Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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W
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by W »

numbersix wrote:Haha, Shryke.

Actually, I found some answers on his issue.

So apparently in the Star Wars extended universe Darth Maul actually survived, despite being cut in half. He lived, dragged his way out and, like Anakin, replaced his missing limbs with robotic parts. In Solo when he gets up apparently you can see the robo-legs for a second. And in the ancillary literature he dropped his Darth moniker and just became Maul, a high level galactic gangster. Not sure how the all-powerful Darth Sidious doesn't know or care about this, though.
I had to go back and figure out what the Hell was going on after I saw Solo Friday. I read all that... The source of this are two Cartoon Network shows. He wanders in the desert on spider legs for fifteen years and goes insane until his brother comes to rescue him. I know this is a fantasy movie, but this is ridiculous. And the most powerful people on the planet whom he is a threat to don't think to go find him and eliminate him? And it contradicts everything we know about the Dark Side of the force?
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JohnErle
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by JohnErle »

I'm just glad there's a new Star Wars movie I can skip without taking all kinds of shit for it.

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Buscemi2
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by Buscemi2 »

Why does that sound like that villain Gary Oldman played in Lost in Space (or was it Kenneth Branagh in Wild Wild West)?
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by Shrykespeare »

Buscemi2 wrote:Why does that sound like that villain Gary Oldman played in Lost in Space (or was it Kenneth Branagh in Wild Wild West)?

The latter, I believe.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by BanksIsDaFuture »

Yes, the cameo in Solo is explained in great detail in Star Wars Rebels and Clone Wars. These are canon, so I'm not surprised they're including them in the new movies.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Of course, the only audience for those shows besides children are the hardcore, "let's get Kennedy fired because she's a woman" types.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by Buscemi2 »

Adrift: A True Story (yes, that's the on-screen title) 2/10

Dull Nicholas Sparks-like romance disguised as a survival drama. Shailene Woodley is woefully miscast as a San Diego beach bum who must guide herself and her injured boyfriend across the Pacific Ocean after they crash during a hurricane. Baltasar Kormakur's heart doesn't seem to be in it as director (I wonder if he'll give up Hollywood after this one) and the narrative is haphazard with its overreliance on flashbacks (seriously, half the film consists of flashbacks). There were times where I was more focused on the moth that kept landing on the projector window than the story (which was better served as that Simpsons episode where Bart joined the Boy Scouts while on a sugar bender).

Tami Oldham seems like an interesting person in real life but this film does not do her justice.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by transformers2 »

Upgrade 8.5/10
Fantastic, throwback B-action sci-fi flick with terrific fight scenes, cool visuals and a more involved story than its trailers teased. This is probably going to turn into a documentary in 50-75 years, but for now, I'm just going to enjoy its exhilarating, bloody thrills and pretend that rapidly-evolving A.I. isn't completely fucking horrifying.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by Buscemi2 »

How to Talk to Girls at Parties 1/10

As you get past its nonsensical title, you will find a film that has no idea in the world of what it's trying to be. Is it a 70's nostalgia piece about a bunch of unlikeable posers? Is it a sci-fi film about a race of aliens that pretend to be tourists? Is it a romantic comedy about interspecies love? Whatever it is, John Cameron Mitchell's much-maligned adaptation of Neil Gaiman's story (of which I'm assuming the story can't be any better) is nothing more than fake nostalgia built around yet another "aliens are evil" plot. The script combines faux-anarchism (you just know this guy went on to vote for Thatcher) with pretentious techno-babble and nearly every cliche about punk in the film (and how can you call yourself a part of the subculture if you hate The Clash?). It's also filled with padding, an embarrassingly bad Nicole Kidman performance (if she's punk, then I'm Joe Strummer's reincarnation), and a ridiculous ending.

The only people who are going to like this thing (despite the A24 fanboys) are Anglophiles who think anything is better with an English accent. It's not.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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The Rider 9/10

Fascinating docu-fiction starring the actual people involved focusing on rodeo and the life of the modern cowboy in South Dakota. Essentially 8 Seconds meets The Horse Whisperer but with a touch of slow burn and realism, Chloe Zhao avoids going for schmaltz in hopes of a wider audience to focus on this character and how difficult it is to follow the urge of continuing his dream despite almost losing his life previously and having to live in lingering pain. It's almost as if the film's message is "you can love the life and what it offers but don't let it take you over". It would have been nice to see this play with mainstream audiences but at the same time, the nature of the story and Zhao's direction would have likely gone over many's heads.

