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

[Jimmy Higgins]

1. Knock at the Cabin: a really solid watch with good suspense and good performances from the cast; M. Night's best effort in years. Since the plague of super high budget superhero blockbusters, this is the type and quality of movie that we just don't get to see much of anymore. Highly recommended.

2. The new The Flash movie (or whatever the fuck it's called): it's not fair to call this one especially bad since it's the same movie we've been seeing for so long now. However, did you know that the Flash needs to eat candy bars to keep up his strength? This was such a realistic element! Surely a few Snickers bars and a sammich provide enough caloric content to power a human being to run 1,000 miles at mach bazillion. It's just science.

My trouble with super speed characters is not their speed or energy required, but it is how the can interact with nature without fucking it up. Quicksilver is playing Pong and twisting a device that can't possibly manage that torsional stress.

I didn't finish it, but I'm confident that Batman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash make it through alive and intact. This is really the biggest problem with these films. EVERYTHING is at stake, but we know the good guys are going to save the day, so really, nothing's at stake.

This is the good thing with Marvel, there have been so many movies and such good actors in it, they can afford to pass the character off as the actor wants to move on.

 

[Playball40]

Annihilation

“Hey, I’ve got a great idea for a sci fi movie! Blah blah blah …”

“Cool! How does it end?”

“Beats hell out of me. We’ll think of something to tack on. We’ll get Natalie Portman, and make her character an ex-army badass. Nobody will care.”

5/10

The book is a trilogy, so there really was no way to 'end' it. I'm sorry the movie was such a disappointment because the book series is great.

 

[Colonel Sanders]

My trouble with super speed characters is not their speed or energy required, but it is how the can interact with nature without fucking it up. Quicksilver is playing Pong and twisting a device that can't possibly manage that torsional stress.

I didn't finish it, but I'm confident that Batman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash make it through alive and intact. This is really the biggest problem with these films. EVERYTHING is at stake, but we know the good guys are going to save the day, so really, nothing's at stake.

This is the good thing with Marvel, there have been so many movies and such good actors in it, they can afford to pass the character off as the actor wants to move on.

Superheroes aren't supposed to be realistic, and there's nothing wrong with that. But attempting to add realism just makes it all the worse. If it was just half-assedly mentioned that he gets his power from heat of the sun or some other such horseshit it would be a lot easier to ignore and get on with watching the movie.

If Marvel and its like were to fuck off for the next 50 years before another superhero movie were made it would be too soon. Wanna impress me? Then let all these boring characters actually get killed and end the universe. Then start over with a big bang type of event where new powerful beings emerge from some sort of primordial ooze---something like that. Something that isn't the same basic piece of glitzy trash the public has been force fed for the past 15 years.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I agree, often when it comes to fantasy is it is best to stay away from science, because if you use science, you better do sci-fi... and sci-fi ain't fantasy.

Regarding fatigue, most of the original Avengers are gone. The recent Marvel series have been managing with the consequences of the past recent events, with Barton dealing with PTSD and Falcon / Winter Soldier dealing with how to move forward without Captain and a world coping with the glitch. Marvel's universe is growing. Sure, it hasn't all been great, but the initial movies had issues too (Thor, Thor 2, Ironman 2 (part of 3), Captain America). I still remember a pre-X-men world where Super Hero films were generally crap, except Batman and Batman Returns. I remember watching Ironman and thinking, "Wow, that was pretty good." Impressive and decently plotted out super hero films aren't exactly something that dates too far back.

I can't speak of DC, which is just a ton of invulnerable heroes pretending to be in danger and can't stomach them.

 

[marc]

My problem with speed characters, even if it Is established they somehow negate inertia and friction, is that any fight should be over in a couple seconds. Seriously, if I can break the sound barrier then I should be able to beat the shit out of you, disable any weird tech you got, and remove hostages before you even register I’m there

 

[Shadowy Man]

If Marvel and its like were to fuck off for the next 50 years before another superhero movie were made it would be too soon. Wanna impress me? Then let all these boring characters actually get killed and end the universe. Then start over with a big bang type of event where new powerful beings emerge from some sort of primordial ooze---something like that. Something that isn't the same basic piece of glitzy trash the public has been force fed for the past 15 years.

it seems that in the comics they started the whole multiverse to get away from this kind of boredom. They could get away with crazy storie in these alternate realities they didn’t want to do to their main characters.

Though all the time travel and alternate dimensions is what ultimately lead me to give up reading comics.

 

[Elixir]

Though all the time travel and alternate dimensions is what ultimately lead me to give up reading comics.

Me too. I mean, since you will already have read the last episode before the first one was written, why bother?

 

[ZiprHead]

Though all the time travel and alternate dimensions is what ultimately lead me to give up reading comics.

Me too. I mean, since you will already have read the last episode before the first one was written, why bother?

