Which movie did you watch today and how would you rate it?

[KeepTalking]

Thor: Ragnarok
8/10

Marvel just keeps on serving up the hits. While the first two Thor movies did delve into comedy somewhat, they were decidedly darker, and did not embrace comedic themes quite as whole-heartedly as Ragnarok. This movie is a lot of fun. It embraces the cosmic setting of a proper Asgardian movie, and is more akin in tone to Guardians of the Galaxy than any other MCU entry to date. Given that, it is hard not to compare it to those movies more than the previous Thor movies. From that angle, I didn't find myself laughing quite as much as I would at the antics of Rocket, Groot, and the rest of the Guardians, but I found the battle scenes to be a bit more epic in scope, and more fitting for a Thor movie. Anyway, if you are a fan of Marvel and the MCU, you are going to go see it, and you are going to like it. If you are anyone else, YMMV.

 

[KeepTalking]

One question, are we supposed to act surprised that Superman is alive? Or did they purposefully make it obvious at the end of Batman v Superman?

It was supposed to be obvious.

On top of that, these days they expect people to be familiar with the comic books. The Death of Superman story was one that even non-comic book people heard about, and I think most people know that the death of Superman was temporary. So even if someone didn't pay attention to the levitating dirt on the casket, they could probably figure it out.

Anyway[ent]hellip[/ent]

Just got back from Thor: Ragnarok, and it rocked.

If you think of it as an adaptation of the comic book version of Ragnarok or an adaptation of the Planet Hulk story, it sucks, but as its own thing? I was surprised, but it worked. The arena fight was epic, the goofy parts were hilarious, but the tear-jerk parts still got to me at the right time and in the mid-credit scene[ent]hellip[/ent]

Show

[ent]hellip[/ent]I could be wrong, but it looks like they're setting up the Beta Ray Bill story.

Just dropping in to respond to your hidden text...

Show

I think you are wrong. It has already been revealed that the ship at the end is Thanos' new ship. Also, I don't know if you caught the Beta Ray Bill easter egg in the movie, but he was apparently a former champion for the Grandmaster. A massive bust of his head adorns the Grandmaster's tower, along with several other former champions, near where they are adding one for Hulk. This implies that he died in the arena, but I supposed he could have won his freedom, or escaped.

The mid-credit scene sets up a future movie. The post-credit scene is just for laughs, and it delivers.

The Valkyrie character was great and it looks like she will be a regular feature in future movies. Jeff Goldblum was hilarious.

Other than that[ent]hellip[/ent]

Show

[ent]hellip[/ent]Thor lost an eye, won't be getting his hammer back, but got a big power upgrade just in time for Avengers: Infinity War.

Oh, and something fun with Loki. The best thing about Loki is that you always hope he'll do the right thing even though you know he won't. This time he did. He did something really, genuinely epic and saved the fucking day.

Oh, and Odin is dead, so they won't have to explain why Odin and his Odinforce isn't helping Earth in Infinity War.

If I am right and they are setting things up for the Beta Ray Bill story, the remnants of Asgard will be among the refugees on the Scuttlebutt being chased by Surtur.

Show

Unfortunately, I don't think the Beta Ray Bill story is in the cards. It would take another entire movie just for that. Thor will have to replace his hammer some other way,
if he needs to replace it at all now. One of the few partial scenes from Infinity War that were being shown at comic cons over the summer had the Guardians rescuing Thor from space. Another had Loki delivering the Tesseract to a tall, shadowy figure. Looks like Thanos is going to scoop up the Asgardians, Loki is going to bargain for his life with the infinity stone, and Thor is going to get thrown out of an air lock.

It also seems to me that Thor now has control of the Odinforce. With his father dead, the Odinforce has been granted to Thor. They even give you an extra nudge in that direction by having Thor lose an eye. I think Thor will eventually become the new Odin, even in name, and someone else will become Thor. If they reforge Mjolnir at all, it will likely be for the new Thor. To me, this movie brilliantly sets up both events in Infinity War, and a new starting point for the Asgardians post MCU phase 3.

 

[Underseer]

Just dropping in to respond to your hidden text...

