Movie Discussion Thread

Discussion in 'Random Thoughts' started by sphinxvc, Dec 29, 2015.

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  1. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    This may not even qualify as a movie, since it went to Netflix one day after theatrical release but anyway. I love Amy, I admire Tina and Maya. They make me laugh.

    Yet, Wine Country severely disappoints. A solitary single audible chuckle was all that it could wrangle from me. Could be the worst comedy movie I have seen in years. RIP Wine Country.
     
  2. ColtMrFire

    ColtMrFire Writes better fan fics than you

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    So Redbox has a bunch of cheap 4K discs for sale. Inception was $5 so I said f**k it.

    But man does this film get worse the more I watch it. I actually loved it upon release. You just didn't see something this complex and original in theaters anymore. The idea was pretty brilliant and there was a thrilling heist at the center of it and I love heist films. And it's got an amazing cast. The film had alot of seemingly innovative moving parts. And that hallway fight! The orchestration of it all was very exciting... at the time.

    But all this kind of distracted me from some serious problems that plague the film. Problems I ignored initially but was forced to deal with the more I watched it.

    Inception is seriously dragged through the mud by a ridiculous amount of exposition. Characters standing around explaining shit. And the kicker is the film is really not very complicated. It's fairly simple. They go into a guys dreams to plant some ideas in his head. That's it. But Nolan treats it like it's a NASA mission to Mars.

    And it's amazing that despite all the explaining, they never really explain how the dream machine works. That's because it's not necessary. People hook up to it and share dreams. Nolan really should've taken a page from his own playbook here and applied it to the rest of his movie.

    The subplot between Cobb and his wife is also quite strained. Again something very simple (they shared a dream and she didn't want to wake up, so he convinced her and it made her doubt her actual reality) is stretched into complex narrative geometry that creates an endless stream of dialogue going into the ins and outs of the situation, like that friend who has to tell you every second of what happened during his day. Soon it becomes incredibly uninteresting and after a while, annoying. By the time Cobb is at the kitchen table with his wife at the end literally telling us how he feels "I feel guilt" (among a plethora of other things). I was rolling my eyes. It really is almost as bad as Trinity's never ending death scene in The Matrix Revolutions.

    And I think the action scenes are badly done... especially the snow sequence, where I can barely tell what's going on half the time. Nolan approaches these actions scenes like a person who hates action scenes. It's all done in a kind of procedural, matter of fact way, and you actually start longing for Michael Bay to come flesh some of it out and make it, you know... exciting.

    I find the more I watch Inception, the less I enjoy it. Becsuse it feels like homework. It is distractingly joyless.

    I don't like most of Nolan's films for this reason besides Memento which remains his best.
     
  3. Pharmaboy

    Pharmaboy Friend

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    I only saw INCEPTION once & was dazzled by the special effects--which for once, really were special. But I distantly recall some of these issues you mention. "Characters standing around explaining shit." (fatal error in a screenplay).
     
  4. spwath

    spwath Hijinks master cum laudle

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    Shame I couldn't enjoy the sound mixing. We went to the shitiest theater, was like $8 for a ticket opening night, the first theater room we go to had broken air conditioning, so they made us all move (and lose our good seats we waited in line for). New theater room they just didn't turn it up loud enough (never thought I would say that about a movie theater). Like the beginning dialogue I struggled to hear over the noise of people rustling about. Got better as ears adjusted and people stayed very quiet, but still, not great.
     
  5. muse

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    Yeah it's the same experience for me, honestly. I'll never forget the first time I saw Inception in theaters. I think it was an awakening of sorts, for my love of films in general. And for that, Inception will always mean something special.

    That being said, one of the chief criticisms of Nolan films is not just the amount of exposition, but how dour, one-paced, wooden, and artificial it can get. This is only exacerbated by his tendency towards 'quick cutting', where the scene immediately cuts to a stationary, up-close shot of whomever is speaking in a certain scene.

