The MOVIE Thread

[Speed Racer]

I was baked as hell, but I really enjoyed the new Mortal Kombat movie. The plot is a tad crap and convoluted, but they had a nice selection of characters, the fights were awesome, and the guy who played Kano stole the movie. I'm looking forward to a sequel.

At this point, the Mortal Kombat has retconned and reinserted everything to hell with more timelines than Doctor Who, so I'm fairly whatever about the plot - I just view it as yet another timeline that got redone with MK11's bull#####.

[Johncarllos]

As far as movie adaptation of videogames go, I'd say Mortal Kombat was fine. I enjoyed it for being a dumb action movie with some OK fanservice. It was also refreshing that there was no sexualization of characters or romantic subplots. Established Husband/Father wants to protect his family, how refreshingly simple.

[Speed Racer]

I watched the Steven Seagal classic "Out For Justice," which was a dumb film with bad acting, but some decent action scenes. I don't get how Hollywood was like "Yeah, we're totally going to buy Steven's terrible fake NYC accent" FOR MULTIPLE FILMS.

[Speed Racer]

Got baked and watched Cobra. The fact that the movie made $160 million in 1986 dollars worldwide just shows that cocaine was king. Also, the soundtrack sucks.

Tonight I'll be watching a JCVD movie, either Hard Target or The Order.

[Johncarllos]

Dune was swell.

[Speed Racer]

Dune was swell.

Yeah, my wife and I really enjoyed Dune. It was the first date night we'd had since the pandemic. I would've liked to have seen it in IMAX, but we couldn't remember if it was the large screen or 3D (or both) that made my wife sick last time, so we didn't want to risk ruining one of her favorite novels on a large format and just saw it on a normal screen - which was fine. To be honest, it looks like it would be great to see in IMAX, but if you can only do normal for the first part, you'll be okay. Now Dune Part 2 - that NEEDS to be seen in IMAX. Also, I want to say that my only experience with Dune was the 1984 movie, and I was very impressed with the pacing in the 2021 version and how they were able to explain so much political and economic stuff without making it boring or losing the audience.

[TheRedPriest]

I'm quite looking forward to Ghostbusters Afterlife.

[Speed Racer]

I'm quite looking forward to Ghostbusters Afterlife.

Early reviews were mixed; pretty much everyone said when it was trying to be its own thing it's great, when it tries to go for the nostalgia factor it loses it.

[TheRedPriest]

The nostalgia can only be good.  Mix that with it's own thing and I think it will be great.

[TheRedPriest]

I saw Ghostbusters Afterlife and it was amazing.  Go see it.  This is everything I wanted in a movie.  It has a deliberate pace and is a bit of a slow burn, but I never felt like it was dragging.  The build up to the end was fantastic, and the climax legit had me tear up a bit.

It has a nice mix of horror and comedy, much like the first Ghostbusters.  The characters were all pretty well done, and even though it moves along comfortably, no scene overstays it's welcome.  I didn't find any hints of "woke" anywhere.  Phoebe is a great and likable kid, who is far from the Mary Sue I've seen her described as.

It treats the continuity of the series with great respect while also being it's own thing.  The callbacks and easter eggs are just a cherry on top of the films specific plot and they work great.  Honestly, from a plot stand point it's really more of a direct sequel to 1 than to 2, so while I liked 2 ok, that was more of another adventure, whereas Afterlife directly tackles plot points from the first film.  I really enjoyed that.  It wraps up the original Ghostbusters story really well.  Afterlife can serve as a finale, or maybe a jumping off point for more.  This really does feel like an 80s movie, in all the best and right ways.

I left the theater with a big smile.  THIS is the kind of movie fans want.  Not pandering, not "message" above entertainment, not quotas or check lists.  Fun.  A good adventure.  This is proof good movies can still be made, Hollywood just chooses NOT to.

Go see this movie.  We need to support good films like this.  And when you do see it, stay ALL the way to the end past the black screen credit rolls.  There is another scene before the curtains come down.

[Johncarllos]

I'm pretty sold on it, then. Alas, The French Dispatch is our theater trip for tomorrow. Ghostbusters will have to be later in the week.

[TheRedPriest]

Pull some kind of "I'll buy the tickets" jujutsu and "accidently" buy Ghostbuster tickets instead.

[Mikero]

I like the Dune novel so I liked the movie. I'm curious what people who didn't read the book thought of the film, since I'm sure there's a lot of seemingly random terms being thrown at you with little explanation.

I'm not interested in Ghostbusters, I don't actually have any affinity for the franchise, but I find it odd that (based solely on the trailer) this adaptation is trying to add some sort of seriousness to the concept that was never there to begin with. I'm glad to hear this one's good though, I'll probably check it out on streaming.

