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

[Opoponax]

Chronicles of Riddick

Great looking movie, but with dialogue, schlocky character stereotypes, and melodrama worthy of Rifftrax. It's hard to believe that it wasn't so hokey back in 2004 when it first came out. I fell asleep and didn't see the end, but since Riddick was never in any real danger throughout the movie, I'm confident he prevailed. Maybe someone important to him died. Or maybe he "died," but like any superhero movie, it's no big because he's kind of already dead (or something) and if there was a sequel, he was resurrected. IOW, it lacks any sense of real drama because the protagonist is essentially immortal.

But again, it did look great. It was like the 1980 version of Flash Gordon got a huge budget, an updated cast and special effects, but without the Queen soundtrack.

4.5/10

 

[steve_bank]

Star Trek Beyond
10/10

Just saw it on cable. I was presently surprised. Good special effects that did not overwhelm characters and dialogue. Unexpected plot twist at the end.

Pretty much the spirit of the original TV series, updated.

 

[angelo]

Yes, I get it. We still have toddler concentration camps and innocent people still being gunned down in the streets by the police on regular basis, but goodness forbid we complain about racism and the effects of racism too frequently. That would be annoying.

It's ok when racists constantly inject politics into discussions about science fiction and comic books by constantly whining about "political correctness" this and "social justice warrior" that, but gosh, how dare I anticipate their whining and criticize them for it? I've clearly crossed the line.

Can you guys ever forgive me?

Well, Opponax clearly can't. He's retreated to his safe space where he can still read what the openly white supremacist forum members write, but won't have his delicate sensibilities offended by reading criticism of white supremacists.

They are easily triggered, they whine, suppress speech, retreat to safe spaces, then accuse me of their own flaws, but darn me for pointing any of this out.

In your case the racism is in your own mind! Most people are NOT racists.

 

[angelo]

Star Trek Beyond
10/10

Just saw it on cable. I was presently surprised. Good special effects that did not overwhelm characters and dialogue. Unexpected plot twist at the end.

Pretty much the spirit of the original TV series, updated.

10/10? That's some praise. It's now become a must see for me as I'm a huge fan of the Star Trek franchise.

 

[Goodchild]

I enjoyed Beyond quite well and I'm no fan of NewTrek, though I wouldn't give it a 10. It does a better job than the other two of evoking TOS while still taking advantage of modern effects.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Politesse]

I liked Beyond, too. More of the old Trek feel than the other new ones. Idris Elba was wasted underneath all those prosthetics, though.

 

[steve_bank]

Star Trek Beyond
10/10

Just saw it on cable. I was presently surprised. Good special effects that did not overwhelm characters and dialogue. Unexpected plot twist at the end.

Pretty much the spirit of the original TV series, updated.

10/10? That's some praise. It's now become a must see for me as I'm a huge fan of the Star Trek franchise.

10/10 in the context of current scifi.

2 starrs out of 4 compared to Forbidden planet.

 

[angelo]

Star Trek Beyond
10/10

Just saw it on cable. I was presently surprised. Good special effects that did not overwhelm characters and dialogue. Unexpected plot twist at the end.

Pretty much the spirit of the original TV series, updated.

10/10? That's some praise. It's now become a must see for me as I'm a huge fan of the Star Trek franchise.

10/10 in the context of current scifi.

2 starrs out of 4 compared to Forbidden planet.

Okay, but I enjoyed Forbidden Planet and would rate it 7/10.

 

[angelo]

I watched Paul on Netflix last night, [Xmas Eve]. It's worth watching just for the end bit where the space ship takes off from Earth. Very impressive, and not over done.

Paul, the alien is just like one of the boys. He even smokes. I loved the part where he reveals himself to the fundamentalist one eyed girl when his by now buddies try to convince the girl about the fact of evolution. 6.5/10

 

[Angry Floof]

Say Amen, Somebody

Documentary about the American gospel music scene, focusing on two of the movement's pioneering forces, Thomas A. Dorsey and Willie May Ford Smith.

If you ever find yourself losing sight of the human beings behind some of our criticisms of religious ideology (not the Trumpsuckers, but the apolitical believers), this film will remind you. You will fall in love with these people regardless of what you think of their beliefs.