    Often, I'm drawn to the sense of Nolan explaining what he wants me to feel of his characters, rather than what the film organically does make me feel. There's a dearth of authenticity and emotions, and certain qualities like vulnerability and empathize-ability tend to be sorely lacking in his characters.

    Which amusingly enough, you can sorta understand it when you listen to the way Nolan speaks in real life. It's more prevalent in certain films (TDKR, Inception, Interstellar) than others, it's THE major reason why all his films tend to depreciate in quality upon repeated viewings, once the novel concepts, technical mastery and inventive storytelling take a back seat.

    With that, it's no surprise that (at least in my view) his objectively best films are ones with the least exposition. Or at least those that display the least amount of casual, day-to-day type of exposition - Memento, The Prestige, Dunkirk.

    In some sense, I feel that Nolan tends to be overambitious with his projects, and too much of a 'purist' for his own good. Outside of Dunkirk, all his films tend to push 2.5 hours, and yet still feel too rushed and hastily resolved. Just the number of subplots, themes, and sequences crammed within a novel concept. It's a sensory overload that you feel could have been avoided if the films had been split into two, or even into a mini-series rather than a continuous feature film.
     
  6. ColtMrFire

    ColtMrFire Writes better fan fics than you

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    From what I've read, Inception started out far simpler. Nolan wrote it very early, possibly back in his Memento days. And it simply grew more and more ambitious as he got more clout. I have a sneaking suspicion the simpler version would've been preferrable to the bloated mess we ended up with. But who knows.

    Interstellar has the same problems, possibly worse, as it's been a while since I've seen it.

    And I'm one of the few who hated Dunkirk. That's a movie that just went in one ear and out the other. Didn't feel a thing while watching it.
     
  7. crenca

    crenca Friend

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    Well stated @muse. Putting it like this helps flush out what I have sensed but not put my finger on in these films of Nolans (those that I have seen). Still, I have to admit I hope Nolan continues to be a 'purist' if nothing other than he, like the rest of us, has his limits. I suspect if he tries too hard to be the sort of writer/director who builds characters with strong/compelling inner content then he would fail.
     
  8. ColtMrFire

    ColtMrFire Writes better fan fics than you

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    Just got back from John Wick 3. I didn't realize there were so many different ways to brutally kill a human being.

    And I wouldn't be surprised if this movie holds the record for highest number of onscreen deaths (or at least approaches it). The absolute carnage and bloodshed is unreal, somehow managing to top the previous two films.

    Wick 3 is also by far the funniest. Lots of laughter from the crowd. I had a blast. Really embraces the silliness of the concept and dials it up past 11. Highly recommend.
     
  9. OldDude04

    OldDude04 Friend

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    Happy to hear this, I'm going to see it tonight. This is exactly what I was hoping for.
     
  10. ColtMrFire

    ColtMrFire Writes better fan fics than you

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    There is a nice callback to The Matrix that sent everybody into a tizzy. Pretty awesome.
     
  11. SoupRKnowva

    SoupRKnowva Official SBAF South Korean Ambassador

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    I went to see John Wick 3 in the first showing today at the Dolby Cinema up the road.

    The tl;dr would be that I was pretty disappointed overall, but some context is required


    I f'ing love the original John Wick. It took the "revenge" flick and perfected it to a point that I honestly don't believe it will ever be surpassed. I consider it to essentially be a perfect film. Everything from the pacing, the script writing and of course the kinetic choreography it offered was a step above anything else in its genre.

    When John Wick 2 came out, I was kind of disappointed. I typically sum that one up as being more awesome but less good than the original. The fight scenes are even more over the top but still incredible. The pacing wasn't as good though and the story was pretty lackluster. I decided it was ok though, because if I wanted more John Wick movies, we needed some sort of bridge story to get from revenge flick, to something that could continue as a franchise.

    This is where my expectations for 3 come in. I knew it wouldn't be able to touch the perfection of the original, but I sincerely hoped its story would be better than 2 and would maintain everything else that 2 did.