[Speed Racer]

I've never read any of the Dune novels, and my only experience with it before the current movie is the one from 1984. I thought the old movie was okay, but I barely remember anything about it and the constant inner monologue was annoying. The new Dune movie I thought was really cool and made all of the political/economic stuff way more accessible to general audiences; my wife thought that alone was a huge feat in of itself.

[Mikero]

Interesting. I've never seen the 80's movie to compare but that's good to know, 'cause I feel like the truly unique plot stuff doesn't come up until the second half so I was wondering if people would stick around for it.

[TheRedPriest]

I like the Dune novel so I liked the movie. I'm curious what people who didn't read the book thought of the film, since I'm sure there's a lot of seemingly random terms being thrown at you with little explanation.

I'm not interested in Ghostbusters, I don't actually have any affinity for the franchise, but I find it odd that (based solely on the trailer) this adaptation is trying to add some sort of seriousness to the concept that was never there to begin with. I'm glad to hear this one's good though, I'll probably check it out on streaming.

It's not any more serious than the original Ghostbusters.  Both are a mix of horror and comedy.

[Johncarllos]

I like the Dune novel so I liked the movie. I'm curious what people who didn't read the book thought of the film, since I'm sure there's a lot of seemingly random terms being thrown at you with little explanation.

I'm not interested in Ghostbusters, I don't actually have any affinity for the franchise, but I find it odd that (based solely on the trailer) this adaptation is trying to add some sort of seriousness to the concept that was never there to begin with. I'm glad to hear this one's good though, I'll probably check it out on streaming.

Dune was swell.

I knew it would be dense going into it, but the pacing and presentation of the important information was so well balanced! It felt like a book being adapted to a film: the side characters weren't as fleshed out as they could have been, BUT their importance to the protagonists and the overall plot felt adequate. Specifically, Jason Momoa, and Josh Brolin's characters, as well as the magical doctor guy.

It did what a great adaption should do: inspire you to read the books and delve deeper into the lore.

I loved it, and the whole time I was thinking (and even said to my wife) "This is like Star Wars for adults."

I watched at home, steaming, on my aging 65" TV with dolby atmos surround, and it was a GREAT experience. I could tell that some scenes would have been even more breathtaking in IMAX.

Dune is next on my Audiobook list now.

[Speed Racer]

Watched the 4K edition of RoboCop. Holy hell what a film.

[Speed Racer]

I got baked and watched Dungeons & Dragons for the first time. Holy hell that movie is bad. It's a fan film with theatrical distribution, although some parts were cool, there's a part about halfway through that you can tell they just cut out a ton of #####.

[TheRedPriest]

If a movie isn't good when baked, you know it's cooked.

[Speed Racer]

If a movie isn't good when baked, you know it's cooked.

Ehhhhhh there's some movies that are hilarious when I'm sober but dumb when I'm baked - usually comedies. Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle are two movies I've sat through baked as hell and didn't laugh once.

[Speed Racer]

Wife and I took the kids to go see Sonic the Hedgehog 2. We sprung the oldest kid out of school early that day so we could go to a 4:15 showing where there wouldn't be anyone. Whole family enjoyed it and it was great seeing the surprise on their faces once they realized that we were going to a movie theater AND seeing Sonic 2.

[TheRedPriest]

Kind of the opposite of when you take your dog to the vet and it realizes it's not going to the park!

[Speed Racer]

We were on vacation in Maine a couple of weeks ago, we watched a few films as a family, and a couple by myself:

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (of course, multiple viewings)
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (oldest son is really into the Silver Surfer and likes the idea of the Fantastic Four - haven't watched this since the theaters, and honestly it was pretty fun. Except for not knowing what to do with Galactus, they did a pretty good job)
Hop (youngest son loves this movie, it is absolute bland kid crap)
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
At the Earth's Core
Marked for Death
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (low budget, fairly middling crap movie. Worth a rental)
Constantine: The House of Mystery (good anthology movie, some genuinely weird/#####ed up #####. I'd love there to be an Adult Swim-esque Blue Beetle/The Question cartoon show. Honestly all four cartoons I'd be willing to see sequels to)

[Johncarllos]

We were on vacation in Maine a couple of weeks ago

And you didn't stop in to say hi?! Preposterous.

[TheRedPriest]

Considering you shot at the last person who came onto your property, can you blame him?

[Speed Racer]

We were on vacation in Maine a couple of weeks ago

And you didn't stop in to say hi?! Preposterous.

#####, I didn't realize you lived there! And now that I go through FB and look at your last job posted...we may have been 10 minutes away.

[Johncarllos]

We were on vacation in Maine a couple of weeks ago

And you didn't stop in to say hi?! Preposterous.

#####, I didn't realize you lived there! And now that I go through FB and look at your last job posted...we may have been 10 minutes away.

