Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Discuss past, present, and future releases. This is the place for news, reviews, and your 'best' lists.

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

Post by Buscemi2 »

At least McAdams isn't overexposed like Jessica Chastain is.

And Death Wish with Statham probably would have gotten a better director. He just seems more approachable than Willis (who's been connecting himself with hacks and yes men in recent years).
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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7 Days in Entebbe 2/10

It's not often when you can say that Cannon Films did it better. The English language interpretation of the events leading up to Operation Thunderbolt (which was previously filmed in 1977 and got an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film) is nothing more than an unnecessary (especially in 2018) pro-Zionist/pro-military film with unsympathetic and uninteresting main characters (with Rosamund Pike's performance possibly being worse than in Hostiles), uninspired direction by the one-trick-pony Jose Padhila (it seems like the Elite Squad series was all he had, as evidenced by this and RoboCop), and a bizarre and completely unnecessary subplot involving a dance recital that's never fully explained. In addition, the film stuffs too much into its run time of under two hours while also having little to say that the industry hasn't already said about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

I can't understand how this was deemed worthy to release nationwide. It's the kind of thing that should be dumped onto Netflix (which is what happened with Benji, a film Universal was set to release but dumped and as it turned out, wasn't that good).
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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A Wrinkle in Time 2/10

A pure disaster from start to finish. How a filmmaker could get a film so right with Selma but so wrong here is baffling. Entire things (and characters) go unexplained or have no reason (and I don't think I've seen a film in some time push science so much only to say nothing about it), the child acting is terrible (and the actor playing Charles Wallace is more annoying than Dustin on Stranger Things), and if you played a drinking game based on how many times Charles Wallace is said by someone, you would die from excessive consumption of alcohol. DuVernay's directing has gotten its share of criticism but the real fault lays in the script. How did anyone at Disney think this screenplay was filmable?

The book is supposed to be a masterpiece (though I'm sure a lot of the people who love the book also think hair metal's amazing). This movie makes me not want to read the book. The recent It adaptation did what this tried to do and a lot better at that.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Tomb Raider - 7/10

A passable and entertaining adventure romp. In this age when badass female characters are all the rage, Alicia Vikander takes on Lara Croft very well. At no point do I get the impression that Lara is Wonder Woman, which is very much how Angelina played her, able to do stunt after stunt without suffering so much as a scratch or smearing her makeup. This was meant to be Lara's first "adventure", and her inexperience shows. Walton Goggins' bearded baddie is meh at best, and the action sequences were right out of the Indiana Jones playbook, but all in all, I enjoyed this film. I might even consider seeing the sequels (which there will be), assuming Alicia agrees to do them.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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I'd be surprised if Tomb Raider 2 got produced. The opening weekend numbers were a disappointment and most of these video game adaptations are nothing more than failed franchise starters (Remember Assassin's Creed? Or Prince of Persia?).

I'm also convinced Warner Bros. will be in panic mode on how to sell Rampage, especially so close to release. There is no way this is going to play like Jumanji did, especially with the video game connection.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Compared to how good the video game reboot was for the Tomb Raider franchise, the movie wasn't very good at all. It's become just a generic Hollywood movie rather and an adaptation. If you change the character's name and name of the movie it isn't a Tomb Raider movie anymore. I really didn't like it.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Well shit, this month has been especially weak for movies.

I've only seen Red Sparrow, which was OK at best, and this moviepass is burning a hole in my pocket. Bad reviews have killed what little interest I had in Gringo, A Wrinkle In Time, and now Tomb Raider. I'll guess I'll have to try and catch Thoroughbreds before it leaves theaters Thursday.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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I'm sure Pacific Rim Uprising is going to KILL IT with critics. :lol: :lol:
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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At least a lot of things are getting revived near me. I'll be out of town when The Iron Giant, WarGames, The Room (with Greg Sestero in attendance), and The Road Warrior show but I might see Amadeus this weekend and I pre-ordered tickets for The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai and The Sandlot when they come (I also found out Wayne's World's playing next month, I might try to get a ticket for that).

I just wish the theatre affiliated with Fathom Events here would actually show the movies they advertise (I could have seen The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth but they refused to show them) instead of just playing Kirk Cameron's latest bile spew.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Tomb Raider 7.5/10
I've come to change the mood around these parts with a relatively positive review of this pre-summer blockbuster that is guaranteed to stay in the collective memory of moviegoers for at least another 10 days. This is an old-fashioned adventure movie with some cool setpieces, a likable hero in Lara Croft and a good-natured corny tone that serves as a monumental improvement over the Angelina Jolie-led films from earlier this century. I had fun with it and maybe you will too!
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by W »

BanksIsDaFuture wrote:
I've only seen Red Sparrow, which was OK at best, and this moviepass is burning a hole in my pocket. Bad reviews have killed what little interest I had in Gringo, A Wrinkle In Time, and now Tomb Raider.
That's me too. I just go watch them anyway. Wrinkle was pretty bad. I was fairly excited for Tomb Raider, but no dice. Red Sparrow was meh. I may actually pay for Ready Player One to see it in Big D/Imax/3D, but I'll probably be underwhelmed with that too.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by BanksIsDaFuture »

Part of me wants to go see Wrinkle just because I almost can't believe it's as bad as everyone says.

But then the other part of me turns on Fortnite, and the first part shuts up.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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I'd see Ready Player One on IMAX if 3-D wasn't being forced on it here (3-D should only be forced if it's native 3-D and Ready Player One is another post-conversion).

Anyway...

Call Me by Your Name 9/10

The kind of film American filmmakers are afraid to make: a sophisticated, wide-appealed love story that isn't afraid to think outside of the box while also giving us smart, well-developed characters and a coming-of-age tale that isn't 90 minutes of media-created cliches and stereotyping. The performances are excellent (I now see why Timothee Chamalet is appearing in everything) while there is a considerable beauty in its cinematography and score. I also loved how it actually felt like a film from the 80's instead of an 80's nostalgia film. An American filmmaker would have likely turned this into a ripoff of The Wedding Singer and changed the ending (which is perfect as presented).

I really have to read the book now and see how it differs.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by Buscemi2 »

Big Sonia 9/10

Fascinating documentary that's been popular in Kansas City (it was filmed in nearby Overland Park and has been a word-of-mouth hit at the single theatre it's been shown, playing five months so far) and seemingly nowhere else focusing on a Holocaust survivor who runs a tailor shop in a dying mall. The documentary serves as her life story, her early years in Poland, her relationship with the people in the area, and being the final tenant of the mall, the film has a variety of emotions but has an underlying theme of hopefulness. And it's impossible to resist our heroine, the person we wish we could be when we get old.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by BanksIsDaFuture »

Tomb Raider - C

Well thank God for lowered expectations. Vikander is surprisingly capable as an action star and the fact that she gained 12 pounds of muscle and did her own stunts shows (in a good way).

The movie around her however...a standard plot and some truly awful action direction leaves her stranded.

I kinda want a sequel, just to see what Vikander can do now that the origin story is out of the way. As long as they get a capable director and a writer who doesn't just regurgitate Indiana Jones/The Mummy story beats.
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