[paran falcon]

Briar King, on 07 January 2017 - 11:22 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 07 January 2017 - 11:16 PM, said:

Watched the Assassin's Creed movie. I liked it a lot, and my wife, who knows nothing of the continuing story (IE Templars vs Assassins, the Apple of Eden, the Animus etc) liked it too. Quite a slow messy start and the script is not great but overall an enjoyable addition to the franchise. Doubt it will be on any film of the year lists but it is a solid action/adventure film with some stunning cinematography.

I didn't think Fassbender would sign on to a flop at this stage of his career. Good to hear.

I went to Assassin's Creed on New Years Day with my 14 year old son (who has all the games) and his best friend. I asked what they thought walking out and all three of us said "Meh" at the same time. Fassbender was pretty good, the stunts and effects were great and as TS said, the cinematography also. I'm not sure what it was missing, exactly, but it seemed like it could have been much better.

[Tiste Simeon]

I see what you mean. I liked it but I feel like with the source material there could have been... More...

[EmperorMagus]

paran falcon, on 08 January 2017 - 02:13 PM, said:

I went to Assassin's Creed on New Years Day with my 14 year old son (who has all the games) and his best friend. I asked what they thought walking out and all three of us said "Meh" at the same time. Fassbender was pretty good, the stunts and effects were great and as TS said, the cinematography also. I'm not sure what it was missing, exactly, but it seemed like it could have been much better.

I've seen it described as "overplotted"

The movie didn't need so much crap conversation.

[paran falcon]

Tiste Simeon, on 08 January 2017 - 04:04 PM, said:

I see what you mean. I liked it but I feel like with the source material there could have been... More...

Precisely

[Mezla PigDog]

I just saw A Monster Calls. It's good but it really gets you. I had a total breakdown in the cinema. If you require an emotional purge it's a good choice. I went with quite a new friend and before it started I warned her that I'm a serious crier at sad films. You know when you're trying not to let the person next to you know that you're really crying but it's really fucking obvious? Yeah that.

[Imperial Historian]

Yeah monster calls is definitely not a film you want to go to with someone you are not comfortable crying in front of!

[worry]

It looks truly great though.

I saw a couple more things: The Gift (the recent Rebecca Hall/Jason Bateman/Joel Edgerton one) and it was a pretty mean piece of business. Definitely swerves away from traditional thriller territory a couple times in very satisfying ways. Which isn't to say every twist is satisfying, cuz there are a few false notes. But I liked the spirit of it, even when certain ideas didn't work.

Swiss Army Man. This one has a love-it-or-hate-it reputation for pretty obvious reasons, but I had a very mixed reaction. Radcliffe does a really good job in a pretty interesting role. Paul Dano does a good job in a very annoying role. A lot of the dialogue is pretty rough, especially from Dano, but there are some interesting musical experiments and a couple scenes of really moving transcendental beauty. It's also one of those movies that begs for interpretation, and I'm not sure there was enough meat there to really do it, but I'll be thinking about it for a while so that's something.

[amphibian]

I saw Sicario. It's powerful, despite being a bit nonsense. Villeneuve is an extremely good filmmaker and his editor or editors have been superb in maintaining tension throughout his often quiet moments.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing his other movies (and the Blade Runner sequel).

Also, Emily Blunt is a William Gibson protagonist made flesh - superb actor, great sense of movement, and likable even when doing not great things as her character.

[worry]

I cannot wait till I stop mixing up Emily Blunt and Emily Mortimer.

[Silencer]

Yeah, I liked Sicario. It was definitely not what I was expecting going in (no expectations except a very brief plot synopsis from the friend who suggested we see it), but it was a good film all the same. Powerful is a great word for it, honestly!

[Aptorian]

Sicario made me wonder why the West is so focused on the Middle East when Mexico is apparently a post-apocalyptic wasteland drowning in gang warfare? I mean, no wonder Trump wants to build that wall.

[Aptorian]

I'm not sure I would call Valhalla Rising super good. But it is very interesting. It's not a traditional story and it's not told traditionally. It is however beautiful and super violent and the ending is something else.

[worry]

I'll say Valhalla Rising is super good, while also acknowledging Apt's description is pretty accurate. And of course QT hated it. It's a different strokes thing, because VR is definitely an "art film", if that term's not too obsolete. That said, there's maybe a misapprehension about what Netflix's stars tell you. These aren't the absolute average scores the movie has received, they are the Netflix algorithm's best guess as to how much YOU will like the movie. It's kinda/sorta based on all YOUR previous ratings compared with people who are as close to your tastes as possible who've seen and rated VR. So it's like the "average" of a very specific subset of people.

[polishgenius]

If you liked The Revenant but thought it could stand to be a little less conventional and predictable, Valhalla Rising might be the film for you.

[amphibian]

Cheesewiz, on 11 January 2017 - 08:43 PM, said:

So I'm looking on Netflix at Valhalla Rising and it's only 1 1/2 stars??? I thought people here said this movie was super duper good so wtf? I'm not clicking play till I get to the bottom of this.

You will hate it because of the many (MANY) stretches of time without talking and a general lack of "easy things to glom onto". That's not a bad thing regarding this movie, which I liked quite a bit. It is just that you, BK, are not likely to be a big fan of this particular movie.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 11 January 2017 - 09:47 PM

[QuickTidal]

Cheesewiz, on 11 January 2017 - 08:43 PM, said:

So I'm looking on Netflix at Valhalla Rising and it's only 1 1/2 stars??? I thought people here said this movie was super duper good so wtf? I'm not clicking play till I get to the bottom of this.

I LOATHED this movie. It's one of the worst films I've ever sat through.

Amph, that's decidedly condescending man.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 11 January 2017 - 11:21 PM

[Morgoth]

I really liked Valhalla Rising, but I perfectly understand why many people would have the exact opposite reaction to the movie.

[amphibian]

QuickTidal, on 11 January 2017 - 11:19 PM, said:

I LOATHED this movie. It's one of the worst films I've ever sat through.

Amph, that's decidedly condescending man.

He's in a different situation than most of us. Paying attention to quiet things for long periods of time is tougher for him than for us. If he gets through, that's a really big achievement. It's not bad, it's just what he is dealing with.

Good luck in watching it, BK.

[Mezla PigDog]

I watched The Imitation Game yesterday and found it profoundly annoying. It was a watchable film but the code breaking methodology (running out of time at midnight and Turings eureka moment that they only needed a few fixed words) and then making out that it was Turings idea to not act on the messages once they could decipher them was preposterous. It ruined the film for me which is odd as I can overlook a lot in purely fictional films but once you cross into real life events I can't cope with a dumbing down. So there you go.

[worry]

Let's all try to guess the twist to the new awful-looking Shyamalan movie.

Spoiler

My guess is that the "three" girl victims are actually one woman who also has split personalities. Bonus points if all three of them are just more personalities of the McAvoy character.