What Movie Did You Just Watch

[Avaitor]

Snyder doesn't seem to get the point of Watchmen, but it's a strong enough story and he gets enough of the basics right that it still turns out enjoyable.

Although I don't really get why he changed Rorschach's way of getting vengeance for the child killer, aside from wanting to make it more gruesome, I guess.

[Peanutbutter]

But I thought this was a movie about religion...

Oh, but it was. The Church of Our Holy Mother Nature.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Aronofsky is a weird guy.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Although I don't really get why he changed Rorschach's way of getting vengeance for the child killer, aside from wanting to make it more gruesome, I guess.

Most likely to avoid people complaining about it being directly lifted from Mad Max. The comic could get away with it because it was a different medium and could be seen as more of an homage, whereas he probably figured that people would bitch about it being a complete rip-off of that scene in the movie.

Of course, I could be giving Snyder too much credit and the more gruesome manslaughter may have been one of his "artistic" touches to "improve" the scene. Either way, it still fit in line with Rorschach's character, so it didn't really bother me nearly as much as some other changes that he made.

Like, I can understand him omitting the Giant Squid Monster at the end since it'd be too much for a common movie-going audience to take, but what he chose to replace it with doesn't even begin to make sense as soon as you stop to actually think about the logic of it (or lack thereof, in this case).

[Avaitor]

Stallone's taking over for Creed 2.

I gotta admit, this kills my excitement for the film. I'm not a big Rocky fan, but really liked the first one, a big part of which coming down to Cooglar's direction. I'm not sure if I needed to see more of Adonis and Rocky anyway, though, so it's not a big loss for me.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I am a fan of the original Rocky, and the sequels are mostly a guilty pleasure, but Creed was really something special and Ryan Coogler was a big part of that. Without him, I don't see this sequel being anything other than silly (though if it's silly fun like the other Rocky sequels, it may be worth a watch just for the laughs).

In other news I just saw Blade Runner 2049 and I can totally vouch for it being a genuinely great science-fiction film. As I stated earlier, the original Blade Runner is a movie which I respect more than I actually like, but aside from its excellent production design it never did much for me. I am however a fan of Denis Villeneuve, whom I believe to be one of the best, most talented directors working in Hollywood today. He took the basic themes and concepts of the first movie and, IMO crafted a much more compelling story out of it. And if I'm being perfectly honest here, with all due respect to Ridley Scott, I feel as though Villeneuve has a much stronger grasp on how to convey information visually than Scott ever did. In the original Blade Runner there are needlessly drawn out shots that some fans like to claim are layered with meaning, but often times convey all of their information within a few seconds and then linger on just for the sake of seeming artsy. In 2049, just about every single frame of the movie was deliberately timed and I was always picking up something from the visuals up until the last second before a cut. It helped the film mimick the tone and pacing of the original without ever feeling as boring as that film could at times.

What I'm basically trying to say, though, is that this is a great movie that deserves your support in theaters so that people like Villeneuve can have the opportunities to work on more ambitious films such as this one in the future.

[Avaitor]

Yeah, I've been hearing good things about 2049 from other people who aren't a big fan of the original. I do plan to get to it now that I have MoviePass, but my top priority is The Florida Project.

[Avaitor]

I've been playing catch-up on this year's releases, and in the past couple of weeks, I've seen-

The Big Sick- Worth it for Holly Hunter and Ray Romano alone. The core relationship material that drives the film is strong as well, but it goes from a solid romcom to a really good when they arrive. That said, it could have been one of the greats if Apatow and co weren't so damn afraid of leaving stuff in the cutting room, since a lot of the standup parts is superfluous.

The Florida Project- This one gets brownie points alone for basically being shot in my backyard. Its limited release here was a big hit for that reason, on top of being a damn fine film. The child actors work well, and there's strong material with Moonee's mother's struggles to keep them sheltered, but Willem Dafoe is the one getting praise for a reason- even besides being the only name, he's given a lot of great stuff to work with, and gives his character a full arc. The ending is definitely going to divide people, and while I was initially turned off, I'm in favor of it now. I don't think it's meant to be taken at face value.

Baby Driver- I finally got to this while on a plane ride during part of my vacation, and I loved it. The acting's strong all around, even though Lily James' character barely gets anything to do, and it's a damn fun action film. I wasn't as into the music as much here surprisingly, but everything else more or less worked for me.