Now you know, for next time!

Considering you shot at the last person who came onto your property, can you blame him?

It was a throwing axe.
Now you know, for next time!

[Speed Racer]

For real, it is absolutely wild that some of us have been discussing film in this thread since 2007. Like, holy #####, I was still in college and writing for a now-defunct UK film site.

[TheRedPriest]

The specters of our youth haunt these blue halls.

[Speed Racer]

The Menu was really well done.

[Speed Racer]

We sprung the kids from school early last week so they could go see an early afternoon showing of Return of the Jedi before it left theaters. Both kids loved it; it was also the second movie my youngest has seen on the big screen (first being Sonic the Hedgehog 2). For me it was great because I haven't seen ROTJ on the big screen since 1997, and as an adult who has easily seen the movie 200+ times, this time I could ignore the plot and just take in all of the stuff going on in the background like the different aliens, set design, details on the matte paintings, etc. Fantastic time!

[TheRedPriest]

I saw it in theatres in 1983 when my brother took me.  I fell asleep because it was something like a 9 pm show or some such thing.  I was only 5 or 6 though.  I don't think I've actually ever seen it in the theatre again since then though.

[Speed Racer]

Wife and I took the kids to see Across the Spider-Verse which was holy ##### an amazing time. Loved it so damn much, between seeing all of the different suits, the fun jokes for fans, and just a really #####ing good movie. Looking forward to the next installment.

[Majikn]

Deadpool & Wolverine was the most recent film I've seen in theatres.

And it's... for a second sequel, it fares about what I'd expect, and I didn't go in with high expectations myself, and had fun with it.

A lot of people are happy with it and had fun with it, and that's great. But it's interesting to me how the popularity of Ryan Reynolds and the Deadpool character make the hype of this movie into something that it just isn't. The best part of the film is right at the beginning and then it's just a slow decline. I enjoyed the movie very much and I'm glad to have seen it but it's weird to me, almost borderline creepy, how impressed some people are with it. I feel like the plot is just incoherent and weird.

I'd love to see Deadpool enter the MCU and if this is the weird transition that explains it, and if there's anything awesome left in the "MCU" to actually be seen, I guess I'll tolerate it.

[TheRedPriest]

I thought it was good, dumb fun, which is all I expect from a Deadpool movie.  There have been some things in all 3 I didn't enjoy as much as other parts so overall they're all about on par with each other for me, and I like them.

[Johncarllos]

I thought it was good, dumb fun, which is all I expect from a Deadpool movie.  There have been some things in all 3 I didn't enjoy as much as other parts so overall they're all about on par with each other for me, and I like them.

I cried watching Deadpool 2. Didn't cry for 3. not as good, but still fun enough. If you didn't watch Loki, you're gonna be lost as ##### on TVA stuff.

[TheRedPriest]

I don't watch any of the garbage Marvel put out since Endgame.  I keep up on the gist of it, but it's all been such a dumpster fire I have zero interest in anything they're doing.  I think they explained the TVA sufficiently in the movie itself to understand enough to enjoy the movie.

[Johncarllos]

I think Loki and Wandavision were pretty fine shows and showed a promising future.

Falcon and Winter Soldier was like a weird slice of life show for half of it that made me wish it was half as long. I understand what they were going for, but how much can an Avenger talk about a mortgage and a boat? It would fit in the 80's or 90's, but we've had a black president. As far as I understand, that kind of corporate racism is anachronistic for a show taking place in the 2020s.

She-Hulk was a #####in mess though, and turned me off of all of it. Haven't been into anything since that.

[SB]

I seen my once-a-decade film not long ago since family wanted to see "Twisters" on the big screen, and it sucked. It could have worked as a Captain Planet film with how the main cast acted during it, but the 90s version did it all much better.

[Mikero]

I'm with John here mostly.

I loved Wandavision tbh, I grew up on sitcoms from all eras so the way they played with each decade's tropes was a lot of fun. It became a generic Marvel thing later, which is a little disappointing I guess but overall I didn't mind at the time and I think we really saw Elizabeth Olsen flex her range as an actress with these different roles. I came out of it very much a fan of hers and wanting to see more of her acting (I recommend Love & Death)--for reference I didn't know her before Age of Ultron and they really didn't do ##### with the Wanda character until Wandavision. What I dislike is how they treated the character afterwards in the abysmal Dr. Strange sequel, but imo the first Dr. Strange movie sucked too.

Loki's first season was good. People focus on the office's 60's-70's visual style but I love how on the other side of the windows it had so much aesthetic design taken from Moëbius' art. This season really hit for me because of big I used to be into comics for most of my life, and it really was hitting a lot of cool beats. I imagine if you aren't into that stuff then the show is just fine. I found the second season was only compelling for about two thirds, then just kind of... Was a show. It doesn't help that Jonathan Majors has turned out to be a really bad person.

