The Movie Thread Reloaded

[Ratman_tf]

I watched The Rise of Skywalker. It's not brilliant and doesn't break any new ground, but it's much better than I expected. The trappings were great, and the emotional beats were solid. The plot was a bit of rushed nonsense, but it held together enough. The climax wasn't that great, but the denouement and the wrapping up of the various plot and character threads were better. They powered up Ren too much, but, to be fair, that did that to the other force users as well (it wasn't her uberpower during the finale). The nostalgia got a little heavy for my taste, but it was integrated fairly well. The dialog was functional at presenting information and reinforcing characterization, but not a single line rises to the level of poetry. The acting was sufficient. It's not memorable, but it is watchable.

I'm going to indulge myself just a little here.
Rise of Skywalker is going to be the first Star Wars film that I never plan to watch, even on streaming to have an informed criticism like Last Jedi. I was never fond of the sequels, and TLJ killed my interest in them. Your mini-review makes me think I'm making the right decision, if the best I could hope for is "watchable".

[Sparrowhawk131]

I did enjoy the Underworld saga, just haven't seen the newest one

[Pat]

I'm going to indulge myself just a little here.
Rise of Skywalker is going to be the first Star Wars film that I never plan to watch, even on streaming to have an informed criticism like Last Jedi. I was never fond of the sequels, and TLJ killed my interest in them. Your mini-review makes me think I'm making the right decision, if the best I could hope for is "watchable".

If it matters, Rise of Skywalker in many ways is a repudiation of The Last Jedi.

[Ratman_tf]

I'm going to indulge myself just a little here.
Rise of Skywalker is going to be the first Star Wars film that I never plan to watch, even on streaming to have an informed criticism like Last Jedi. I was never fond of the sequels, and TLJ killed my interest in them. Your mini-review makes me think I'm making the right decision, if the best I could hope for is "watchable".

If it matters, Rise of Skywalker in many ways is a repudiation of The Last Jedi.

Yeah, I've seen the Red Letter Media review for RoS. That's kind of amusing. But it sounds like they took everything I disliked from Force Awakens and dialed it up to 11.

[Pat]

I'm going to indulge myself just a little here.
Rise of Skywalker is going to be the first Star Wars film that I never plan to watch, even on streaming to have an informed criticism like Last Jedi. I was never fond of the sequels, and TLJ killed my interest in them. Your mini-review makes me think I'm making the right decision, if the best I could hope for is "watchable".

If it matters, Rise of Skywalker in many ways is a repudiation of The Last Jedi.

Yeah, I've seen the Red Letter Media review for RoS. That's kind of amusing. But it sounds like they took everything I disliked from Force Awakens and dialed it up to 11.

That's the Half in the Bag review? It's pretty good. But yes, The Rise of Skywalker is definitely more akin to The Force Awakens.

[HappyDaze]

I'm going to indulge myself just a little here.
Rise of Skywalker is going to be the first Star Wars film that I never plan to watch, even on streaming to have an informed criticism like Last Jedi. I was never fond of the sequels, and TLJ killed my interest in them. Your mini-review makes me think I'm making the right decision, if the best I could hope for is "watchable".

If it matters, Rise of Skywalker in many ways is a repudiation of The Last Jedi.

Yeah, I've seen the Red Letter Media review for RoS. That's kind of amusing. But it sounds like they took everything I disliked from Force Awakens and dialed it up to 11.

They dialed it even higher, but the gauge wouldn't read past 11. There are some good visuals (not great for Star Wars, it's like they tried too hard and ended up overshooting being great), but the story and characters (but not necessarily the actors) are crap.

[Ratman_tf]

Johnny Mnemonic

Cyberpunk Red got me thinking about this film, so I had to give it a re-watch.

I like Johnny Mnemonic. It's got it's problems. Oh boy, does it. I noticed that it's shot like a TV show. The story elements don't quite all mesh together. There's some dated CGI in the hacking scenes.

