Amph What was the last movie you saw?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't the Spiderman mythos literally always been about "not goofing around" from the moment his uncle dies? Because, you know, great power and all that?

 

MCU has not touched their Spidey's background and, for all we know, it may not have a death of Uncle Ben as a motivator. Regardless, he's a fifteen year old kid, with all the immaturity that implies. And yes, goofing around and taunting his adversaries with jokes or witty remarks has ALWAYS been part of the character's makeup. Unfortunately, Sam Raimi and/or Tobey Maguire decided to make their Spider-Man fairly autistic and not quite true to the source material.

 

just saw Kong of Skull Island . it's about a guy called Kong who lives on Skull Island .

it was alright , the CG was incredibly good , I mean the detail of all the water in the fur and all was really amazing .

the story wasn't much . And what happened with Brie Larson's character ( she didn't seem to have one )? or any dialogue for that matter .

 

Yeah, they made that pretty clear in Civil War, with Peter nerding out over Bucky's metal arm in the middle of the airport battle.

 

Given that both the TG and Garfield films played out the Uncle Ben story, as long as it's at least referenced, I'm fine with not seeing it on camera in this reboot.

 

Spiderman's backstory is really well known and we've seen it twice on film. We don't need to see it again. A potentially more interesting story would be why does Peter live with Uncle Ben and Aunt May in the first place?

 

Ok, I finally did it. I saw what is considered the worst movie ever made: The Room.

Its very hard to put into words how I feel about this movie. Let's just say that its amazing you can fall asleep to a movie you're hysterically laughing at. If you have a sense of humor about stuff like this (if you like to watch stuff like MST3k) you MUST watch this movie.

 

The Avengers (2012)
My third viewing. It gets better with each watch. Really enjoy seeing the elements they pulled from each of the first 4. Not much more to say, really.

4/5

Here’s how I rank Phase I:
The Incredible Hulk (I liked how it was more of a monster-movie. Felt different from your usual super-hero movie
Captain America: The First Avenger (liked the WWII setting)
The Avengers
Iron Man 2
Thor (felt too much like a prologue to TA)
Iron Man (Tony Stark’s too cocky for me in this)

The Patriot (2000)
Have seen long parts of this before, but this is my first true viewing.
All the actors do really well. Really, really liked Jason Isaacs (aka Lucious Malfoy) as Tavington. I know some people don’t like historical movies that really aren’t all that historical, but I don’t mind. Also really, really liked John Williams’ score, (I’m a big fan of his) and the swamp base set piece. The final battle makes the whole movie worth it. Wish we had seen more of that. Those goods being said, the movie was a little slow in some places.

4/5

Project Nim (2011)
A documentary about a chimpanzee that was taught sign language. The more satisfying plot is what becomes of Nim after he reaches adulthood.

4/5

Flyboys (2006)

My second viewing. The ariel combat action scenes are excellent, including a wide-range of missions: one-on-one dogfights, an attack on a zeppelin, a bombing run, and a couple others. The drama scenes in the middle of the battles aren’t as interesting, and James Franco’s character Rawlings seems to be a Mary Stu. I would’ve preferred the rest of the squadron to be more fleshed out, but we got to know each of them. My big problem with the movie is it’s drama scene to battle scene to drama scene to battle scene, and that gets repetitive. Not sure how that could’ve been spiced up because that’s how these kinds of movies tend to be. Overall though, I liked this movie and recommend it if you’re into war movies.

4/5

 

I don't care to see the origin story again. I'm just saying that feeling you are directly responsible for the death of the person that raised you as their son would be extremely impactful on anyone's life. It's hard to imagine a subsequent event (eg fighting a guy in a robot bird costume) being more formative than that.

 

Whatever it was that happened to him was impactful. It's why he puts on that suit and does what he does. He said as much in Civil War. We don't need to see Uncle Ben get shot again not do we need to see him weeping in a corner all the time. Maybe this Peter Parker got the power and responsibility speech. Maybe he didn't. But he knows all about it.

 

Again, I'm not saying I want to see the scene re-played. I absolutely do not. What I'd really need is more context for the original comment in the review. To say that someone "stops goofing around" seems more than a bit odd given the premise of the whole character.

 

He goes from being a kid wandering around the neighborhood looking for low-level crimes to stop and not being particularly effective to being a guy who fights costumed villains and saves the day. The change isn't in his desire, it's in his effectiveness.

