Amph At The Movies (film discussion thread)

The second Brightburn trailer is not that much different from the first but it's definitely more graphic and I believe reveals more of the second act of the film. I'm planning on seeing this movie.

 

Probably most everybody who posts in here also posts in the Last Movie You Saw thread, but in case there are some who don't, we've had a really interesting discussion about rating systems for movie reviews (ie. four stars versus five versus ten versus no rating etc.) in that thread. It's the kind of broad movie-related discussion that might fit more naturally in this thread, but it just kind of came up organically in the other thread, so if you enjoy broader conversations swing by that thread as well as this one and give your thoughts on that if you haven't already.

 

Yeah, I talked about how Siskel & Ebert's rating system really worked super well as it was simple and direct as it was either "Thumps Up" or "Thumps Down." And every time I read the title do this thread "At the Movies" I think of Siskel and Ebert as that was the title of their TV show, "At the Movies."

Anyway, in the other thread, I also mentioned how I turned to YouTube to fill the void left by Siskel & Ebert and later one Ebert & Roeper and what some of the favorite movie reviewers rating systems are. Chris Stuckmann being my favorite uses the A through F rating.

But I find myself watching my favorite film reviewers on films I've actually watched after I've watched and written my own review of a film. Mostly, I don't want other film reviewers influence my opinion or write up on a film. Such was the case with Captain Marvel. I saw the film last night and posted my review of it in the "What was the last movie you saw? (Ver. 2)" thread and then I watched Chris Stuckmann's review on the film. My review of the film was similar to his, but we also had contrasting opinions. I think that's the fun par for me in going to YouTube and this message board, is to hear about how other people articulate their opinions and feelings about a film that I've seen after I've the film and made my own opinion.

Thus, I rarely read anything beyond a headline buzz about a film for a movie that I know I will be seeing. I want to form my own opinions without being influenced by others. And so it's the post viewing interactions I like more than the pre viewing interactions.

 

I'm the same way. I never watch any film reviewers or theorists on youtube talk about a movie that I haven't already seen, with a few exceptions like Lindsay Ellis's Twilight video because I like her and I'm never going to watch it.

 

Same with podcasts for me. I love a lot of movie podcasts, but if one movie in particular is going to be the topic of discussion, like on Filmspotting or even Fresh Air or something, I'll listen to them after I've seen the movie. Most podcasts that don't specifically say they're going to get into spoilers* try to avoid spoilers, but still, I prefer to actually have my own opinion about a movie before I listen to a whole lot of other people talk about it. And I often like to go in knowing as little as possible, so I would prefer to not know some things that are technically not even really spoilers.

*Empire Film Podcast does really good spoiler-casts; one of the fun things is that they'll usually interview the director or producer or someone with the knowledge that the interview will be in a spoiler cast, so you can, fairly quickly after a movie comes out, actually hear the director or writer or whoever actually talk spoilers. A lot of times you don't get to hear that until quite a bit later, like on the Blu-ray or something.

 

With podcasts for me it's actually different. I listen to both Fresh Air and Filmspotting and I usually just listen to them right away, but I also listen to a ton of podcasts and use them as background noise, so I'm not always completely engaged either. I do sometimes revisit an episode after I've seen something personally, though, and give it a closer listen.

The main point is I really don't care about spoilers very much, and never have, because to me watching a film is about the journey and seeing it all put together. Knowing about a scene or that someone dies isn't really going to affect my mindset. I've mentioned this before but when I watched BlackKklansman I was already aware of the Charlottesville rally sequence going in, but when it happened I was not emotionally prepared to witness it. I had never seen the video of the car before and it hit me like a bolt of lightning and I just started sobbing uncontrollably for five minutes. That was what ultimately made the film the best film of the year for me, that one sequence of frankly documentary footage tangentially related to the rest of the movie, because that kind of emotional reaction is rare. And I already knew about it beforehand!

Another really pertinent example is last year I went to see Tully with a friend. This was a rare time when listening to a review- in this case Filmspotting- actually did prompt me to watch it. And that review had spoilers, and I knew about the twist going in. And it was fine. Much later (actually quite recently) I revisited that episode to give it another study.

But with video I'm not necessarily going to click a review for something I want to see. I think the reason is largely because I'm not seeking out a specific Filmspotting episode like I would be on youtube, I'm just taking it as it comes. I don't seek out spoilers, generally, or reviews, especially if it's something I know I want to see already. I'm just mostly unfazed by them when I do hear them. And regardless of that I would watch a movie review on youtube to see how that person's thoughts matched my own after I've already seen. That's largely the point. So if it's something I haven't seen yet or just something I don't care about I probably won't bother. With a few exceptions I don't really watch reviewers just for their personality or whatever, but because of the movie in question.

 

Not my line but I thought it a good one to describe the premise.

When an alien child crash lands in your field you could get a Kal-El but you might end up with a Zod.

 

Captain Marvel has gotten pretty good reviews here in the UK. I probably won't pay cinema prices but will watch when it's on satellite.

 

Meanwhile the alt-right trolls are cratering the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, couching their crusade against Brie Larson within critique of her acting ability.

Which is more evidence that review aggregate sites are absolute trash.

I'd go see the movie to spite them, but I really can't overcome my Marvel fatigue at this point. I don't feel any sense of spite towards the franchise, I'm sure it's a solid movie, all of them are uniformly well made. I also wish Captain Marvel the best of success and that audiences who see it enjoy it. They've just stopped being my cup of tea.

 

I've seen a few of them. I liked Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange but most of the others don't really interest me. I've never been a big superhero fan.

 

Simon Pegg's gone all Christian Bale for his new role

 

Saw that pic in one of the UK papers last week. That must have taken some doing.

 

I'm not sure if you mean Christian Bale in Batman or Christian Bale in The Machinist.

 

yeah I was thinking of the Machinist.

 

I watched Captain Marvel last Thursday and did a pretty good job of avoiding any additional footage after the second trailer. I wish I would have skipped the second trailer too, but I doubt I would been able to dodge the ending moments of the second trailer as the often become meme, gifs and whatnot that appear on my social media feed, but I would have liked to have experienced those moments for the first time during my initial viewing of the film because it would have been more impactful. Right now, I'm going back and looking at all the promotional footage and materials. Much of it would have spoiled my experience of the film, so I'm glad I was able to avoid them. I'm looking to do the same thing with Avengers: End Game. So, whenever the next trailer drops, I'll avoid it as best as possible.

 

James Gunn reinstated as director of Guardians 3

 

The notion that McKay deleted anything from that trainwreck is kind of mind-blowing to me. I mean, what was his issue with it? Did it make the movie feel too long? Was it too stupid to sit next to the more thoughtful scenes that ended up in the final cut? Did it break up THE CAREFULLY CALIBRATED FLOW? DID IT RUIN THE TONE??!!? GOD FORBID ANYTHING MAKE THE MOVIE FEEL DISJOINTED OR WEIRD!!!! LETS ******* KEEP THIS THING ON A TIGHT LEASH!!!

God, how I hate that movie.

 

Boy that's really dramatic considering the book this is based on (a fine read, by the way) is extremely clinical in tone.

Also there was no actual controversy about the guy being the source of demonstrative quotations.

 

I found the trailer both anaspeptic and frasmotic, almost compunctious in its pericombobulation.