In a time where bigger is considered better on screen, it's the simple stories that can end up with the most power. This is an example of that.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by Chienfantome »

Yes, The Rider really is a great film.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by Buscemi2 »

Hereditary 9/10

It's ridiculous that the horror community considers themselves adventurous but choose not to support a film like this one simply because it's not gory and by the numbers. This nod to the more sophisticated horror films of the 70's (such as The Exorcist and The Wicker Man) is involving and fascinating with its interpretation of the supernatural. This is not a film about seeing who can have the bloodiest kill or which character is the dumbest. It's about the plight of mental illness and instability, especially in the death of a loved one (and I congratulate A24 for not giving away the death that sets off the whole story). I know that Nico was gushing about Emily Blunt's performance in A Quiet Place but Blunt could never give a performance like Toni Collette gives here. If the distributor had opened this at Christmas, there would be an insane amount of Oscar buzz for her performance. And Alex Wolff in his first major role outside of Nickelodeon proves to be a far superior actor to his overhyped brother. Ari Aster, making his directorial debut, makes the film as if he's been directing for years. His artistic and technical skill outranks many high in demand directors today.

Back to the audience reception, shame on those who gave this a D+ Cinemascore. It's because of this that it's difficult to see a lot of these original ideas on screen (Prevenge never even got a theatrical release stateside) and we get unnecessary sequels to things like The Purge and The Strangers released widely. And these people do is demand and then complain because it didn't meet their narrow standards. Could there be a genre with more anti-intellectual fans than horror?
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by Chienfantome »

I'm too lazy these days to write a proper review, but I've seen Jurassic World : Fallen Kingdom this weekend, and I'll sum it up saying the film is weak on the writing most of the times, pretty solid on the direction, and has a pretty good ending. I would probably give it a good 6 or a small 7 out of 10.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by Buscemi2 »

Incredibles 2 9/10

Pixar's most political film to date is a far superior film to films that actually were about politics like The Death of Stalin. Brad Bird gets back into form after the disaster that was Tomorrowland (pro tip: don't try to build a franchise around a bland and generic actor like Britt Robertson) by keeping the fast-paced action and familial humor of the original while also expanding on the characters. In a way, it's less a sequel and more a continuation of the original film. And I could seriously watch an entire movie of Jack-Jack just doing things for two hours. He is straight out of the Golden Age of Animation (think if Chuck Jones or Tex Avery did the Gerald McBoing-Boing shorts).

On the politics: all I can say is that those who believed that the first film was about Objectivism and Randian philosophy will hate this one.

And before the movie, there was a nice little short called Bao (8/10). An obvious attempt at redoing the success of Piper but adding some Asian flavor (or weirdness, depending on how one sees it), this focuses on a bored housewife who while eating lunch one day, discovers that one of the dumplings she cooked is alive and decides to raise him as her own. Or so we're led to believe. Either you're going to understand it or you won't. But either way, you have to admit the little dumpling person is cute.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by Buscemi2 »

Gotti 3/10

The film might not have deserved its 0% on Rotten Tomatoes (the Metacritic rating was 29, which makes more sense) but it's not a particularly good movie either.

Positives:
- John Travolta.
- Stacy Keach's scenes as Gotti's mentor.
- There is some good writing in some scenes thanks to Lem Dobbs co-writing.

Negatives:
- Too much was stuffed into a 105 minute run time. The John Gotti story needs to be a miniseries.
- The film's budget was low and it shows. This might explain all of the news footage appearing during the film.
- Kevin Connolly was the wrong choice to direct. Barry Levinson and Nick Cassavetes were both attached at one point and both could have done more justice to the story.
- While Travolta's makeup during the old age scenes is pretty good, the CGI used to make Travolta look younger does not work.
- The acting of John Jr. was not very good.

I can't say I'm surprised this only got one show here (most likely due to local interest, as Gotti died here) as other than Travolta, there's little to recommend about this biopic. With a better director and a bigger budget, this could have been something. But it's only a germ instead of a plant.
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