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The movie recommendations thread, son (pg. 256)
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| 72hrpartyanimal |
| quote: | Originally posted by Zoso
The wife and I watched Knives Out yesterday afternoon. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved Daniel Craig in his role. |
I appreciate Daniel Craigs acting ability. I see some great success with him after his Bond days are over. |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
obviously i wanted to bump the incredible skywalker thread where darth rann grabbed his red saber and committed sepuku, but that was closed by some cunt most likely named darth stupidious.
anyway, i never did make it to the cinema for this so caught it last night. i...well...ummm....:nervous:
thought it was pretty great!
i mean sure, that's a relative statement and a reflection of just how low my expectations have gotten since 1999 but i definitely think it's the best of this and the prequel trilogies.
SW for me has always been a jedi-sith narrative with the other sub-plots supplying filler between Sword Wizards doing their thing. it's the main reason the prequels sucked the wang (for me)- the relationship between anakin and obiwan was all tell and little show, and we never got to meet the cardboard sith villains so there was no emotion in those battles. nobody's favourite sith is Maul for example. the prequels should've developed the relationship between anakin and obiwan so that the former's betrayal would be an epic tragedy between brothers. instead, we got paint by numbers.
i liked that rise of skywalker focused more on the wizards and for whatever reasons i bought into it this time whereas i never could in the previous two. while the force has become little more than a plot device at this point and can do just about anything the writers need it to, it allowed the main wizards to have a dialogue and build a relationship that never happened in the prequels. prequel interactions were little more than attacking the guy with the wrong-coloured saber.
im not sure why i liked this narrative device more than in the previous disney films but for the first time i started to care about these new characters.
of course, the film was still full of nonsense and stuff that made little sense but for once i was willing to roll with the punches instead of being particularly critical. the leia angle was a really interesting dynamic where the audience is kinda mourning a character and actor all at the same time. thought it was done pretty well.
i never really made peace with ren's angry teenager presentation but he was a bit more tolerable this time around (maybe he'd worn me down by this stage?).
i think the regular change in directors/writers/producers (or whomever, i haven't paid attention) really hurt this trilogy, which felt almost like each successive steward wanted to piss all over their predecessor's contribution. having ren mend his helmet or re-introducing rey's lineage as a major plot point just felt bipolar. the final chapter would've felt a lot less contrived and made far more sense had one person been at the helm the whole time to build the foundation of the finale (kinda like straczynski and his epic writing of ~60 consecutive B5 episodes).
finally- music. i've been pretty critical of the new films' scores while also acknowledging it's difficult to build something new yet familiar and fitting. "duel of the fates" from the phantom menace is the only notable track since 1983. that hasn't changed here, however skywalker cuts and pastes direct pieces from the original films which (for me) were used to great effect (at one point it told me where the scene was located which i'd missed by being dumb). sadly, there was no reappearance of vader and luke's final duel which remains the best music from the series.
i get im a movie moron etc but the fact this film's reviews are the worst of the three entries makes no sense to me. then again RoTJ remains my fave so maybe i just like the worst film in each trilogy.
PS waaaaay better than prometheus :D |
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| Zoso |
I only saw The Force Awakens in theaters. It was...decent. It was nice to have that initial "OMG, Star Wars is back in theaters" feeling after so long. But I quickly felt that TFA was A New Hope, Part 1.5.
I did not see The Last Jedi until it came out on Blu-ray. I know the film is divisive, and I fall on the "this sucks" side of the camp. To each his/her own, but no amount of Internet Arguing (TM) will ever make me like it.
I also did not see The Rise of Skywalker in theaters. I just went ahead and read the spoiler thread on Reddit, shook my head, and thanked deity that "well, at least this is over, and we can close the book on the 'Skywalker Saga' part of the Star Wars universe."
I have, based on reviews of The Mandelorian, for example, great hope that there are stories worth telling in the larger SW universe. I just hope the right people are hired to tell them. |
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| planetaryplayer |
Systemsprenger 5/10
Colour out of Space ~4/10 (Really wanted to like it)
Ready or Not 7/10
Sorry we missed you 8-8.5/10
John Wick 2 + 3 ?/10 (the fact that there are no civilians and everyone is an assassin bugs me)
Haunt 6/10 (me) 7/10(her)
Daddy's Home 8/10
Ad Astra 7/10(with bias) 6/10(unbiased) |
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| Zoso |
| I wanted to like Ad Astra, but other than some pretty cinematography to look at, it did nothing for me. |
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| planetaryplayer |
| Precisely!! All my score came from pictures of space |
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| planetaryplayer |
First love 8-9/10
probably going to take a break from movies |
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| Paradox Lost |
| quote: | Originally posted by planetaryplayer
First love 8-9/10
probably going to take a break from movies |
Pace yourself, it's a long pandemic.
The movie channels on my dish network have suddenly become free, probably for the above reason, and it's no surprise that movies like Outbreak and 12 Monkeys are in circulation. Which makes sense. But so is, like, Days of Thunder, and American History X. Which makes less sense, and sends me hunting for any subtext of contagion. |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
| quote: | Originally posted by Zoso
I have, based on reviews of The Mandelorian, for example, great hope that there are stories worth telling in the larger SW universe. I just hope the right people are hired to tell them. |
they should have never extended the "saga". they had 1000 generations of jedi knights' stories to explore yet they bolted their onto a story which had absolutely been finished. too risk averse imo (which is weird given it's maybe the most recognisable series of all time).
i don't do the novels but the knights of the old republic game was excellent. it was good because it's an amazing universe and they didn't have to worry about what had already been delivered; KOTOR was set a much longer time ago in a galaxy far, far away. that should have been disney's intent too, imo. i hope any new movies are well outside this timeline. |
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| Zoso |
| quote: | Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN
they should have never extended the "saga". they had 1000 generations of jedi knights' stories to explore yet they bolted their onto a story which had absolutely been finished. too risk averse imo (which is weird given it's maybe the most recognisable series of all time).
i don't do the novels but the knights of the old republic game was excellent. it was good because it's an amazing universe and they didn't have to worry about what had already been delivered; KOTOR was set a much longer time ago in a galaxy far, far away. that should have been disney's intent too, imo. i hope any new movies are well outside this timeline. |
Agreed on all points, sir. I would love some KOTOR lovin' from The House of Mouse. |
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| Zoso |
Speaking of movies, in case anyone is interested, Bill Hunt (brother to Mike Hunt??), over at The Digital Bits, has his review of the massive Skywalker Saga box set up: https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/...nts/033120-1500
He has reviews for each UHD Blu-ray of the films, individually, linked in the above. These are the same UHD copies that are currently available on Disney + with the exception of 2 things: 1.) these use HDR10 instead of Dolby Vision HDR; 2.) they carry a much higher average bitrate since they are on disc.
For the curious, these discs are based on new(er) 4K scans conducted back in 2012 when The Phantom Menance was undergoing work for a 3D version. Also, the included standard Blu-ray copies in this set (and in the individual releases) are based off the newer 2012 4K scans, and NOT the older 2011 Complete Saga Blu-ray set. One of the biggest changes, besides resolution, is that most of the color-timing issues and crushed blacks have been fixed on the new discs.
Outside of the fan-based Project 4K77, etc., copies, this is likely the best these films will ever look on home video, at least for a long time to come. If you've never seen the Project 4K77 copy of "A New Hope," you should look that up and obtain it. It is glorious. |
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| Trance-M |
| Although it wasn't amazing I enjoyed watching Underwater a lot. Obviously it borrowed a lot from other movies like Alien, The Abyss, Leviathan and DeepStar Six. |
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