But for all that I think Johnny Mnemonic is the most cyberpunk film I've watched. The Matrix (for example) is a better film, but Johnny Mnemonic has more of the iconic cyberpunk RPG elements. The Yakuza, a powerful corporation, a "free city" where the law seems completely absent, cybernetics, street revolutions, a fixer in a bar hooking up people with jobs, plenty of double crosses and so on.
So watch it! Or re-watch it.

[Trond]

Just saw the Rocketeer a few days ago, and I was expecting very little, but was positively surprised. I think it's a bit of an overlooked pulp gem. A few points:

-I wonder if many reviewers didn't get the humor. It's full of it, and often self-deprecating humor (contra Ebert's review of the film).
-Many also didn't notice how much effort they put into the set designs. The zeppelin is actually quite accurate.
-Jennifer Connelly is young, a bit more "fleshy" than in recent years, and absolutely gorgeous.

Pretty nice inspiration for pulp adventures with fairly straightforward plots

[Ratman_tf]

Just saw the Rocketeer a few days ago, and I was expecting very little, but was positively surprised. I think it's a bit of an overlooked pulp gem. A few points:

-I wonder if many reviewers didn't get the humor. It's full of it, and often self-deprecating humor (contra Ebert's review of the film).
-Many also didn't notice how much effort they put into the set designs. The zeppelin is actually quite accurate.
-Jennifer Connelly is young, a bit more "fleshy" than in recent years, and absolutely gorgeous.

Pretty nice inspiration for pulp adventures with fairly straightforward plots

Good call. One of my favorites.

[consolcwby]

I'm going to indulge myself just a little here.
Rise of Skywalker is going to be the first Star Wars film that I never plan to watch, even on streaming to have an informed criticism like Last Jedi. I was never fond of the sequels, and TLJ killed my interest in them. Your mini-review makes me think I'm making the right decision, if the best I could hope for is "watchable".

If it matters, Rise of Skywalker in many ways is a repudiation of The Last Jedi.

I'd rather watch The Star Wars Holiday Special on LOOP than see that shite again! (Man, TLJ must've really got to you to see RoS as anything as watchable! I broke an axel on some of those PLOTHOLES!)

Johnny Mnemonic

Cyberpunk Red got me thinking about this film, so I had to give it a re-watch.

I like Johnny Mnemonic. It's got it's problems. Oh boy, does it. I noticed that it's shot like a TV show. The story elements don't quite all mesh together. There's some dated CGI in the hacking scenes.
--snipp--

Yep.  I went to the movies to see this - I liked it, even if it seemed a bit, underwhelming at times. A good romp!
I always liked the Rocketeer, btw! Good call on that one!
--------------------------
I got one:
Repo Man (1984) Trailer: https://youtu.be/DLGrXGEMOSo (doesn't do the film justice tho...)
Stars Harry Dean Stanton and Emilio Estevez, and is my favorite 80's film (seeing that I was a punk back in the 80s!) -
A quick synopsis:
A loser punk meets up with an automobile repossessing agency and learns the TRUE meaning of EXTREME! Along the way he runs afoul of:
1) A Government conspiracy
2) Aliens
3) UFOlogists
4) Aging Hippies
5) Southern California Punk Rock
6) Television Evangelists
and finally 7) The creator of the Neutron Bomb and his car which everyone wants.
I'd like to say it's a heartwarming buddy-film, but FUCK NO! A romance? Only if quickies and BJs count!
But it does have style and was written and directed by Punks who knew the scene!
Excellent example of 80's Nihilism, Music, and Originality!

[Ratman_tf]

Wonder Woman 1984

Spoiler space. Turn back now, ye mortals who have not watched.
























I really wanted to like this movie. When it worked, it worked really well, When it didn't it stunk.

The first Wonder Woman was great up until the CGI garbage battle where WW won with the power of shooting the bad guy in the face with a laser beam.

This movie was like that, except sprinkled through the film. A great action sequence like the chase in Egypt broken up by some terrible nonsense action. A dramatic scene would end with CGI WW flinging herself into the sky with her magic lasso.

Wonder Woman can make things invisible, but only when it's important to the plot.

And I can't shake that they tried to make Maxwell Lord into a petty revenge porn version of Trump. I'm sure Trump haters will be jerking off to that shit.

I did like that they managed to resolve the story without blowing up the bad guy with a laser.

