Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[Guest]

I am Legend (Netflix)

3/5

I tend to like Will Smith in films, this was no exception. Good film. Very predictable and no re-watch-ability, but otherwise top notch. Not a great film, and doesn't hold up to scrutiny, but a relaxing ride for the length of the film if you just don't think too hard about it.

On the other hand, a sequel could actually make for a really excellent sci-fi...

[Munkie]

7 hours ago, paxmiles said:

I am Legend (Netflix)

3/5

I tend to like Will Smith in films, this was no exception. Good film. Very predictable and no re-watch-ability, but otherwise top notch. Not a great film, and doesn't hold up to scrutiny, but a relaxing ride for the length of the film if you just don't think too hard about it.

On the other hand, a sequel could actually make for a really excellent sci-fi...

I like this one more than I ought to and have watched it many times. Not a huge fan of the synchronicity of the ending, but everything up til then is solid. 

You may say it has no rewatch value but the fight and aftermath of Sam vs the vampire doggies never fails to tug on the strings of my withered, black heart.

[Romans832]

Mortal Engines - 8/10 - Interesting movie. I think it met my hopes. Though loved the utter confusion why the jets didn't shoot the crap out of the dome...

 

But the preview to Joker looks SICK

[Duckman]

On 4/6/2019 at 2:06 AM, Munkie said:

I like this one more than I ought to and have watched it many times. Not a huge fan of the synchronicity of the ending, but everything up til then is solid. 

You may say it has no rewatch value but the fight and aftermath of Sam vs the vampire doggies never fails to tug on the strings of my withered, black heart.

The reason the ending is not consistent is because it is not the ending.  _I Am Legend_ is a really old book and it has nothing to do with what was on screen.  Essentially this is as bad a rendition as his "I, Robot" film.  Read the book for a much better treatment of the idea with a totally different spin on what is going on.

[Munkie]

49 minutes ago, Duckman said:

The reason the ending is not consistent is because it is not the ending.  _I Am Legend_ is a really old book and it has nothing to do with what was on screen.  Essentially this is as bad a rendition as his "I, Robot" film.  Read the book for a much better treatment of the idea with a totally different spin on what is going on.

I've heard that, and absolutely understand that perspective. My counter-argument is and always will be that the story doesn't need to be told the same way twice. In fact, story began as a strictly spoken concept. The same story couldn't be told the same way twice. The teller's personality is understood to always affect the story.

As long as the teller is relatively true to who the character is, I'm fine with deviation. 

All that said, I've never read the book. Maybe it was a money-grubbing hatchet job defiling the book. I wouldn't know. I do know that I watched a movie I liked though, so mission accomplished. The ending was clumsy, but many (most?) are.

[Duckman]

11 hours ago, Munkie said:

I've heard that, and absolutely understand that perspective. My counter-argument is and always will be that the story doesn't need to be told the same way twice. In fact, story began as a strictly spoken concept. The same story couldn't be told the same way twice. The teller's personality is understood to always affect the story.

As long as the teller is relatively true to who the character is, I'm fine with deviation. 

All that said, I've never read the book. Maybe it was a money-grubbing hatchet job defiling the book. I wouldn't know. I do know that I watched a movie I liked though, so mission accomplished. The ending was clumsy, but many (most?) are.

I understand and I don't have a problem with a movie maker deviating from the book.  The problem with this one in particular is that not only did it deviate from the book but Lawrence has confirmed that it had a different ending more reminiscent of the book and then they changed it and tacked on what you got (reference I saw did not explain why it was changed, whether Will wanted something less critical of the character or test audiences didn't like it).

The book itself is not terribly apropos for a modern film.  It was made into films twice before the 2007 version.  In '64 Vincent Price was "The Last Man on Earth" and in '71 Charlton Heston was "The Omega Man".  The most faithful of these was the Vincent Price version.  The Omega Man had a different message in mind and so it, also, had a modified ending.

In short, the main reason the ending didn't jive is because Lawrence changed it late in production.

[Brother Glacius]

Shazam! - 8/10 - this one ranks up there with the MCU movies. The casting was great, every actor/actress fit the bill perfectly. I'd say the only one that might have been deemed a bit out of the place was the wizard (but that is purely based on my own tastes). The comedy was there, the action was there, as well as the heart warming and down moments. Best of all, it is well set up for a sequel. If you like super hero movies at all, then go see this one, I doubt you'll be disappointed. To note, I am not a DC guy at all. So if there are story elements from a Shazam history perspective that are off or wrong, I have no knowledge of that. Depending on how much of a purist you are, there might be things you don't like. All in all I thought it was a great film. My wife loved it as well and Jade stayed awake through the whole movie. It gets a Razzano family thumbs up!