Show

I think you are wrong. It has already been revealed that the ship at the end is Thanos' new ship. Also, I don't know if you caught the Beta Ray Bill easter egg in the movie, but he was apparently a former champion for the Grandmaster. A massive bust of his head adorns the Grandmaster's tower, along with several other former champions, near where they are adding one for Hulk. This implies that he died in the arena, but I supposed he could have won his freedom, or escaped.

Yeah, after I posted that, I caught Kevin Feige saying that it was Thanos' ship. Too bad. Beta Ray Bill is a fun story.

The mid-credit scene sets up a future movie. The post-credit scene is just for laughs, and it delivers.

The Valkyrie character was great and it looks like she will be a regular feature in future movies. Jeff Goldblum was hilarious.

Other than that[ent]hellip[/ent]

Show

[ent]hellip[/ent]Thor lost an eye, won't be getting his hammer back, but got a big power upgrade just in time for Avengers: Infinity War.

Oh, and something fun with Loki. The best thing about Loki is that you always hope he'll do the right thing even though you know he won't. This time he did. He did something really, genuinely epic and saved the fucking day.

Oh, and Odin is dead, so they won't have to explain why Odin and his Odinforce isn't helping Earth in Infinity War.

If I am right and they are setting things up for the Beta Ray Bill story, the remnants of Asgard will be among the refugees on the Scuttlebutt being chased by Surtur.

Show

Unfortunately, I don't think the Beta Ray Bill story is in the cards. It would take another entire movie just for that. Thor will have to replace his hammer some other way,
if he needs to replace it at all now. One of the few partial scenes from Infinity War that were being shown at comic cons over the summer had the Guardians rescuing Thor from space. Another had Loki delivering the Tesseract to a tall, shadowy figure. Looks like Thanos is going to scoop up the Asgardians, Loki is going to bargain for his life with the infinity stone, and Thor is going to get thrown out of an air lock.

It also seems to me that Thor now has control of the Odinforce. With his father dead, the Odinforce has been granted to Thor. They even give you an extra nudge in that direction by having Thor lose an eye. I think Thor will eventually become the new Odin, even in name, and someone else will become Thor. If they reforge Mjolnir at all, it will likely be for the new Thor. To me, this movie brilliantly sets up both events in Infinity War, and a new starting point for the Asgardians post MCU phase 3.

It sounds like this could be a setup for the female Thor story, except that I have a feeling they won't be smart enough to do that. I really would like to see some "generation 2" Marvel heroes eventually.

 

[Underseer]

Justice League
7/10

Still not up to the quality of Wonder Woman, but miles better than Batman vs Superman or Suicide Squad. I think Aquaman was a little too crude, but I can't deny that this version of the character is far better than the comic book version. No longer will I think of Aquaman as second fiddle to Namor.

Cyborg was more compelling than I thought he would be, but of the new characters, the Ezra Miller version of Barry Allen stole the show. He had to be different from the Grant Gustin version, but hey still preserved the adorkable qualities that makes that character so appealing.

 

[jab]

Justice League 8/10

 

[KeepTalking]

Justice League
7/10

Not quite as good as Wonder Woman, but better than any other DCEU movie yet. Unfortunately, the critics don't like it, and box office was not high enough to guarantee that they will continue with the DCEU as currently planned. The beginning of the movie is a bit disjointed, bouncing around showing us what the superheroes have been up to. A couple of those scenes (Wonder Woman's in particular) are pretty good, but I don't think they added much to the movie. It's just a "Hey, look, the superheroes are doing superheroic stuff, isn't that neat?" They should have either expanded those scenes, and made them important in some way to the plot, or dispensed with them entirely.

Dying seems to have improved Superman's attitude, Cavill finally gets to play a Superman that fans recognize, and the fight scene just after he is brought back to life is probably the best of the movie. Ezra Miller plays a great Flash. It is a slightly different take than Grant Gustin's on the CW series, but equally good IMHO. Gal Gadot still does a great job with Wonder Woman, and Jason Momoa has a great take on Aquaman. The only problem in that regard is that the movie needs more Momoa. Ben Afflec is a passable Batman, but I wouldn't be sad to see him go. I found it amusing that Superman and Aquaman spend half of their screen time shirtless, showing off the actors physiques quite well, but when Batman takes his costume off, he is wearing an obviously padded undershirt. Maybe Ben should spend a little more time in the gym if he wants to continue playing Batman. Of course, Ben is not sure Ben wants to continue playing Batman, so there's that.