A scene to watch for, near the end, Thomas Dorsey's final trip to the Gospel Singers Convention, which he founded in 1933. He had his walker and his warbly voice, but he was there and he sang.

 

[steve_bank]

10/10 in the context of current scifi.

2 starrs out of 4 compared to Forbidden planet.

Okay, but I enjoyed Forbidden Planet and would rate it 7/10.

Beyond and scifi in general has gone overboard with special ejects overshadowing characters. The current current Spock, Macoy, Kirk, and Scott lack the strong male images and poetry of the original show.

The current Spock appears hesitant and a bit wimpy. The contemporary culture does not produce people like Shatner and Nimoy. Same with Avery Brooks as the leader in DS9.

As to Forbidden Planet, to me it is the scifi standard.

 

[angelo]

If you never heard of this, it's about time you did. For it's time, during the sexual revolution it was funny. Skits are made of some well known jokes. 6.5/10

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stop_it_or_youll_go_blind/

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Paddington

Quite the amusing film. While it contained a good deal of cliche, it was a pretty good family movie with enough English comedic whimsy to give it genuine appeal to an adult/parent.

3 of 4

Star Trek Beyond
10/10

Just saw it on cable. I was presently surprised.

What were you expecting, Battlefield Earth?

 

[KeepTalking]

Aquaman 7/10

First off, this movie looks amazing, go watch it just for the special effects and underwater action scenes.

Okay, with that out of the way, this movies looks fucking amazing. I was blown away at how James Wan made the underwater portions of this movie a feast for the eyes. My only real problem with the underwater scenes was with how impractical and unnecessary the footwear of the characters was. Obviously, their feet were a CGI afterthought, but there were a couple of scenes where as the actors are swimming away you get a glimpse of their feet, and they are wearing bland, heavy boots with flat soles. After the first time I saw it, I could no longer unsee it in any future scene. Who would wear boots like that underwater? Who would wear boots at all underwater? Who would wear boots like that anywhere? It just pulled me right out of a few scenes with otherwise incredible visuals, but fortunately almost always at the end when they were swimming away. Honestly, I don't normally obsess over footwear in movies, so I'm not sure what set me off here.

I have never read any Aquaman comics, I really only knew about the character from reading Justice League comics, so I didn't have much to compare in that regard. They give him enough of an origin story to set up the basic plot beats, and show some cool action, so not having much of a background on Aquaman is not a problem. The plot is pretty formulaic and predictable, however, so don't expect any plot twists you won't see coming from a mile away. Jason Mamoa is very likeable in the title role, he plays it with a wink and a nod at the audience. He is obviously having fun with it, and is his own comic relief. That encapsulates the rest of the movie for me, it was fun throughout. I think it serves to start steering the DCU ship in the right direction, I just hope they don't over-steer. My showing had the Shazam trailer before it, and they seem to be going for a light-hearted fun movie with that one as well. Of course, that is kind of how Shazam should be done, Billy Batson is a kid who gets super powers and should be expected to have a good amount of fun feeling them out. I just hope that the entire DCU does not go off in this direction, as there are more serious stories to be told, and each movie needs to find its own tone.

 

[The Colourful Jester]

Into the Spiderverse - 6.5/10 Fun. Worth a look, but probably more as a rental.

Aquaman - 8/10 KeepTalking above gets it about right, but Amber Heard deserves a nod as well. About halfway the two main characters start to gel really well.

Ralph Wrecks the Internet - 7/10 Most of the fun comes from the pop culture references, which isn't too bad as there's alot of it. More a rental again I'd say.

Bumblebee 10/10 The Live action transformers movie we've all wanted. Possibly doesn't deserve such a high rating, but after 5 movies with Michael Bay - Lets say it again - five movies, where Bay screwed up giant robots fighting each other, this movie did it so well, so a ten. The interaction between Bee and Charlie really hit the spot. Hits a comedy spot about the middle of the movie which feels like another movie, but is nice all the same. Few actual transformers which is why I suspect it works, concentrating on the main characters. Shame it's a prequel as I'd have like to see Charlie and Bumblebee team up together again.

