Topic: The Movie Thread

I understand this will likely be a little TL;DR, but here are all the films I watched over the past couple weeks (with the exception of Malena & the anime titles, I picked up everything thrifting).

Daredevil (Blu-Ray) - the 2003 version (Director's Cut). I think this actually started out pretty strongly, but got a little shaky as it went on. Still has some good elements though, and I wouldn't call it terrible.

Elektra (Blu-Ray) - This on the other hand wasn't very good at all. Only watched it because it was included with Fantastic 4 & Daredevil (got the three pack at a thrift store for $2, so can't complain).

Gladiator (Blu-Ray) - Haven't watched this in a good while, and am glad to report it's still fantastic. Easily the best thing I watched over the past couple weeks & am now pretty excited for the legacy sequel coming out.

Gurren Lagaan: Childhood's End (Blu-Ray) - The first half of the TV series abridged into film format. There is some new animation which is cool to see (along with a bunch re-used from the show), but it's best watched as a refresher for existing fans, rather than a jumping on point for newbies.

Gurren Lagaan: the Lights in the Sky are Stars (Blu-Ray) - The second half of the TV series abridged into film format. I give it pretty much the same assessment as the first.

Independence Day (Blu-Ray) - Watched this on the titular holiday (with the dog on my lap as he's afraid of fireworks). Haven't actually sat down to watch this one in a long time, but it was a pretty fun time, even if the film itself was pretty uneven. I think it jumps around a bit much and would probably be a bit tighter if they cut out Randy Quaid's storyline, but at the same time he has some of the best bits in the film so I'm not sure I'd want that, lol. Similarly, I think it does a great job setting up the tension when the saucers are entering the atmosphere, but once the action gets going the effects start tearing apart at the seams.

Malena (Blu-Ray) - Picked up the uncut Imprint release. Coming of age story set amongst the backdrop of WWII Italy. Could be pretty tonally inconsistent, but it was worth the watch, IMO.

the Monuments Men (Blu-Ray) - Pretty breezy film about a group of academics who are sent into Europe during WWII in order to identify & protect art/historic sites, etc. with a pretty all star cast. It wasn't a masterpiece itself, but I really enjoyed watching it.

Shazam (Blu-Ray) - It's not a perfect movie, but man is it a fun time. Really captures the vibe of all the kinds of mischief a kid would get into if they suddenly had superpowers. Definitely the best out of all the superhero flicks in this list.

Spider-Man 3 (Blu-Ray) - It definitely had it's moments, but was definitely stretched a bit too thin with the three antagonists. Like Independence Day it's another one I hadn't seen in a long time & wish I would have liked a bit more, even if there were good parts.

Not Shelley Duvall! Always loved her, had such a screen presence. I can’t think of any part anybody’s been better suited for than her with Olive Oyl in Popeye (criminally underrated movie).

Got a month of Disney+, so I've watched a couple of films this past week. The first one was Deadpool 2, which was great! Really funny and cool movie. Then I watched The Predator (2018), which was honestly quite a breath of fresh air compared to the previous movies which felt rather similar. I also finished Commando (1985), which was an okay movie but nothing special. Finally, I just finished watching X-Men: Apocalypse, which was a phenomenal movie! I really like it when franchises aren't hindered by the timeline. Just because the story ended in the future doesn't mean that you can't tell more stories from the past. It's kinda like Metal Gear Solid in that sense. As a kid that grew up watching the X-Men animated show, I really enjoyed this movie.

I'm looking for more movies to watch on Disney+. One franchise I haven't delved into at all is Planet of the Apes. Has anyone watched those movies? There are movies from the 1970s and 2010s to watch but I'm leaning more towards just watching the 2010s. Am I missing out on some overarching story by doing so?

@LtSarge There is no real continuity between the "classic" Apes movies and the "new" ones, so feel free to skip the older ones if you wish. I love the 2010s Apes trilogy to death and the "new new" one, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, is a continuation of those (though very loosely).
I haven't seen all the older ones and I can't really remember which ones I've seen, except for the very first one, the OG Planet of the Apes, which is a stone cold classic!
Anyway, hope you'll enjoy them, whichever way you choose to go

Saw the 1996 Twister the other day, and the reason behind it was twofold: To see if it holds up well enough to buy the upcoming 4K release and to have it fresh in mind when seeing the new one.
Unfortunately, i could only find it on streaming with a crappy stereo mix and this is a movie that will probably be well served by a proper disc version with a lovely surround mix, so my experience was a bit muted.
So did it hold up? Well, yes and no. I had a good time watching it again, but it didn't grab me enough so that I think I might want to revisit it again in a while. Hunt and Paxton are still awesome, though, and there's an excellent supporting cast, but while the tornado action is exciting, the surrounding story is very worn and feels very basic. I'm still on the fence vis-a-vis a 4K purchase of this one.