Steppenwolf makes a good villain, and he is obviously a challenge for the Justice League. He is almost too much of a challenge for them, though. I'm not sure how they are going to make Darkseid out to be even more powerful, if they do another Justice League movie, that is. For an avid reader of the comics, their representation of the Mother Boxes was just a bit off in a number of ways, but nothing that distracted from the plot too much. Also for a fan of the comics, I foud it interesting that at the end of the movie, Cyborg's armor/costume changes to match his traditional suit from the comics, but in the issue of the Justice League that came out last Wednesday (just before the movie came out), Cyborg changes his look into a new version of the costume because he has gained more power from the Mother Box.

 

[TSwizzle]

Alien, 9/10; The 1979 original with Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt and a few other familiar faces. I think this is the only Alien franchise movie I have seen and it holds up extremely well. Well filmed and directed, good acting, excellent plot and plenty tension as a destructive alien picks off the crew.

Cocktail, 6/10; Stars Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown. I don't know why I watched this but it was quite entertaining fluff. A young Cruise is trying to make his way in the world while the older Brown is a cynical character that knows he is stuck in a rut he will never get out of. The two hit it off and become celebrities of sorts in the trade. They have a falling out and go their separate ways only for Brown to track Cruise down later and cause more havoc. The film has a dark side and a tale to tell but it's a Cruise vehicle filled with nonsense to boost the career of Cruise. Still worth a watch.

 

[thebeave]

Alien, 9/10; The 1979 original with Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt and a few other familiar faces. I think this is the only Alien franchise movie I have seen and it holds up extremely well. Well filmed and directed, good acting, excellent plot and plenty tension as a destructive alien picks off the crew.

Cocktail, 6/10; Stars Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown. I don't know why I watched this but it was quite entertaining fluff. A young Cruise is trying to make his way in the world while the older Brown is a cynical character that knows he is stuck in a rut he will never get out of. The two hit it off and become celebrities of sorts in the trade. They have a falling out and go their separate ways only for Brown to track Cruise down later and cause more havoc. The film has a dark side and a tale to tell but it's a Cruise vehicle filled with nonsense to boost the career of Cruise. Still worth a watch.

You need to see Aliens! You won't be disappointed.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I quite liked Justice League as well. It wasn't a great film, but it was entertaining and a good popcorn flick. The pace and story telling was kind of choppy and you could tell that there was a lot of scenes cut and a lot of reshoots done but they managed to put together enough of a product to move DCEU forward.

In terms of the characters, I liked the Flash best of all. He made for good comic relief and the scene where everyone was fighting Superman and he was zipping around behind him inside of the Speed Force and the whole world is standing still and then Superman just turns his head and starts watching him and Flash has a look on his face like "Oh ... SHIT" was a brilliant one.

I'm ambivalent about Aquaman. It seems that they were trying so hard to communicate that this isn't the lame Aquaman that everyone remembers from their childhood and the character was way more defined by what he wasn't instead of what he was and the whole thing was kind of iffy.

Cyborg didn't work for me at all. That may be because I don't know much about the character and he can't just step onto the screen with my knowing a lot about him like the other characters can and the truncated run time meant that they had to scrap most of his character building and set up. Then he just seemed to spend his time interfacing with things. He was just kind of a dud compared to the rest.

It's a fun movie and well worth seeing.

 

[ZiprHead]

Alien, 9/10; The 1979 original with Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt and a few other familiar faces. I think this is the only Alien franchise movie I have seen and it holds up extremely well. Well filmed and directed, good acting, excellent plot and plenty tension as a destructive alien picks off the crew.

Cocktail, 6/10; Stars Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown. I don't know why I watched this but it was quite entertaining fluff. A young Cruise is trying to make his way in the world while the older Brown is a cynical character that knows he is stuck in a rut he will never get out of. The two hit it off and become celebrities of sorts in the trade. They have a falling out and go their separate ways only for Brown to track Cruise down later and cause more havoc. The film has a dark side and a tale to tell but it's a Cruise vehicle filled with nonsense to boost the career of Cruise. Still worth a watch.

You need to see Aliens! You won't be disappointed.

And then stop there.