[InfestedKerrigan]

Shin Godzilla

Very much a Toho Godzilla flick. I posted a pic of one of godzilla's evolutions (like Pokemon!) in random photo thread.

It was a good Toho movie. I watched it dubbed, which was decently lip synced, but makes me wonder what was dropped from story/context. 

The eyes are my only real complaint. At one point I was not convinced they weren't googly eyes.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, InfestedKerrigan said:

Shin Godzilla

Very much a Toho Godzilla flick. I posted a pic of one of godzilla's evolutions (like Pokemon!) in random photo thread.

It was a good Toho movie. I watched it dubbed, which was decently lip synced, but makes me wonder what was dropped from story/context. 

The eyes are my only real complaint. At one point I was not convinced they weren't googly eyes.

Thank you very much. That was excellent. Watched it subbed.

5/5.

[Romans832]

Spider Man Spider Verse - 8/10 - Didn't exactly go the way I expected, but that's just fine, fun movie.

 

Fantastic Beast: The Crimes of Grindelwald - 8/10 - it was a fun turn your brain off... watch to humor the wife 😉

[CaptainA]

Mary Poppins Returns - 2/10 No thanks. Went to appease the wife and wanted to die multiple times in viewing. By the end I was trying to keep my spirits up but knew I could only last 1 or 2 more songs. I was hoping the songs would end so I could get to the story parts, kinda opposite of what its intended to be. I have no plans to watch it again, even for the children. They can go to the other room and watch on a laptop with headphones...

[Guest]

3 hours ago, CaptainA said:

Mary Poppins Returns - 2/10 No thanks. Went to appease the wife and wanted to die multiple times in viewing. By the end I was trying to keep my spirits up but knew I could only last 1 or 2 more songs. I was hoping the songs would end so I could get to the story parts, kinda opposite of what its intended to be. I have no plans to watch it again, even for the children. They can go to the other room and watch on a laptop with headphones...

Did she like it, at least?

[CaptainA]

3 hours ago, paxmiles said:

Did she like it, at least?

Yes, so there is that.

[Guest]

Hellboy (2019)

1/5

I mostly finished, but didn't actually get to the end. It's very bad. 

The main problem is the protagonist, who just doesn't fit in the film on any level. His cartoony costume is the only such character costume in the film. His dialogue is worthless. Protagonist is a Tsundere character. As the audience, the protagonist offers nothing to relate to or inspire. CGI is top notch where ever the protagonist isn't in the scene...same with antagonist costumes and acting, the cartoony protagonist just ruins the CGI and other special effects.

Without explaining the plot or giving spoilers, plot is basically every D&D/pathfinder pre-gen adventure poorly stiched together with nazis added. It has undead, wizards, witches, nazis, giants, military special forces, a demon, british secret societies, vampires, modern knights with electro lances, fairies, psychic mediums, luchadores, seers, a weretiger, and a dragon....which all would have made for a great campy TV series, but as single film they crammed too much in.

 

 

[WestRider]

The Silence: I still haven't seen A Quiet Place or Bird Box, so I figured I'd watch this first so as to not be making comparisons with what are, by all accounts, better versions of the same thing. Didn't matter. This movie is just awful. I'd figured the cast was good enough to pull it through, since the three mains are all played by people I like, but even Stanley Tucci couldn't save this one from the terrible plot, script, and direction. The monsters aren't even cool enough to watch on that basis.

[Munkie]

10 minutes ago, WestRider said:

The Silence: I still haven't seen A Quiet Place or Bird Box, so I figured I'd watch this first so as to not be making comparisons with what are, by all accounts, better versions of the same thing. Didn't matter. This movie is just awful. I'd figured the cast was good enough to pull it through, since the three mains are all played by people I like, but even Stanley Tucci couldn't save this one from the terrible plot, script, and direction. The monsters aren't even cool enough to watch on that basis.

It seemed like an incredibly easy crisis to resolve once the sheer idiocy of the creatures was revealed. Wood chippers, industrial meat grinders, etc, etc, etc. Are hard counters. 

[WestRider]

On 4/18/2019 at 12:01 PM, Munkie said:

It seemed like an incredibly easy crisis to resolve once the sheer idiocy of the creatures was revealed. Wood chippers, industrial meat grinders, etc, etc, etc. Are hard counters. 

