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

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

10 hours ago, RumHam said:

I hope Ti West's X was good, but I haven't had a chance to see it yet.

Just finished it. 9/10. Worth the $20.

[Ramsay B.]

35 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Just finished it. 9/10. Worth the $20.

Watch the after credit scene?

[DireWolfSpirit]

The new Batman starts streaming tonight on HBO!

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

Watch the after credit scene?

No. I watched it on Prime, just went back and check and there isn't one. 

4 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

The new Batman starts streaming tonight on HBO!

Hell of a day to take of off work. Feel bad because this is the third time now I'm going to bump City of God to watch something else, but I'm also about to finish up Batman: Year One, so how can I not watch this instead?

[DireWolfSpirit]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

No. I watched it on Prime, just went back and check and there isn't one. 

Hell of a day to take of off work. Feel bad because this is the third time now I'm going to bump City of God to watch something else, but I'm also about to finish up Batman: Year One, so how can I not watch this instead?

You can do both!

I will watch Batman promptly though because these streaming premieres are usually temporary.

[Iskaral Pust]

1 hour ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

You can do both!

I will watch Batman promptly though because these streaming premieres are usually temporary.

How temporary?  I was planning to wait until the weekend so my son can watch with us?  He’ll have a lot of homework all week.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

14 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

How temporary?  I was planning to wait until the weekend so my son can watch with us?  He’ll have a lot of homework all week.

You're good. These early releases tend to run on streaming services for a month.

[DMC]

HBO's policy last year was releasing it on Max the same day as the theatrical release and then giving it 31 days.  However, starting this year they've agreed to a 45 day policy:

Quote

Warner Bros. reached a deal with Cineworld, the owner of Regal Cinemas, for a 45-day exclusive theatrical window starting in 2022. This means that Warner Bros. films will need to be in theaters for at least 45 days before they can appear on streaming or VOD platforms, including Warner’s own HBO Max streaming service.

[GallowKnight]

13 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Just finished it. 9/10. Worth the $20.

I agree with this, really good movie.

[Ramsay B.]

8 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

No. I watched it on Prime, just went back and check and there isn't one. 

Check it out on YouTube. I left the theater not realizing there was one either. 

[Ran]

Just finished The Batman. Could have been a tighter movie -- I could see trimming 10-15 minutes easily enough, and a couple of the big action set pieces were particularly a bit too long -- but the tone of the film, dripping in film noir aesthetics, is almost perfection. Biggest quibble?

Spoiler

Didn't buy the Riddler copycats doing his bidding and following his plan. At all. Felt like a lame way to introduce a last big action sequence, and feels something like the studio mandated. Personally, I would have totally gone for Batman having to do a Poseidon Adventure-style derring-do rescue of people trapped in the flooding Gotham City Garden instead of fighting off these pointless mooks.

Also, fantastic score from Michael Giachinno. Really striking themes. Robert Pattinson makes an excellent Batman, though I suppose I missed the chance of seeing his Bruce Wayne at some sort of social function where he at least tried to behave differently than his alter ego (though all indications appear to be that in Reeves's imagining, the Bruce Wayne of Batman: Year Three is simply too obsessed with fighting crime that he can't get himself to feel any joy ... even when driving around in that stunningly beautiful '63 Corvette coupe... *sigh*)

Funnily enough, a couple of days ago by complete happenstance I watched the DC Animation adaptation of Batman: The Long Halloween, which is a major source of inspiration for this film. Have to say, I was disappointed in the deviations from the original Jeph Loeb-Tim Sales comic series in the animated version, especially in its story resolution -- it wraps things up too patly vs. the comic which leaves a significant loose end dangling, a mystery unresolved by Batman but which the audience knows the answer to. Also, RIP Naya Rivera, the voice actress for Catwoman in the animated films, who did a very fine job; she tragically drowned before the release of the film, much too young.

 

[Darryk]

On 4/17/2022 at 9:58 PM, RumHam said:

I hope Ti West's X was good, but I haven't had a chance to see it yet.

 

On 4/17/2022 at 10:32 PM, Ramsay B. said:

X was good, nothing mind blowing though. Nice throwback to classic slashers with its own unique take.

I enjoyed The Night House as well, but interesting horror flicks seem few and far between lately. I’d love some good recommendations too.

Funnily enough I watched that just last night, and it was pretty decent, definitely better than most of what's out there right now.

23 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Ages? Hereditary and Midsommar are only a couple of years old.

ETA: Just checked out the trailer for Nope. Take my money, please! 

Those are both brilliant but two years is ages if you're addicted to good psychological horror films that emphasize atmosphere over gore.

22 hours ago, Spockydog said:

Gerald's Game. Especially if you've not read the book.

 

I am a huge fan of Mike Flanaghan

[Veltigar]

Continuing the theme of rewatching some stuff I haven't seen in years, I rewatched both Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and Hidalgo (2004). I'm going to shit on both of them, but I'll start by the one I was really nostalgic about, namely Hidalgo. I used to absolutely love this film. Must have watched it a bazillion times, but now I wouldn't be caught dead watching this type of movie in the theatre.