 

[Underseer]

Justice League
7/10

Not quite as good as Wonder Woman, but better than any other DCEU movie yet. Unfortunately, the critics don't like it, and box office was not high enough to guarantee that they will continue with the DCEU as currently planned. The beginning of the movie is a bit disjointed, bouncing around showing us what the superheroes have been up to. A couple of those scenes (Wonder Woman's in particular) are pretty good, but I don't think they added much to the movie. It's just a "Hey, look, the superheroes are doing superheroic stuff, isn't that neat?" They should have either expanded those scenes, and made them important in some way to the plot, or dispensed with them entirely.

Dying seems to have improved Superman's attitude, Cavill finally gets to play a Superman that fans recognize, and the fight scene just after he is brought back to life is probably the best of the movie. Ezra Miller plays a great Flash. It is a slightly different take than Grant Gustin's on the CW series, but equally good IMHO. Gal Gadot still does a great job with Wonder Woman, and Jason Momoa has a great take on Aquaman. The only problem in that regard is that the movie needs more Momoa. Ben Afflec is a passable Batman, but I wouldn't be sad to see him go. I found it amusing that Superman and Aquaman spend half of their screen time shirtless, showing off the actors physiques quite well, but when Batman takes his costume off, he is wearing an obviously padded undershirt. Maybe Ben should spend a little more time in the gym if he wants to continue playing Batman. Of course, Ben is not sure Ben wants to continue playing Batman, so there's that.

Steppenwolf makes a good villain, and he is obviously a challenge for the Justice League. He is almost too much of a challenge for them, though. I'm not sure how they are going to make Darkseid out to be even more powerful, if they do another Justice League movie, that is. For an avid reader of the comics, their representation of the Mother Boxes was just a bit off in a number of ways, but nothing that distracted from the plot too much. Also for a fan of the comics, I foud it interesting that at the end of the movie, Cyborg's armor/costume changes to match his traditional suit from the comics, but in the issue of the Justice League that came out last Wednesday (just before the movie came out), Cyborg changes his look into a new version of the costume because he has gained more power from the Mother Box.

It has narrative problems to be sure, but it looks like the DCEU is moving in the right direction!

- - - Updated - - -

Alien, 9/10; The 1979 original with Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt and a few other familiar faces. I think this is the only Alien franchise movie I have seen and it holds up extremely well. Well filmed and directed, good acting, excellent plot and plenty tension as a destructive alien picks off the crew.

Cocktail, 6/10; Stars Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown. I don't know why I watched this but it was quite entertaining fluff. A young Cruise is trying to make his way in the world while the older Brown is a cynical character that knows he is stuck in a rut he will never get out of. The two hit it off and become celebrities of sorts in the trade. They have a falling out and go their separate ways only for Brown to track Cruise down later and cause more havoc. The film has a dark side and a tale to tell but it's a Cruise vehicle filled with nonsense to boost the career of Cruise. Still worth a watch.

You need to see Aliens! You won't be disappointed.

And then stop there.

Yeah, unfortunately, everything after the second movie just didn't measure up.

 

[DrZoidberg]

Alien, 9/10; The 1979 original with Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt and a few other familiar faces. I think this is the only Alien franchise movie I have seen and it holds up extremely well. Well filmed and directed, good acting, excellent plot and plenty tension as a destructive alien picks off the crew.

You need to see Aliens! You won't be disappointed.

And then stop there.

Yeah, unfortunately, everything after the second movie just didn't measure up.

I like all of them (AvP doesn't count). I like that they're party and try to push it a bit. Sure 3 and 4 aren't as strong. But I don't think they're bad movies.

 

[ruby sparks]

Very enjoyable and thought-provoking. Reminded me of 'Her' in some ways. Also made the AI/virtual female companion in 'Blade Runner 2049' seem even more.....questionably facile.

Interested to read that it fails the Bechdel Test. I think this shows up flaws in the test, since it could be argued that the film has feminist credentials. I think it could also fail the reverse Bechdel Test.

 

[Jayjay]

View attachment 13291

Very enjoyable and thought-provoking. Reminded me of 'Her' in some ways. Also made the AI/virtual female companion in 'Blade Runner 2049' seem even more.....questionably facile.

Interested to read that it fails the Bechdel Test. I think this shows up flaws in the test, since it could be argued that the film has feminist credentials. I think it could also fail the reverse Bechdel Test.

Remind me... does it fail the Bechdel test because it doesn't have women speaking to each other about anything except men, because A) it doesn't have women talking to each other, B) it doesn't have women talking, or C) it doesn't have women?

