What Movie Did You Just Watch

[Avaitor]

I think it show how much of a die0hard fan that I am when I refuse to see World War Z if they don't use "The Trooper" like they did in the book.

[No-Personality]

Started a Monthly Movie-Watching Challenge group: http://letterboxd.com/nopersonality/list/my-entry-for-cinebros-100-movies-in-30-days

Just yesterday, because I'm convinced I can down 100 movies in 24 days. 4 down since yesterday night. Not... too bad a start.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I just re-watched Aliens. Yep, this is still my 3rd favorite movie of all-time, and my favorite science-fiction movie ever. Yes, I know that its more of an action movie, and that Alien is technically a better film, but damn this movie is just way too damn entertaining to not be one of my absolute favorites. Sure, this movie does have a lot of 1-dimensional characters much like Avatar (sans Ripley), but unlike Avatar it has other elements like a great atmosphere and an interesting plot that doesn't feel like such a blatant rip-off of Dances with Wolves. It also has WAY more appealing special effects despite its age, and you actually at least care about whether most of the characters live or die.

[Avaitor]

Have you guys been keeping up with Criterion's daily Hulu picks? Every day, they've been putting some good stuff up to watch without a Plus account.

Definitely worth checking out if you have an hour or two to kill. Just go to Hulu's Criterion page, and see what they have up.

[talonmalon333]

Over the past few nights, I got around to rewatching Star Wars, and The Empire Strikes Back. I think what makes Star Wars so good, and one of the best movies ever made, is that it's such a joy to watch. I mean it has its sad moments, and obviously, it's an important part of film history. But really, it's not an extremely deep film in the slightest. It's just that, as a whole, it's an incredibly fun and well-meaning space adventure, with likable characters and special effects that are still impressive to this day.

As for Empire Strikes Back, I tend to feel like this one is a bit of a downer. It's definitely the most "mature" and the most emotional of the original trilogy. But all that drama is really what makes this movie so phenomenal. This is the one that deals the most with darkness, characters facing difficult choices, heroes being defeated, and the introduction of plot elements such as Luke's heritage. I'd also like to note that, of all the changes Lucas made to these movies (you've all heard them, and most of them suck), this film got the only change I like. That's the replacement of Elaine Baker with Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor. You can see the update in this video. The 2nd and 3rd updates shown in this video are the ones I like, the third in particular. Of course, Lucas had to change it again though; in the 4th version, he added this really unnecessary dialogue that actually somewhat clashes with the story a bit.

Still, incredible movies. As you can see, I'm in a bit of a Star Wars mood lately, and will get around to rewatching Return of the Jedi in a few days.

EDIT: Do we have any Star Wars Talkback threads?

[Avaitor]

I think Dalek did one for A New Hope, but never got around to the sequels.

[Commode]

I watched all six movies a month or so back, pretty much for the sole reason that I hadn't seen any of them in full since about 2009.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I dunno, I've never really enjoyed the Star Wars movies all that much aside from admiring how they used special effects and the directing and such. Mainly I think the problem is I can't get into the characters except for Han Solo.. Everyone else I find to be pretty dull, especially Luke and Leia, and none of the villains aside from Vader can I take seriously, and even Vader is kinda dull outside of a few moments. I don't think the original trilogy are bad movies in the slightest, but I've just never really gotten into them, not even as a kid, but I guess I'm an anomaly that way.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, the first movie is kind of straightforward and doesn't offer up much in the way of true characterization (everyone except for Han Solo is basically just an archetype). However The Empire Strikes back is FULL of character. Its in fact a character-driven film more than a story-driven one. Every choice that these characters make bring consequences, and each of them has strong development in some way. Its easily the pinnacle of the entire Star Wars franchise, IMO.

As for Return of the Jedi, you could say that it was a step down again, but I still feel that it had its good moments.

[LumRanmaYasha]

That's true about Empire, but the film still didn't make me care about Luke or Leia. Although, I guess a lot of the problem lies in the fairly wooden (to me at least) acting of their characters that prevents me from really getting invested in them. But like I said, plot-wise, I've never thought the original trilogy were bad films (okay, I did find Return of the Jedi's second Death Star plot and the Ewoks kinda stupid, but they weren't that bad), only that I personally have never been able to get into them very much.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I can understand that. Its sort of like how I find most of the FMA characters (in either version) to be really flat and uninteresting. I think the story is fine and the series is overall well-written, but it just doesn't click with me very much. I'm guessing you feel the same way about the Star Wars films, which makes sense, but I suppose different characters can mean different things to different people. As for me, there was a lot going on with Luke in Empire and he never came off as bland to me mostly thanks to the internal struggle he had to go through. I will say that he was kind of bland in A New Hope and Return of the Jedi, however, but I always felt that the supporting cast of the original trilogy was its strongest element.

[talonmalon333]

Episode IV wasn't particularly deep. But I think it was just incredible simply because it was a really fun space adventure movie.

And I really like Luke and Leia. Lucas was clearly quite good at making female characters. This can be seen in Star Wars and Indiana Jones

[GregX]

"Much Ado About Nothing" which is terrific.

[Avaitor]

My god, how have I not seen Jackie Brown before?

[talonmalon333]

So I finally got around to rewatching Return of the Jedi. I think one of the most remarkable things that a movie can do, which Return of the Jedi accomplishes in spades, is give a villain 15 minutes of screentime, and yet give him such a massive presence. Of course, in this case, I'm referring to the Emperor. I've always found him to be a pretty underrated character. He's really one of my favorites in the series. And I think, as a whole, the scenes involving Luke with Vader and the Emperor are the best parts of the entire trilogy, heck some of my favorite movie moments ever.