    But I was wrong. The one thing that I figured was impenetrable in the franchise's DNA was its fight scenes. This was maybe the biggest letdown of the third installment. I wont say they were all bad, there were a few that maintained that special something they had in the first two, but most of the rest were a noticeable step down in quality.

    So with that, there really isn't anything else that could save the move for me. Its story wasn't any worse than 2, but it certainly wasn't better.


    Overall, I don't think it's a bad movie, but it just cant compete with the original or even the second movie, which makes me really sad considering how much I love John Wick. also, it had one of the coolest posters ever.

    [​IMG]
     
  12. Pharmaboy

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    "more awesome but less good" ... that describes the majority of all sequels, unfortunately.

    Like you, I was bowled over by JOHN WICK. It was superbly acted, plotted, paced, shot, and of course the action scenes were exceptional. I had no expectation that such a film would exist, or that Keanu Reeves would star in it.

    Like you, I didn't like the 2nd film nearly as much. JOHN WICK was perfection; JOHN WICK 2 was less than that.

    I'll happily go to see JOHN WICK 3, but have no real expectations of anything close to the original perfection.

    JOHN WICK is now part of my list of "must see every time they broadcast it" films, along with films like THE EQUALIZER, SAFE HOUSE, TAKEN, all 3 BOURNE films, plus golden oldies like THE FUGITIVE, PATRIOT GAMES, THE THING (original & remake), ALIENS, POINT BLANK, MURDER MY SWEET, FAREWELL MY LOVELY, THE LONG GOODBYE, CITY OF INDUSTRY, others.
     
  13. elmoe

    elmoe Friend

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    Agreed. Wouldn't say the movie sucked, but it was disappointing and I didn't think Malek Rami did a good job, though I like him in other movies usually. It just didn't capture how bad ass Freddy was. Good music biopics are too rare.
     
  14. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    The Dirt was far more inspirational.

    --

    Saw Aquaman. So glad we didn't waste $50 at the theatre with the family on this.

    Little Mermaid -> Ponyo -> Lara Croft -> Romantic Comedy -> Super Mario 3D -> WTF#!?

    Worth watching just to make comments to each other on the horrible editing, vfx, dialogue... OK, any second minute now, Black Manta is going to show up!

    James Wan was the wrong guy for this. So far WB is 1/3 on the directors for the DC properties.

    The best part of the film: Dolph Lungren in an understated role.
     
    Last edited: May 19, 2019
  15. Pharmaboy

    Pharmaboy Friend

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    "Dolph Lungren in an understated role" (WTF? That's impossible...)
     
  16. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I knew nothing about the movie beforehand. Didn't read the buzz, see the previews, etc.

    So when I saw the credits roll and saw Dolph Lungren, I was like: Who did he play? Who did he play? Who the heck was he?

    Aquaman_Dolph_Lundgren_King_Nereus_DC_Comics_Footage.jpg

    P.S. Anyone else notice the total rip off of the Last Airbender with Mera's waterbending?
     
  17. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    I've said this earlier but it bears repeating: Venom>Aquaman (at least with regard to the recent films).

    Also how the heck do people manage to not recognize Dolph Lundgren? I don't watch many action films and even I knew him as the guy from the Stallone revival :))
     
  18. Pharmaboy

    Pharmaboy Friend

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    Dolph first came to prominence in the mid-80's with his role in ROCKY IV. He's an interesting character: has a Master's degree in chemical engineering; received a Fullbright scholarship to M.I.T.; a black belt in karate; and was European karate champ for a couple years in early '80s.

    I'd prefer to think that those roles in the EXPENDABLES franchise, in particular, are not indicative of his character or personality.
     
  19. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    Just for the record my earlier response was an attempt at a joke; I've known of his impressive intellect since a 9gag post years ago led me down a Google rabbit hole, and knew of his celebrity for even longer because the Rocky films were a constant watch when I was growing up, alongside the classic Star Wars and Ace Ventura :))
     
  20. Jinxy245

    Jinxy245 Vegan Puss

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    I guess I'll miss this one then....I'm no fan of Venom. It had a few moments, but was way too campy IMO.
     
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