 

[ruby sparks]

View attachment 13291

Very enjoyable and thought-provoking. Reminded me of 'Her' in some ways. Also made the AI/virtual female companion in 'Blade Runner 2049' seem even more.....questionably facile.

Interested to read that it fails the Bechdel Test. I think this shows up flaws in the test, since it could be argued that the film has feminist credentials. I think it could also fail the reverse Bechdel Test.

Remind me... does it fail the Bechdel test because it doesn't have women speaking to each other about anything except men, because A) it doesn't have women talking to each other, B) it doesn't have women talking, or C) it doesn't have women?

Here is the discussion at bechdeltest.com:

https://bechdeltest.com/view/6084/ex_machina/

It's complicated. I think a case could be made either way.

As to a lack of women, I think I know what you mean, but I also think we would have to allocate feminine to the two female characters, otherwise it makes little sense to assess it. It would be equally difficult to assess video games or animated characters.

 

[Ford]

A friend of mine has been working to get this movie on broadcast television for years, and the other day, it happened.

The Wrecking Crew [YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIcJZJlyMUc[/YOUTUBE] took decades to make, had played the film festival circuit, and was on streaming services like Netflix, but the broadcast television debut happened here in Phoenix...a one time home for a few of the musicians featured in the movie.

It is a helluva thing. Originally begun as a love letter to the filmmaker's father Tommy Tedesco - legendary studio guitarist who played on...well...everything - it turned out to be a documentary about the musicians who made the sound of the 60s and early 70s. The backing band for the Beach Boys, The Monkees, Sonny and Cher, The Righteous Brothers, Jan & Dean, The Mama's and the Papas, and dozens of hit records in between.

Turns out the hardest thing about making the movie was raising the money to pay for the licensing. When you want to play a classic hit in a movie, you've got to pay the publishing, and The Wrecking Crew played on so many hits that the financial burden on the filmmakers was enormous.

If you like the music of that era, this is a movie you have to see.

 

[ZiprHead]

That looks very interesting.

 

[TSwizzle]

Passengers, 6/10; Stars Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence on a space craft on an a 150+ year journey to a colony planet somewhere. Chris was prematurely wakened from his hibernation due to a malfunction on his hibernation pod. After about a year on his own he wakes up Jennifer for some hot company. He doesn't tell her he woke her up and lets her believe it was a malfunction. They fall in love, she finds out the truth about him wakening her up, they have a fall out. The space ship is actually starting to seriously malfunction and they have to come together to save the ship. The premise is actually very good but the movie is overly long and a couple of silly things in it that you can see coming a mile away. Like you just know that when Jenifer goes out into space to retrieve Chris, her anchor rope is going to be too short to reach him. But it was still quite an entertaining movie, well acted and visually appealing.

Star 80, 9/10; Stars Eric Robert and Mariel Hemingway in the telling of the murder suicide of Dorothy Stratten and her husband Paul Snider. Eric Roberts is superb in this role and I am surprised he did not go on to become a bigger star, perhaps that was his choice though. In the late 1970s, Dorothy Stratten was a Playboy model forging a career in movies. The pressures of her career puts a strain on the marriage and sends her husband over the edge to the point he kills her and himself in a grisly manner. Well worth watching. Also what is interesting is that Dorothy's real life love interest was Peter Bogdanovich who then went on to marry Dorothy's younger sister, Louise Stratten. Apparent Hugh Hefner was not happy with the way he was portrayed in the movie but I thought it was fine. However, Hefner was accused of assaulting Stratten in the book the movie was based on. The home where the murder took place is actually used in the movie.

 

[Jayjay]

Thor III: Ragnarok - The Motion Picture
9/10

Space adventure comedy romp in the vein of Guardians of the Galaxy.

 

[TSwizzle]

The Vanishing, 4/10; Stars Keifer Sutherland, Jeff Bridges, Nancy Travis and Sandra Bullock. This could have been a lot better but there were so many holes in it that it was pretty awful. Keifer's girlfriend, played by Bullock just disappears from a gas station. No ransom, no body, nothing. Keifer keeps searching and after three years, the abductor contacts Keifer and a stupid game gets acted out that is just too dumb to describe. I stuck with it to the end just to find out if Bullock was alive.