Wonder Woman- Also caught this on a plane, and tbh, I thought it was a little overhyped. My main problems were that I didn't feel the opening material, as I found Hippolyta's refusal to allow Diana to train cliched, and like many, thought the final fight was underwhelming and unnecessary. But credit where credit is due, as I did like the majority of everything in between, primarily Gadot and Pine's chemistry and performances in general. It's a pretty good movie, easily DC's best since TDK, but I don't think it's the end-all, be-all of super hero movies. Logan's definitely still my favorite, but I think that I'd even rank Homecoming above it, as well.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri- Damn terrific. All the characters, and almost all the jokes land, without undercutting the more serious moments of the film. I could have done without some of the crassness of the dialogue, but I mean, it fits for the location and characters. Easily among my favorites of the year.

Now I need to get to Ragnarok and 2049.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Wonder Woman is a decent flick, but its reputation and perceived quality happens to be bolstered by a phenomenon that I like to refer to as "lowered expectations." It's a competently made DC film, which automatically makes it leagues better than the last several to be released, making more viewers blind to its flaws.

One thing I will say is that both Wonder Woman and Spider-Man: Homecoming stand out to me in how much value both films put on human life. In Wonder Woman you can clearly see that Diana really wants to help people first and foremost rather than fight bad guys just for the sake of it. And in SMH it says a lot that many of the action scenes have less actual content of peter performing cool attacks on villains and more emphasis on him saving lives, including those of the very same villains who he fights. It really didn't strike me until I saw those movies just how unsympathetic the action in a lot of superhero movies could feel until these interpretations of these characters reminded me of what superheroes are supposed to be all about in the first place. With a movie like Logan it makes sense that the main hero is a morally ambiguous guy since that's part of the movie's theme in the first place, but in a movie like Thor Ragnarok, as extremely fun and enjoyable as it was, it does strike me as unintentionally cold of Thor to so casually brush off all of the death and destruction that he witnesses throughout the film, including those of many of his own people.

It would be nice to see more films in the genre follow suit with the examples set by WW and SMH in terms of having their heroes actually have more real superhero moments as opposed to just cool action scenes.

When I really think about it, My Hero Academia works so damn well for that very reason, among others.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Cinefix just did a list of the top five movie sequels: https://youtu.be/EP9rG6XMtQM

It's a really good list and as someone who's seen all five of these movies I feel that they are all well justified being on here. Speaking of which, their last pick in the video is in itself a major spoiler so just be weary of that before watching it.

As for people bitching in the comments section about their favorites not being on the list, people really need to understand that Cinefix doesn't do traditional or conventional lists. They aren't ranking things so much as picking their favorite representative pieces in different categories. The fact that Logan is on the list while The Dark Knight is absent isn't a snub against Nolan like so many idiots seem to believe. If you actually pay attention to the video, they don't mention TDK in Logan's category. It's mentioned in the same category as The Godfather Part II, and in that regard they are saying that while it's worthy of an honorable mention, it's not necessarily the best in its category. Logan belongs to a completely different category and thus is not being directly compared to TDK.

Also, having re-watched their number five pick myself, it totally belongs there. It's by no means a perfect film, but it is legitimately great despite its flaws and I'm saying this as someone who is by no means a particular fan or apologist of the director behind it in question. It's not just the surprise factor or hype train effect. It genuinely holds up upon further viewing, arguably even better than the first time.

[Foggle]

I didn't like Split much myself, but I'm not really sure what else could even go in that category anyway, so I'm not sure what there is to complain about with it.

[gunswordfist]

I'll watch later to see if Drunken Master 2 is in there.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Honestly, I'm just surprised that I haven't seen anyone really complaining about The Empire Strikes Back losing out its place to The Two Towers. I mean, I'm personally fine with it since I'm more of a TLOTR guy than a Star Wars guy, myself, but you'd figure if anyone was going to complain about something being excluded, it would be that.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I didn't like Split much myself, but I'm not really sure what else could even go in that category anyway, so I'm not sure what there is to complain about with it.

They gave a few examples in the video, like Rogue One among others, but I suppose one could argue that it also fit in other categories as well. Halloween III would also fit the criteria so a side-quel, and I could think of at least a few other examples that they didn't mention, myself, but most of them are terrible so there isn't much strong competition in that department.

When I stop to think about it, 21 Jump Street would also fit that criteria but couldn't count for a list like this since it's a sequel to a TV series as opposed to an actual film.

As for Split, though, I still stand by the opinion that it's one of the better thrillers that I've seen in a while. And before anyone says anything, Get Out is not a sequel, so there's no point bringing that up.

[monstursa1997]

Leon, or known in America as The Professional.

It is a wonderful film.