I feel like another re-write to smooth out the story, and toning down the excessive action silliness, would make this an A, but I have to give it a D+ as it is.

[Lurkndog]

WW84 Spoilers:
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Short answer: it's good, but not quite great.

I agree that in many ways, Wonder Woman 84 is a hot mess. Powers were invented out of thin air and then forgotten about. Wonder Woman can suddenly fly now, it turns out flying isn't actually all that hard. And there is a lot of 80's groupthink that history proved wrong, like the Reaganesque president precipitating World War 3, instead of defeating the Soviets by standing up to them and making them eat the consequences of their own bad choices until they collapsed from their own rottenness. Plus a ton of other virtue-signalling and self-indulgence along the way.

It's over-wrought and in many ways a mindless spectacle, but it works.

I think the movie's strengths manage to outshine its weaknesses. And its strengths are definitely the characters it creates, which are solid and original and pretty much hold together and make the story work. Maxwell Lord isn't a political cartoon come to life, he's his own thing, well-acted, and you get where he is coming from while still understanding why he's wrong. Kristen Wiig really shines as Barbara Minerva, and is believable in both her frumpy stage and her supervillain stages. The conflict between Cheetah and Wonder Woman is well done. Chris Pine is absolute gold as Steve Trevor, and he tends to steal the scenes he is in, in a good way. And Gal Gadot is simply glorious as Wonder Woman. Kind, vulnerable, mortal, but strong and wise and clear-headed, and absolutely gorgeous but always on target.

Is it the best possible Wonder Woman movie? No, as I said it has a lot of weaknesses in the script, it just manages to get past them and succeed on its own strengths. I think the first one is probably a better movie, it certainly had a better script. But this one is definitely worth watching.

If I were to compare it to Ghostbusters 2016, WW84 is a much better movie because its central story works. WW84 is a superhero story that's super. GB16 was a comedy that wasn't funny.

If I were to compare it to a Marvel movie, I think I'd compare it to Avengers: Age of Ultron. Both movies have kind of rickety underpinnings, but manage to get past them to the good stuff. Both of them are kind of long, and have stretches that are somewhat dull before picking up again. I think WW84 is better than Age of Ultron, though. WW84's dull spots are shorter than Age of Ultron's, and its best bits are better than Age of Ultron's. WW84 sticks to its central storylines better than Age of Ultron, which had way too many characters and subplots, not all of which were compelling. WW84 has only a handful of storylines, and most of them land.

In the end I would say it was well worth watching, for sheer spectacle and craftsmanship, but you could certainly make up a Top 10 list of superhero movies that doesn't have WW84 on it.

[Trond]

I saw Mulholland Falls the other day. (No, not Mulholland Drive) Maybe I'm sniffing out old films showing off Jennifer Connelly's charms
This is a movie that seems to have fallen in between the cracks a bit, but I thought it was pretty good. Very noir, and a bit depressing, but well done. Nick Nolte was made for this rough detective role. Jennifer Connelly is the main murder victim of the story, so she's seen mostly in flashbacks (but a big part of her role is her sex appeal so there's that). I like the acting overall. Strange that not more people have heard of this one, but if you are into hard-hitting fedora-wearing detectives then this should be a must.

[Ratman_tf]

After sleeping on it, I wonder if their mistake was in making it into a global catastrophe. The theme of wishes is very personal, and I think the story would have been more coherent if they kept it smaller. Like say, the core characters, a few of their aquaintances, and then Lord threatenes 'just' the city.

And  just for giggles, I'd like to point out that the DC universe now has an event in it's recent past where everyone in the world had their wishes granted and then everyone gave up their wish to save the world. Everyone knows something about Wonder Woman, even if it's just that she was the person convincing Lord to give up his wish.
After a few more movies, are we going to get to the point like in Dr Who where every Christmas London is attacked by aliens from outer space, and the average person expects it? That could get very silly very quickly.

[Lurkndog]

I'd really like the next Justice League movie to be a simple rumble between the Justice League and the Legion of Doom.

Keep it small, keep it fun, and best of all, it's something that Marvel hasn't done yet.