Falcon and Winter Soldier I enjoyed because I enjoy those characters--well actually I never liked Falcon-Cap in comics, I felt it actually removed agency from one of our few historically standalone Black superheroes making him just another "not-the-REAL-<insert superhero here>" a la Rhodey/War Machine. However the MCU dodges this issue because the character of Sam/Falcon/Cap was just never established at that level and his conversion over to Cap is more organic. But what I liked about the show was actually the exploration of how the "blip" actually improved the lives of many people, moreover how undoing it (a decision made by the haves that didn't consider the have-nots) created a metric #####ton of problems for people at society's bottom. The show's execution can be long and dry but I think that singular concept was interesting enough to make it valuable to me. The US Agent storyline was done decently enough to fit into that larger narrative, it wasn't extremely interesting to me but I don't think there's a better way to execute that storyline. I will disagree, John, that that level of corporate racism is gone in the 2020's. That is very much still alive it's just quiet, especially with corporations hiding behind their performative social media presence. Regardless, as someone who read a lot of the "black" superhero comics in the past I very much enjoyed the nods to "Truth: Red, White, and Black" as well as how that trickled down in one of my favourite Young Avengers' characters: Patriot.


But those are shows, I guess I should see this third Deadpool movie to understand what you guys mean. I haven't had the drive to see it 'cause I never really found the first two THAT great tbh. I'm sure it's just as fun as those though.


Borderlands stunk.
I just finally watched Under The Skin and don't know what I think.

[Johncarllos]

Deadpool & Wolverine is a dumb popcorn movie, with a lot of low brow comedy, but it weaves that amongst good (to great) acting, fun R-rated violence (especially in the first third), insane and unexpected cameos for some beloved edge characters, and an overall wholesome(?) story.

I appreciate the insights, Mike. "As far as I understand" is definitely rooted in my experiences in Maine, one of the least diverse, and (I believe) it is the least black state in the continental 48. I'm also in the more liberal part of the state, where every corporate culture I've been in has been extremely pro-diversity. I guess I wasn't thinking about it from the point of view of more diverse and (often) oppressive areas, and I guess I didn't give it as much attention as it didn't relate to my experiences at all, and wasn't what I thought I'd get from a Marvel show. It's been years since I watched it, but thinking back on it a bit more it holds a bit more weight than I thought.

I also agree that Dr. Strange 2 was doodoo and character murder for Wanda. Strange 1 was middle of the road for MCU at the time, but at least it played a part in the episodic MCU leading up to Infinity/Endgame. Strange 2 was especially bad because, like, what's the payoff? Who cares about the next things. They dropped the ball hard. Deadpool 3 gets right up in their face with it (literally in Jon Favreau's face).

[Mikero]

Yeah that totally makes sense, and every city is doing these things differently anyway so I fully get where you're coming from. No judgment here.

That's a good point about Dr. Strange 2, it not leading into anything notable means it just felt as wholly pointless as a lot of post Endgame content. That's why it's even more important that those movies and shows are actually interesting but Multiverse of Madness was nothing of the sort. It's amazing how something that shows a multiverse of possibilities could do so without showing even one slightly memorable AU.

[Johncarllos]

What changed in Strange 2? Wanda bad now. Wanda dead? Bad Stranges? Fight with Music! Strange has the worst CGI third eye and a new lady pal.

I missed that he wasn't even sorcerer supreme any more and that it was Wong now. I spent the whole movie wondering why they made a film about a weaker and lesser alternate universe Dr. Strange, hoping we would encounter the prime MCU one. Whoops, they nerfed the MCU one (charismatically, mentally and magically) and it was him all along. I left confused and disappointed.

[Majikn]

I just feel like Deadpool 2 had a much stronger premise and plot. Or at least it connected with me a lot more than the other two. I think that's the main thing. It's hard to say that I'd call any of these movies great, but I thought Deadpool 2 was uniquely satisfying as a superhero movie, and for me that was good enough to say that I enjoyed it and that I think it was an overall good movie.

Deadpool and Wolverine is enjoyable but it just didn't earn my respect in that way.

I was actually thinking of watching Under the Skin recently but haven't had the chance to. I remember watching maybe the first half hour of it closer to when it came out. I don't think I gave it my full attention and just stopped.

I was listening to the soundtrack for it just a couple of weeks ago and I kept waking up at like 2-3am in a pitch black room with Lonely Void playing in my head. The soundtrack for it is beyond.

Not beyond anything in particular.

Just beyond.

It will take you to places that your brain will instantly forget once you stop listening, out of necessity.

To protect your sanity.

[Xero]

The last movie I watched fully was Once upon a time in Hollywood.