 

[Ford]

Ant Man and The Wasp.

I watched it on the plane. What was it we did to pass the time before streaming movies were available on flights? Anyway...

Filler. That's what it was. I liked the first Ant Man movie well enough, but this was like an episode of a series that was just there to carry you from that one really good episode until the season finale came out. The action sequences were clever, the villains were not all that great (the actress who played Ghost is very good, but wasted in this movie) and the whole thing seemed like a very expensive placeholder in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

5/10.

 

[angelo]

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Including Ben Afleck into this movie was a disaster as it erases any credibility this movie may have had. I believe it grossed something like 800 million world wide which is surprising. 3/10

 

[Opoponax]

I watched it on the plane. What was it we did to pass the time before streaming movies were available on flights?

Books and sleep. Back around 2004 or so, my wife and I flew to Europe and brought a portable DVD player with us. It looked kind of like a laptop.

Anyway...

Avengers Infinity War

Great special effects, good action, good characters.

No suspense, and not much drama.

It's eye candy. No one's actually dead, and all the superheroes killed will be brought back in sequels as long as execs believe it'll be profitable.

I blame Sylvester Stallone. Without Rocky II, or any of its sequels, and without any of the sequels to First Blood, maybe lost or dead would have stayed lost or dead in the movies. But no, Rocky had to win and John Rambo had to go back to Vietnam to win that war, and from there on out, Rocky and Rambo were always going to win.

But I can't lie. I was entertained, and being entertained really does matter. So for pure entertainment, Thanos Not Really Killing Anyone Important gets a 9/10. For anything having to do with depth or serious artistic value, it's gets a 3/10.

 

[KeepTalking]

I watched it on the plane. What was it we did to pass the time before streaming movies were available on flights?

Books and sleep. Back around 2004 or so, my wife and I flew to Europe and brought a portable DVD player with us. It looked kind of like a laptop.

Anyway...

Avengers Infinity War

Great special effects, good action, good characters.

No suspense, and not much drama.

It's eye candy. No one's actually dead, and all the superheroes killed will be brought back in sequels as long as execs believe it'll be profitable.

I blame Sylvester Stallone. Without Rocky II, or any of its sequels, and without any of the sequels to First Blood, maybe lost or dead would have stayed lost or dead in the movies. But no, Rocky had to win and John Rambo had to go back to Vietnam to win that war, and from there on out, Rocky and Rambo were always going to win.

But I can't lie. I was entertained, and being entertained really does matter. So for pure entertainment, Thanos Not Really Killing Anyone Important gets a 9/10. For anything having to do with depth or serious artistic value, it's gets a 3/10.

While I am perfectly fine with blaming Sylvester Stallone for all of the ills of modern cinema, in this case I think it owes more to the comic book source material. Everyone who reads comics (at least those published by Marvel and DC) knows that superheroes never stay dead for very long.

 

[Ford]

I blame Sylvester Stallone. Without Rocky II, or any of its sequels, and without any of the sequels to First Blood, maybe lost or dead would have stayed lost or dead in the movies. But no, Rocky had to win and John Rambo had to go back to Vietnam to win that war, and from there on out, Rocky and Rambo were always going to win.

I'd put a bit of the blame on George Lucas.

With a few notable exceptions (Godfather, for example) sequels were just cash grabs by the studios. Cheaply made follow-ups with the same name but a "II" added, sometimes without the lead actors from the first one. Or directors, writers, etc.

Empire Strikes Back really broke the mold. It was more than just the follow-up to the biggest movie of all time. It was better. The budget was bigger than the original Star Wars. The special effects were more spectacular. The actors had settled into their characters. There was the famous plot twist, and it set up the next movie - which was also not a throwaway. That's the thing...Lucas had nine movies in his head before Star Wars began filming. That's what made it different, and the success of those films changed the way Hollywood viewed sequels. You could have an entire movie franchise rather than just a hastily made "Star Wars II."

James Cameron helped as well, making two sequels - Terminator 2 and Aliens - that were head and shoulders above the originals in terms of box office.

Sure, there's still second-rate sequels being made, but the notion that a sequel could be better really took off with Empire Strikes Back.