Usually, when you pop in an old favorite, you get all warm and fuzzy, but this film from the get go signals it doesn't give a shit about historical accuracy (sadly they flew over my head when I was younger). Worse, it then doesn't even do anything interesting with it. You can give a lot of criticism to something like The Last Samurai, but at least they let the ahistorical white character go through some interesting stuff in its fanciful ahistorical plot.

Hidalgo on the other hand, serves up the crudest stereotypes and tries to play them off as profound. It's such a damn generic film, but alas it has Viggo Mortensen (and those beautiful horses) to sucker you into watching it. I had to start doing other stuff while watching the film, just because I was so pissed off by how stupid the story is. The whole Ocean of Fire concept is laughable and the fact that it has supposedly been going on for a thousand years in some of the most contested areas around the world is just insulting to the audience's intelligence. 

Atlantis: The Lost Empire then, is not a film I ever felt particularly attached too. Disney had a great run in the early 1990s, but from Hercules onwards they lost their magic touch. There are probably articles written about this, but I feel like the changes in art work you can see from Hercules to Tarzan and then finally to stuff like Atlantis and the (in my memory at least) much superior Treasure Planet was really a step down in terms of animation. 

I read from the IMDB trivia list that they wanted to create a more mature animated film, geared more towards teenagers than kids. A big inspiration was supposedly Indiana Jones and the film does feel like an unfinished script for one of the Adventures of Young Indiana Jones serials.

The coolest thing about this entire film is the design of the Bathyscaphe they are using for the exploration. I also liked some of the design choices made for the Atlantean society, but for the rest this whole thing is a mess. They say they wanted to go for a more mature story, but then they fill it up with characters like Cookie and Mole who are just grating. The plot's a mess, motivations are waiver thin and we never get a good explanation for any of the stuff the Atlantean's are supposedly able to do. Add to that the mediocre animation of every character who isn't Atlantean and a particularly annoying lead character and you get a train wreck. No wonder Disney mothballed the planned sequel.

For the rest I'm also like 8 episodes into Our Flag Means Death. it's quite droll I must say. Not something you absolutely have to watch in my book, but if you are partial to the people in it or like a  light-hearted piracy yarn from time to time I'd definitely recommend it.

On 4/13/2022 at 3:35 PM, Tywin et al. said:

Bringing this back to the topic of the thread, why aren't there more movies set in Rio or Brazil in general? I can only recall a few films mostly set in the Amazon, and then of course the FF movie where our heroes potentially killed hundreds of people dragging that vault around the city.

 

Plenty of films are set there, they just happen to be Brazilian usually. Rio has a big museum dedicated to those Brazilian motion pictures. Apart from Cidade De Deus and Tropa De Elite who are well known around the globe, there must undoubtedly be hidden gems

On 4/13/2022 at 10:00 PM, Ran said:

Yeah. The Brazilian publisher of The World of Ice and Fire queried if we'd be interested in a book tour that would take us to Rio and Sao Paulo, but for various reasons -- including the general reputation of Brazil's safety for tourists (but mostly because the trip was looooong) -- we passed on it. George told us we missed out, he apparently had a great time when he was in Brazil in the past. And obviously, people do. But I've seen one too many videos of just completely casual robbery and assaults against tourists...

If I do get mugged, I'll try my best to smile and wave at the camera so you can recognize me  

On 4/16/2022 at 4:00 PM, Corvinus85 said:

Anyone else watching the new season of Outlander? I gave in and got Starz last week and got caught up with the show last night.

I am absolutely shocked they are still churning out episodes for that one.

[Corvinus85]

12 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

Continuing the theme of rewatching some stuff I haven't seen in years, I rewatched both Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and Hidalgo (2004). I'm going to shit on both of them, but I'll start by the one I was really nostalgic about, namely Hidalgo. I used to absolutely love this film. Must have watched it a bazillion times, but now I wouldn't be caught dead watching this type of movie in the theatre.

Usually, when you pop in an old favorite, you get all warm and fuzzy, but this film from the get go signals it doesn't give a shit about historical accuracy (sadly they flew over my head when I was younger). Worse, it then doesn't even do anything interesting with it. You can give a lot of criticism to something like The Last Samurai, but at least they let the ahistorical white character go through some interesting stuff in its fanciful ahistorical plot.

Hidalgo on the other hand, serves up the crudest stereotypes and tries to play them off as profound. It's such a damn generic film, but alas it has Viggo Mortensen (and those beautiful horses) to sucker you into watching it. I had to start doing other stuff while watching the film, just because I was so pissed off by how stupid the story is. The whole Ocean of Fire concept is laughable and the fact that it has supposedly been going on for a thousand years in some of the most contested areas around the world is just insulting to the audience's intelligence. 