Twisters, which I just came back from seeing in the theatre, fared a lot better. While it was, in many ways, the same movie (people chase tornados for science and get in dangerous situations), it did enough differently to feel like it's own thing. I guess I could call it a "remix" of the original and not be too far off the mark. I hadn't seen Daisy Edgar-Jones in anything previously, but she charmed me quite effortlessly and she had good chemistry with Glenn Powell, who is turning into a powerhouse Cary Grant type leading man. This also has a good supporting cast and the effects and sound mix are tremendous (as they should be, in a movie like this). I would say I'm more likely to buy this one on 4K than the first one.

@FuriousMachine I had no idea they made a new Twister! I have to look for this now. Anything with natural disasters I really enjoy for some reason. They're just interesting and entertaining in equal parts.

Lately I've watched...

Beverly Hills Cop Axel F
I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. I'm a little surprised Netflix didn't make it a theatrical release. Do they even do that? Either way, it was funny, entertaining and heartfelt.

Life
Astronauts find an organism that grows and gets mad in a very short space of time. Interesting premise and a very strong cast, but I found myself kind of bored by this. The ending was great, though!

Trigger Warning
Young woman goes home from the army for her father's funeral and suspects his death wasn't accidental. Jessica Alba excels in the lead here, very credible as a hurt daughter on the warpath. It's the kind of film you've seem 100 times over, but that didn't make it any less entertaining.

The Matrix
Wanted to see it before it disappears from Netflix this month. I've seen in many times, a true classic.

@FuriousMachine That's good to hear! I tend to not like old movies like those so I'd rather skip them unless I really like the franchise. But yeah, looking forward to watching the modern ones soon!

Watched Cléo from 5 to 7. It’s hard to really say anything about movies like that, it’s one of those that will stay with me. It’s not perfect, nothing is, but it’s crafted in a way that all movies should be. I came away from that movie thinking about my own life, instead of coming out of a movie thinking about when I can next spend money. There’s an irritating wave of negativity aimed at arthouse media in general, with the domination of popcorn fare and studios destroying the industry creating a generation of people who ironically look down their nose at more thought-provoking media. Anti-intellectualism has gotten so much worse recently, which is crazy to me as media is more accessible than it has ever been. Attitudes of ‘I want to switch my brain off’ or ‘I just want to be entertained’ are crushing artists from making work that genuinely means something, that isn’t just throwaway entertainment. I dunno, maybe Taylor Swift will mention Un Chien Andalou in one of her songs and arthouse will blow up. That seems to be the only way to get people to look outside their bubble.

@LtSarge Yeah, you're safe to skip them. If you fall in love with the new ones, then you could consider watching the first one as a curiosity, to see where it all came from

@Malaise If you liked the original Twister, you'll most likely enjoy this one as well.

The Matrix is returning to theatres here in Oslo on July 19th for its 25th anniversary and I've got tickets to see it on the same big screen I first saw it 25 years ago (well, not physically the same, they've renovated and upgraded the theatre since then). I am very excited! Apparently, it stars that young whippersnapper from the Bill & Ted movies!

@nessisonett Arthouse cinema being niche is hardly a new phenomena. Perhaps the niche has shrunk in recent years, but it's never been "mainstream" as long as I can remember. I'm lucky to live in a city where blockbusters and smaller non-Hollywood movies live side by side in the cinemas, but there's no denying which films puts butts in seats and keeps the lights on in the theatres. When I saw Retour à Séoul last year, there were three people at the screening and with Monster earlier this year there were four. Not sure if they qualify as proper arthouse, though. I never really understood what qualifies and I probably never will... nor do I particularly care, I just love watching movies and like the ones I like and don't care for the ones I don't, no matter if they're blockbusters or not

@FuriousMachine I appreciate the endorsement. A little look at local theatres has it listed in a few places so maybe that'll be this evenings entertainment if I feel up to it.

On arthouse cinema, I consider them a hard watch, what I mean by that is the focus and presence of mind required. I not only have to be, I also owe it to the creator, to be a lot more mentally present than something relatively throwaway, and some big budget films are like that, too. And after the physical and mental exhaustion of work as well as other life pursuits, I have zero negativity towards the media, I just rarely have that prepared mindset for something that isn't a core passion.

@FuriousMachine It’s not just cinema, books are suffering massively too. All that’s selling are airport fodder, and whatever’s flavour of the month on TikTok. If there isn’t the environment for creators to feel like they can get their story out there then we all suffer, and the medium suffers as a result.