Dunkirk. Christopher Nolan, one of the great directors working today, tells one of the great stories of World War II, one of the great stories of Britain. It's every bit as good as you could want. It reflects Nolan's mix of traditionalism and formal daring, with the spirit of an old-school war film, soberly respectful of the sacrifice and the experience and patriotically rousing, and its technique a dialogue-light minimalism that focuses on the hellish experience and Nolan's typical obsession with intricate time-shifting structure.

The minimalism keeps the film observational, letting events just play out. You get it all, panic and shock and desperation to survive and resignation and quiet professionalism, the best and worst of people as they experience war. I loved the parallel storylines, taking us through the grim, endless efforts of a couple soldiers desperately trying to get off the beach, driving home this hellish experience of constant stress and fear; the resolute heroism of a civilian crew taking on risks they don't have to to rescue Britain's fighting men, coming to understand the costs; and the professionalism of a couple of RAF pilots, giving Tom Hardy yet another super-badass role.

It's a gorgeous movie, with great compositions and some incredible air combat scenes. I loved everything about it. I already can't wait to see it again.

 

Oh, that makes a lot more sense. I can see how that makes sense in the context of the story.

 

Watched on Blu-Ray;

Kong Skull Island - Loved seeing it again. This movie made me a Kong fan
The Rescuers
The Rescuers Down Under

 

The Mummy 1999 Firstly I'm a big fan of mysteries / adventures set in this time period and North African location. Secondly I think the added twist of making this an Indiana Jones style adventure raises this film above the standard horror fare to make it arguably more accessible (IMO). Of course the counter argument to that is that its been toned tone a lot from it could have been. But then again, the Mummy films that came before were never that graphic anyway because of the time period in which they were made.

The 3 leads carry the film along nicely with their interplay (Fraser, Weisz and Hannah). I even think that the majority of the humour works too and they are likeable as an ensemble. Of course Hannah is the bumbling idiot of the story which can sometimes make or break a film for me. I think the support is excellent, Arnold Vosloo is very good as Imhotep and plays it straight as a die, Kevin O'Connor as the shady Beni makes a funny sidekick to him, Oded Fehr as the Medjai warrior tasked with protecting The Mummy from being brought back (fails miserably) is another one who plays it straight. Although my personal favourite is a great turn from the comedian Omid Djalili as the gross Egyptian wardenwho accompanies them.

This film can almost be split in to 2 halves of styles, with the first (as mentioned above) being very Indiana Jones, before the second half where Imhotep is resurrected and he sets about regenerating himself and resurrecting his love interest, whilst our heroes have to stop him and it becomes a hybrid between toned down horror and Indiana Jones.

There used to be a Saturday morning film programme on ITV here in the UK, whos name I forget, but whilst The Mummy was in its cinema run it used to get regular features on this show and one of the big angles they used to focus on was the effects. From memory this one of the first films in the late 90's with the big CGI environments and also the fully realised CGI Mummy. At the time I thought the visuals for Egypt looked really good, especially at the start and to a degree it still looks good now. I'm not so sure that the Mummy itseld has held up that well. But certainly the effects integrating Arnold Vosloo with the visuals still look good IMO, as do the scarab beetles, the sandstorm and I still enjoy Imhoteps personal protectors as well.

Overall, whilst its not a cinema all time classic I think this is a very easy action adventure film to watch with likeable performances and I think its a really good hybrid take on this classic horror character with an Indiana Jones twist to it.

 

Dunkirk (2017)

Another must see on the big screen. Relentless, with an inventive narrative that works well, but it's saddled with some familiar Nolan maneuvers that I think he could well leave out.

Still the best of his films I've seen. Sound and image (at IMAX) were incredible. The Spitfires are worth the price of admission alone.

 

http://globalnews.ca/news/3617564/c...ived-dunkirk-causes-a-stir-at-movie-premiere/

A sailor who served at Dunkirk approved of the film.

 

Pacific Rim (2013) - Plot; With the help of giant mecha, mankind struggles to repel an invasion of violent, colossal monsters from another dimension.

Both more fun than 2014's artistically commendable (but frustratingly slow and drawn out) Godzilla and more coherent than Michael Bay's increasingly inane Transformers series, Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim effectively mixes mecha with monsters to create a rollicking, rock 'em, sock 'em good time. The special effects are first rate, the world is nicely fleshed out, and if the characters are a bit thin at least they all have their own little arcs that keep us invested in them.