I, too, liked it this movie initially. Not a lot, but well enough. But I learned last year, after re-watching it, that even the real life guy Mortensen plays may have been a fraud. A lot of his accounts are strongly disputed. So there may be nothing historical about it anyway.

[IFR]

2 hours ago, Ran said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Didn't buy the Riddler copycats doing his bidding and following his plan. At all. Felt like a lame way to introduce a last big action sequence, and feels something like the studio mandated. Personally, I would have totally gone for Batman having to do a Poseidon Adventure-style derring-do rescue of people trapped in the flooding Gotham City Garden instead of fighting off these pointless mooks.

 

This is where the movie fell apart for me too. It was almost a great movie. I loved the tone, and I like that Batman was an actual, you know, detective. However....

Spoiler

That ending was an unfortunate action set piece. Up to that point the movie was great. The moral equivalence between Batman and the Riddler was so well established that the twist that the Riddler believed they were on the same side the whole time worked well.

When it comes down to it, while Batman is a fun character, the actual idea of Batman is incredibly stupid. Some billionaire, in lieu of effectively using his wealth to improve the world, learns karate and goes around horribly beating up random thugs (and somehow not killing or giving them traumatic brain injury, or harming innocent lives, I guess). It's such an unbelievably dumb idea, and only avoids not being morally repulsive because of plot armor.

And this movie came really close to recognizing it. Bruce Wayne's complete incompetence due to his insane infatuation with vigilantism enabled the major criminal activities that occurred in the movie. The Riddler was a far more effective crime fighter than Wayne. Until the end, where of course the Riddler goes off the deep end and decides to drown the city and kill countless non-criminals.

I think the ending detracted considerably from the quality of the movie. I still liked the movie, but it could have been much better.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 hours ago, GallowKnight said:

I agree with this, really good movie.

 

Spoiler

I was fascinated by just how good the film looked. They absolutely captured the style and feel of the era they were trying to recreate. The first half of the film isn't a horror film at all yet it completely sucked me in. 

 

2 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

Check it out on YouTube. I left the theater not realizing there was one either. 

Got a link? All I'm seeing is videos discussing it.

49 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

Plenty of films are set there, they just happen to be Brazilian usually. Rio has a big museum dedicated to those Brazilian motion pictures. Apart from Cidade De Deus and Tropa De Elite who are well known around the globe, there must undoubtedly be hidden gems

I have no doubt. Just wish they weren't so hidden. Even when I was in that part of the world most of the stuff I saw was just dubbed stuff from the U.S. The Simpsons are even bigger there than in the states. I drank a Duff beer at a bar dedicated to the show. Was pretty decent TBH.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 hours ago, Ran said:

Funnily enough, a couple of days ago by complete happenstance I watched the DC Animation adaptation of Batman: The Long Halloween, which is a major source of inspiration for this film. 

The graphic novel landed on my steps less than 15 minutes ago, just as I finished Year One. About to start the movie once I've got dinner prepped and in the oven (I hate that I think of Peyton Manning every time I make chicken parm...).

[Spockydog]

Nobody does annoying, girlish shrieking like Paul Dano. Jesus H Corbett.

[WarGalley]

I finished the live-action season of Cowboy Bebop on Netflix. I needed something to put on in the background while I did a bunch of chores and this worked out rather well considering how fast I finished it. I'm still somewhere in the middle of the first season of the anime (but subtitles are hard to deal with when multitasking). I quite enjoyed the characterization, fight scenes, humor and colors and visuals. I, dare I induce holy war with my blasphemy, almost preferred many of the episodes over the anime version which is a slower burn and requires more patience.

However, the single worst part of the show was Vicious, Julia and the Syndicate stuff. Holy cow, I didn't like any of it. Not the acting, the dialogue, the sets, the directing, nothing. The live action characterization was more cartoonish than the actual anime particularly with Vicious as he appears to be more smooth and sinister in the anime. In the live version, he's a tantrum throwing teenager with daddy issues. Given how they portrayed him, I'm thankful they didn't try to bring Ed in earlier on. 

This made the final 2 episodes of the season an absolute chore. Worse than the actual chores (such as my taxes) that I was actually doing while watching the show. It just slogged on with very questionable character motivations and paper thin relationships driving loyalties and betrayals (Julia's arc being the worst of them all). I was often reminded of episodes of Iron Fist.

So while I thought the show started strong, it collapsed into disappointment. I would have much rather they stuck to episodes of bounty hunting instead of trying to craft this great backstory for Spike as they failed miserably. However I understand that's not a long term formula but I could have watched more of that. 

[Ramsay B.]

3 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I was fascinated by just how good the film looked. They absolutely captured the style and feel of the era they were trying to recreate. The first half of the film isn't a horror film at all yet it completely sucked me in. 

Got a link? All I'm seeing is videos discussing it.

Of course I can’t find it now either, but it’s basically…

Spoiler

A trailer for a prequel called Pearl about the older woman in her younger days at the farm, starring Mia Goth.