit with his actions up until that point and maybe undermines his parallels to Batman a little bit.

Still, overall, I thought it was very good.

 

[Heartofice]

I watched The Batman as well, and I'd say my opinion is closer to Mexal's above, in that I thought it was a good movie, and I appreciated a lot about it.. but I don't think I really actually enjoyed it.

Things I liked:
 

• Long Halloween is one of my favourite Batman graphic novels and so that added to my enjoyment
• The Detective version of Batman is something that has been kinda missing from previous movies and I liked that theres more of this aspect in there.
• Pattison is a good Batman
• Zoe Kravitz was an excellent Selena Kyle, maybe my favourite version on screen as she was actually given weight and depth. Her relationship with Batman was also believable, made sense, and was well done.
• There are a handful of really nice looking scenes and I appreciate the look that the movie is going for, though I'll have to put the visuals into my negatives for reasons below.

Things I didn't like so much:

• While I wanted there to be a detective-y Batman movie, this was just not all that good a version of that. The movie clearly has influences by Seven and many of those late 90's serial killer clones, but if you are going to do that then there needs to be tension and escalation.. and it sorta wasn't there. Seven has that cat and mouse feel, where one side is chasing and they think they have a handle on it and then there is a swerve of expectations and the rug is pulled from under you. This sorta tries that, but it never really works. Batman really isn't a very good detective, he's constantly fucking it up, only makes really obvious connections between things.. so it never feels that back and forth. I get Bruce is young here but still.
• It was too long, and it felt it at times. I enjoyed the grim brooding feel, but there is a limit to how much I can take. That extends to Batman / Bruce. I never got a huge sense of his character because he was so one-note emo brooder.
• I actually don't like the way it looks on the whole. Sure there was some lovely looking scenes, the hallway fight which flashes in and out with gunfire, that flare scene.. but on the whole I have an issue with it's visuals, and that always makes or breaks a movie for me. 
  The monochrome / pissy orange visual look to every scene just makes me feel unpleasant, I really hate it in most movies. It's like a hold over from those early gritty days of digital movies where everything looked gritty and ugly. I thought a lot of this movie was kinda ugly because it was so dark and lit with an ugly yellow filter. I know , I know, it's Batman, it's meant to be dark innit, but what it reminded me of Crow 2 City of Angels.. one of the worst movies I've ever seen, but also one of the ugliest. That shit gives me nightmares and it's that visual look that creeps me out. Actually so much of the movie is just taking so heavily from the visual style of the late 90s thriller genre like Seven that I was pretty disappointed. 

It is a good movie, I like that this kind of Batman movie exists. I just don't think it was all that great, and I realised I would never want to watch it again, it wasn't fun or enjoyable, I didn't take anything from it that stuck with me. Have to compare it to the Nolan movies and it's not on the same level at all, any of them. I maybe like it the same as Burtons Batman Returns but I'd rewatch that any day.