Exactly. I was also thinking of something along the lines of remote-detonated IEDs (or even proper mines/grenades/bombs, since the actual military forces are going to be involved) with some kind of noise makers nearby. Watch from a safe distance, and then trigger the blast once enough of them are clustered around. Plenty of options.

EDIT: Also, they seemed to be trying to present Ally's deafness as being some sort of advantage, when it would actually be really dangerous, since she wouldn't be aware of any noise she was making.

[InfestedKerrigan]

17 hours ago, WestRider said:

 I was also thinking of something along the lines of remote-detonated IUDs. Watch from a safe distance, and then trigger the blast once enough of them are clustered around. Plenty of options.

 

Speaking of explosions...

 

Kite - 2014 live action adaptation of the '98 anime.  Stays true to the story, while telling a new one.  Is very much a South African film.  Decent foreign dystopian flick if not familiar with the source material.  

 

As a side note, sometimes I'm jealous of all the ran down buildings they have in South Africa.  Then I remember why.

[Sugarlessllama]

Into the Spider-Verse. I was amazing. I loved it!

The Highwaymen. Also a great movie. 

[Munkie]

11 hours ago, Sugarlessllama said:

Into the Spider-Verse. I was amazing. I loved it!

Are we rating movies, or ourselves? 😄

11 hours ago, Sugarlessllama said:

The Highwaymen. Also a great movie. 

I liked it, but for some reason Bonnie and Clyde stories bug me in that nobody really cares to be that historically accurate. While Bonnie was part of the gang and was absolutely an accomplice to many a crime and did fire at police in a couple shootouts, there's no evidence she ever killed anyone. 

Basically, they took pictures of themselves "living the gang life" where Bonnie was holding a revolver with a cigar in her mouth. When they fled a hide-out, the police found the pictures, the newspapers got a hold of them, and her reputation was cemented in history based on an ironic photograph.

For instance, the scene where she kicks a wounded cop onto his back and shoots him point blank in the face. That did happen, but she is thought to have been asleep in the back seat at the time. This was after her leg was severely burned in a car crash. She pretty much just slept and slammed painkillers from then on. 

That said, the movies wouldn't be as interesting if it was Clyde and his gang committing crimes while Bonnie mostly waited in the car. 

It's just one of those weird things where we've collectively decided to revise history for the sake of better storytelling. 

[InfestedKerrigan]

1 hour ago, Munkie said:

It's just one of those weird things where we've collectively decided to revise history for the sake of better storytelling. 

Pearl Harbor, Braveheart, Passion of the Christ, any John Wayne movie...

 

[Munkie]

1 hour ago, InfestedKerrigan said:

Pearl Harbor, Braveheart, Passion of the Christ, any John Wayne movie...

U-571 is my favorite example of these. "Let's just pretend Americans captured the enigma coding device, audiences will never watch a movie where our allies look competent."

One-off revisionist movies are a time honored tradition. The point I was making (not very well, I admit) is that every iteration of the Bonnie and Clyde story tells the story the same way. The truth has been known since the testimonies of former Barrow gang members, but we just decided "nah, we like this version better" and never looked back.

[Yarbicus]

2 hours ago, Munkie said:

Are we rating movies, or ourselves? 😄

I liked it, but for some reason Bonnie and Clyde stories bug me in that nobody really cares to be that historically accurate. While Bonnie was part of the gang and was absolutely an accomplice to many a crime and did fire at police in a couple shootouts, there's no evidence she ever killed anyone. 

Basically, they took pictures of themselves "living the gang life" where Bonnie was holding a revolver with a cigar in her mouth. When they fled a hide-out, the police found the pictures, the newspapers got a hold of them, and her reputation was cemented in history based on an ironic photograph.

For instance, the scene where she kicks a wounded cop onto his back and shoots him point blank in the face. That did happen, but she is thought to have been asleep in the back seat at the time. This was after her leg was severely burned in a car crash. She pretty much just slept and slammed painkillers from then on. 

That said, the movies wouldn't be as interesting if it was Clyde and his gang committing crimes while Bonnie mostly waited in the car. 

It's just one of those weird things where we've collectively decided to revise history for the sake of better storytelling. 

I did like how the movie made it clear that Bonnie and Clyde we're primarily a social construct. Do we ever actually see their faces? I love how the new technology (primarily radio) is portrayed. Discovering that the car has an AM radio was like getting the newest iPhone.

[Duckman]

[Guest]

On 4/20/2019 at 11:03 AM, Munkie said:

but we just decided "nah, we like this version better" and never looked back.

That's all history....

I keep wondering how the dinosaurs would be viewed if they weren't showcased in so many films/books/museums.