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Ramsay B.

By Ramsay B.,
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polishgenius Council Member

polishgenius

Posted
Posted (edited)
6 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

I can't stress this enough, read the graphic novel first. 

 

And then watch the TV show, skipping the movie entirely. 

 

edit: actually, that's unfair. The opening sequence of the movie fucking slaps. 

Edited by polishgenius
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Mr. Chatywin et al. Council Member

Mr. Chatywin et al.

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44 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

 

And then watch the TV show, skipping the movie entirely. 

 

edit: actually, that's unfair. The opening sequence of the movie fucking slaps. 

The show is awesome, the movie is meh. It's kind of hard to get into if you don't know the characters. I really didn't like it on the first viewing and my GF at the time made us leave the theater. I liked it more once I read the comic and watched it again, but it's still a slog. The show, OTOH, is wonderful and doesn't require knowing anything about it before watching.

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KingAerys_II Council Member

KingAerys_II

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Speaking of "The Shining" I liked the 20s atmosphere and the dialogues between the main character and Lloyd the bartender. 

The Silence of the Lambs is another Stephen King masterpiece, Hannibal Lecter showed some reedeming qualities despite being an highly intelligent psychopath. 

Hellraiser, I don't know why, but the cenobites remind me of the Godhand, some Pinhead quotes are legendary (oh, no tears, please, it's a waste of good suffering) 

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Veltigar Council Member

Veltigar

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I had the good fortune to attend a screening of Godzilla Minus One. If you had told me at the beginning of this year that I would end up enjoying a Toho Godzilla film over Ridley Scott's Napoleon, Gareth Edwards' The Creator, Fincher's The Killer, Gerwig's Barbie, Scorcese's Killers of the Flower Moon and Nolan's Oppenheimer, then I would have declared you crazy, but it is exactly what ended up happening.

This film is absolutely amazing. I was expecting a lot based on the positive reviews, but the film still managed to outperform even my wildest expectations. Really impressive to see how they were able to keep my attention engaged even though the titular monster only appeared in about 9% of the film (figure from IMDB Trivia).

The characters were incredibly well-drawn, the themes were clearly articulated (I particularly enjoyed its praise for transparency, civilian oversight of military matters and in general its belief in the power of citizens to make a difference) and the action was amazing.

The fact that this film cost only 15 million USD to make is utterly bewildering. That's lower than the budget of the American Godzilla from 1998 (unadjusted for inflation) and more than 10 times lower than Gareth Edwards Godzilla from 2014 (again unadjusted for inflation, so if you do that, the discrepancy is even higher). You can harp all you want about the historically low position of the Japanese Yen or the differences between the various systems, but if you see how good this film looks, there are a lot of people in Hollywood who should really do some introspection. 

If I have to offer three points of criticism

Spoiler

1. Some of the acting is very "Japanese" in the sense that the emoting can be really heavy, but I didn't think it was all that distracting.

2. I don't think the ejection seat should have been disclosed to Shikishima. I thought the first set up with the mechanic just telling them to pull the red lever without an explanation would have been far more poetic.

3. I also think they should have stopped the film sooner. I didn't mind that this love interest lived (never bought that she died in the first place), but I think they should have stopped the film as soon she asked 'Whether your war is finally over?' I think a cut to black would have been even better than the ending we got.

 

On 12/15/2023 at 5:36 PM, Tywin et al. said:

L.A. had the surfing scene. It's terrible, but also great.

I watched this scene on YouTube. I definitely never saw this film, because I would remember that :blink:

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KingAerys_II Council Member

KingAerys_II

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Posted (edited)
20 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

 

He what? 

At least he helped to solve the Buffalo Bill murder case, then he was not so bad with Clarisse... He is clearly a dangerous psychopath but compared to Pinhead he has some reedeming qualities 

Edited by KingAerys_II
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Mr. Chatywin et al. Council Member

Mr. Chatywin et al.

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47 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

I watched this scene on YouTube. I definitely never saw this film, because I would remember that :blink:

All I remember about the first one is the hero's name is Snake and Adrienne Barbeau. 

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3CityApache Council Member

3CityApache

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Finally had a chance to finish Reservation Dogs. What a great little show it was. And they even managed to squeeze Ethan Hawke into it! Loved the third season as much as the previous two, the subtle construction of the Maximus plot, loved the ending. Loved basically everything about it.

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Nictarion Council Member

Nictarion

Posted
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2 hours ago, 3CityApache said:

Finally had a chance to finish Reservation Dogs. What a great little show it was. And they even managed to squeeze Ethan Hawke into it! Loved the third season as much as the previous two, the subtle construction of the Maximus plot, loved the ending. Loved basically everything about it.

So good. I think it’s the only other thing I’ve ever seen Lily Gladstone in besides Killers of the Flower Moon.

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Isis Council Member

Isis

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Went to see Wonka yesterday. It was the only possible thing to watch at the ten screen cinema which is five minutes walk from our house. I had low expectations so it was kind of what I was expecting. There were a couple of funny bits. I found some of the musical numbers overly saccharine. All the chocolate-related stuff was cute and hit all the right notes.

The elephant (giraffe) in the room I guess, is Chalomet. I mean...I disagree that he was right for the role full stop so I can't work up any enthusiasm for critiquing him here. Plus, he's too adorable to be annoyed with. But he's not my Wonka. 

The original Wonka was dark and subversive. This is not. It's cutesy, like a Disney Wonka. You can watch it to pass the time but it's not worthy of love.

Also felt like there could have been more Oompa Loompa action. Although what we got was satisfying.

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mormont Council Member

mormont

Posted
Posted

Watched Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny  last night: not gonna lie, at least partly because my friend is in it as an extra. :p

That's a film that has some serious script issues. Looks like they were still revising the script in post production. Just a mess. Characters that are clearly left over from earlier drafts, editing issues (yeah, everyone knows time rifts appear in storms, that's just basic facts, no need to explain that concept).

Also, it's perhaps a little too on the nose that the villain wants to go back to the '40s, given how much the studio evidently want this franchise to go back to the '40s. The entire thing is hamstrung by nostalgia. I get the sense that Mangold knows this and at times is trying to resist it but ultimately can't. And of course the Ford problem: Indy is ten years too old to be able to do any of this and Ford is ten years older than that, even, so every time I watched Indy punch someone young enough to be his grandson I just wondered how he didn't break his hand.

Has its points, but probably the second weakest Indy film after Temple of Doom.

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