In my opinion, this is one of the more underrated and underappreciated films of the last decade. Even if it's a mixture of well worn elements, their combination here felt fresh and fun. I was heartened when a sequel was greenlit, but extremely disappointed when it was announced that del Toro wasn't returning as director. So much of what works--and excels--about Pacific Rim is due to his talents. - 8/10

 

I absolutely agree with it being severely underrated. It had one of the biggest wow movie moments of its year as far as I was concerned: the moment when the kaiju perches atop one of the Jaegers for just a moment and the *SNAP* just unfurls these massive wings, the first we've seen of the kaiju having wings. My jaw just dropped. Charlie Day is super good too as is Rinko Kikuchi who brings a surprising depth to her initially very stereotypical character.

 

I adored the scope of Pacific Rim. Even in standard 2D, I felt like I was co-piloting one of those Jaegers. I keep wishing they gave the Russian and Chinese crews more time. The design for Cherno Alpha is one of my favorite 'retro' SF concepts; it is so perfectly Soviet. Rinko and Idris were great. I do hope we see more countries join the fight this time around.

 

David Lowery's A Ghost Story

Mysterious and enigmatic, it's more of a poem about the afterlife than an actual story, and makes terrific use of the Kuleshov effect.

Full review here: https://romancinema.wordpress.com/2017/07/24/review-a-ghost-story/

 

DP

 

Absolutely. It's a visual feast. The kaiju and jaeger designs are fantastic, but it's the way del Toro and Co. stage the action that really makes it pop.

Day and Burn Gorman's characters sometimes feel like they wandered in from a Roland Emmerich movie, but they bounce well off of one another and make for a likeable comic relief. And I like that Day's kaiju obsession is more than just a character quirk and ends up having a nice payoff. I agree re: Rinko Kikuchi's Mako. I love the reveal of her backstory and the way her character shifts from being somewhat inhibited socially to determined when inside the jaeger.

I sorta understand why the other two crews got short shrift, as there just wasn't enough time to really flesh them out. They're the equivalent of Porkins. Agreed on the look of the Russian jaeger. They did a nice job of giving it the iconography and cultural flavor of its country of origin.

Elba is one of those actors who always lifts the material.

 

I did too, but in the same sense this was called Pacific Rim, so I expected and hoped to see more variety. And you know my fondness for Cherno Alpha which I wanted to see in battle more than it was. Frankly, there were a lot of annoying characters that got front and center for Porkins so to speak. It will be interesting to see how Boyega brings in more of a Stacker feel to the team and if they can recapture the scope and feel and make it fun without being overbearing (Charlie Day, he annoyed me to no end. I understood his character's point of being, but to give him more time than Cherno Alpha makes me think "Nyet way!" I understand the appeal of his character, but he took me clean out of the movie.

 

I'm looking at the cast list for PR2 and trying to find the replacement for Elba's command and gravitas and not seeing it. Scott Eastwood for Charlie Hunnam is a wash, I suppose, though the latter's character seems to be a sidekick or second fiddle. Boyega is a charismatic young actor, but he's not the same type of presence as Elba and I can't see him being the same type of character despite being the younger Pentecost. Maybe it's one of the international actors in the cast that I'm just not familiar with, but there's no obvious veteran anchor here.

 

Sound arguments. When I become fully immersed in a movie's world anything that breaks this feeling makes it very hard for me to get back into it; I wanted more time with the scope of the Jaegers and Kaiju. There were all kinds of interesting little things to latch onto and I kind of get that Day's enthusiasm clearly mirrors GDT's when it comes to monsters in general; so in a way, you're seeing the director's wonder and awe in that persona. I just wish he would have played it a bit less exaggerated.

Juke Skywalker - Rinko Idris and Ron Perlman made that world real for me beyond the giant robots and monsters. I think Boyega will clearly move beyond just being Idris' son and anchor the sequel.

 

The2ndQuest the score is something I wanted to mention in my review, but couldn't find a way to organically fit it in. Whenever that main theme kicked in I was bobbing my head and ready to rumble.

I think whenever a film doesn't/can't/won't give the supporting players depth, they tend to compensate by giving them width (i.e. make them broad), and that's certainly the case here.

Master_Lok I have faith Boyega is capable of carrying the film as the lead, no question. I hope he's surrounded by a supporting cast that's up to his level.