I never read comics when I was a kid. Didn't even know they existed.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Though all the time travel and alternate dimensions is what ultimately lead me to give up reading comics.

Me too. I mean, since you will already have read the last episode before the first one was written, why bother?

I never read comics when I was a kid. Didn't even know they existed.

I started when I was about ten and stopped when I was about twenty. My favorite was X-Men though I collected multiple titles. There were a couple of incidents in the plot that I thought were particularly bad changes in X-Men that led to my disinterest in continuing to collect.

 

[marc]

I watched super hero shows as a kid. Didn’t start collecting until I was 18, and still going every week to the same guy

 

[ZiprHead]

Asteroid City

Not really sure what to think about it. It's loaded with stars I didn't know were in it.

I can say it's quirky. I don't remember laughing at any point.

A full frontal of Scarlett Johansson (sp?) was pretty cool though.

 

[Thomas II]

Asteroid City

Not really sure what to think about it. It's loaded with stars I didn't know were in it.

I can say it's quirky. I don't remember laughing at any point.

A full frontal of Scarlett Johansson (sp?) was pretty cool though.

Not the best Wes Anderson... I saw it recently...meh...

I also saw "Belle de Jour", with Catherine Deneuve . Restored 4K...Oy Vey!

 

[marc]

Babylon 5: The Road Home 7.5/10

For Babylon 5 fans, this was a fun movie. Nothing serious, or major added to the storyline of the series. It was cool to have the surviving cast get together to voice an animated show. Zathras was especially enjoyable. Non-fans will probably have a lot of questions, but the story seemed clear enough where you can follow it.

The story is shortly after the end of the series, Sheridan gets exposed to tachyons, and because of his previous time-travel that ends up bouncing him around a few different points in time, and a couple alternate timelines.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I can't imagine anyone who doesn't know the show to understand that movie. And [nerd] it "occurs" between Season Four and Five.

 

[ZiprHead]

I've never seen B5 at all.

 

[TSwizzle]

Nobody, 6/10; Stars Bob Odenkirk in a departure from his usual roles he plays a killing machine. The plot is instantly forgettable but he crosses a Russian mob and ends up having to slaughter lots of them. The action is decent, high tempo and well choregraphed. The movie is a bit of a John Wick knock off so if you like that sort of thing this movie will perhaps suffice. I only watched because Odenkirk was playing an unusual role and he did it convincingly so well done for that.

 

[marc]

I've never seen B5 at all.

You have my sympathy...

It was a great series. The creator had the idea for a 5 year story arc right from the beginning, and there was quite a bit of foreshadowing in that first season. It had gotten dropped by two different networks during its run, they were not sure they would have a 5th season so they tried to tie a lot of it up at the end of 4th, then they got the 5th, so those two seasons might have some disjointedness.

Spoiler: One (of many) favorite bits from the series

The creator, J. Michael Straczynski, is an atheist, and he handled religion pretty well I think. In one episode, as part of a cultural exchange, the different alien races were demonstrating their predominant religion. This scene is the one put together for Earth

 

[blastula]

Babylon 5: The Road Home 7.5/10

For Babylon 5 fans, this was a fun movie. Nothing serious, or major added to the storyline of the series. It was cool to have the surviving cast get together to voice an animated show. Zathras was especially enjoyable. Non-fans will probably have a lot of questions, but the story seemed clear enough where you can follow it.

The story is shortly after the end of the series, Sheridan gets exposed to tachyons, and because of his previous time-travel that ends up bouncing him around a few different points in time, and a couple alternate timelines.

Looking at the cast, nice that they got most of the originals where they could. But sadly so many of them have passed for a show only 30 years old. Like, Richard Biggs died at 44.

 

[TSwizzle]

The Wrong Missy, 5/10; Stars David Spade and Lauren Lapkus. The plot revolves around a mix up Spade when Spade goes on a blind date with a woman who is an oddball, quirky character (Lapkus) named Melissa and an attractive woman also named Melissa who he meets in an airport three months later. In an attempt to get a date with the latter Missy, he accidentally texts the former and comedy ensues. There are some quite funny scenes in this movie and David Spade's delivery is good and Lapkus is equally good but there's just not enough funny stuff to sustain the 90 minute movie. Although Spade does well, he's a bit too old and the movie may have worked better with a younger lead.

 

[couch_sloth]

Asteroid City

Not really sure what to think about it. It's loaded with stars I didn't know were in it.

I can say it's quirky. I don't remember laughing at any point.

A full frontal of Scarlett Johansson (sp?) was pretty cool though.

Not the best Wes Anderson... I saw it recently...meh...

I also saw "Belle de Jour", with Catherine Deneuve . Restored 4K...Oy Vey!

Belle de Jour was made in 1967. I had never heard of it before I saw it about 12 years ago.
It’s definitely one of my favorite films.

Spoiler: The ending

It has one of the cleverest endings I have ever seen.