[paran falcon]

Saw Logan last night. My daughter had seen it in the theater and had rated it 10! out of 10 and reaction here was good so I was expecting it to be so. But WOW. Just fantastic! Its decidedly different than the typical superhero narrative, I think, which is refreshing but also seems right with this particular character (Jackman's Wolverine). Dafne Keen is just mesmerizing. My jaw was on the floor the first time she exploded into action! She pulled off every move (and maybe a few more!) that Wolverine has in any of the movies I've seen, which is all but Apocalypse, and was equally brutal about it. What really impressed me about her, though, was that I found her just as captivating when she wasn't in action. And she uttered not a sound but primal screams until, what, 3/4 of the way through the movie? Her facial expression and body language delivered everything. I didn't even realize how long it had been since her first action until she exploded again much later in the film, when she blew me away again.

I would watch another movie with her as a Wolverine without a doubt!

This post has been edited by paran falcon: 24 June 2017 - 12:55 PM

[Silencer]

You know, as much as Quantum of Solace gets a (perhaps deserved) reputation as one of the worst Craig-era Bond films, having just rewatched it for the first time in a decent while I am going to have to give it credit for one thing very few movies do well - Camille, the probably ex-Bolivian secret service woman, upon finding herself in a desert, immediately removes her high heels (having been fleeing a party prior to arriving in the desert), and later on is very clearly shown to be wearing much more sensible footwear leading up to the climax where she is anticipating to be running and fighting.

I know, it's the little things in life, etc. but so many movies insist on people (mostly women) wearing stupid and impractical shoes, often heels, in completely inappropriate circumstances - often ones where, regardless of one's skills or whatever, the footwear itself is liable to fail under the stress at the very least, never mind the unnecessary extra effort required to fight/sprint/jump around just by poor choice of shoes. It's refreshing and overall removes one of the biggest little things that is liable to distract from my suspension of disbelief. Plus, I feel much better for the actors in question knowing they didn't have to wear those things while filming. XD

[worry]

I watched Okja, the super pig movie by Joon-ho Bong on Netflix, and guess what: it's wacky! It's like if you made an R-rated Pete's Dragon. The super pig is really cool, and acts somewhere between Pete's Dragon and Totoro. But this ain't a kid's movie, as there's lots of cussing, some gruesome animals-in-labs scenes, and even some of the normal human violence is brutal (while some is slapstick). It's also in large part a satire of Monsanto-style megacorporations, and how we treat animals (particularly livestock) in general, and there's some cartoony elements that are hit (Tilda Swinton) or miss (Jake Gyllenhaal). Anyway, I liked it. The lead, a young lady named Seo-Hyun Ahn, is fantastic and the plot has cool twists and turns.

[Aptorian]

Just watched Zootropolis. This was a really cute Disney film. The buddy cop relationship between the rabbit and the fox was hilarious. I hope they make a sequel to this because this was a damn good film and a really fun story setting. Hell, I'd settle for a Osmosis Jones like TV-show if they could keep the quality relatively high.

[Coco with marshmallows]

Saw Baby Driver last night.

pretty entertaining all told, great eclectic soundtrack.

[Silencer]

Seduce Goose, on 02 July 2017 - 06:43 PM, said:

Just watched Zootropolis. This was a really cute Disney film. The buddy cop relationship between the rabbit and the fox was hilarious. I hope they make a sequel to this because this was a damn good film and a really fun story setting. Hell, I'd settle for a Osmosis Jones like TV-show if they could keep the quality relatively high.

I'm still amused that it is called Zootropolis in some places, and Zootopia in others. Frankly, I think Zootropolis loses some effect seeing as -tropolis just implies a big city/metropolis, whereas -topia obviously alludes to the utopia/dystopia dynamic that is present in the film. Weird.

[Aptorian]

Didn't even think of the name difference. I think the Zootropolis name fits because the film is very much about the city, where as I would think of the country as Zootopia. I don't know why they changes the name though, makes just as much sense as Zootopia in Danish.

I also watched Wreck-It-Ralph after Zootopiapropolis. It pales in comparison to Zootopia but it was a fun film. I got a bit bored in the middle but I think it did a good job of tying things together at the end. That Sugar Crush princess "Glitch" was absolutely adorable.

As a video game film I think it was a bit weak. It shows a lot of video game characters and worlds, but I feel like it never really incorporates the nature of the games presented into the actual story. Sure, the games serve as backgrounds, but I feel like the mechanics of video games is missing in the film somehow.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Coco with marshmallows, on 02 July 2017 - 08:34 PM, said:

Saw Baby Driver last night.

pretty entertaining all told, great eclectic soundtrack.

I watched it last night too — near perfection. The soundtrack was stellar, action scenes awesome (the choreographing of the movements with the music was dope), and the camerawork was actually sublime (I don't think the camera stopped moving once).

This was a really fun movie. Wright outdid himself.

This post has been edited by Whisperzzzzzzz: 03 July 2017 - 10:49 AM

[Aptorian]

What is baby driver actually about? I've seen the trailer but it looked like a mess. Like a mix of the Pacifier and Driver.

[polishgenius]

Zootopia is a weird one because at first glance it's a really positive and fun film but if you think about it a little its metaphors for race relations become really problematic plus it openly condones police corruption.

[Aptorian]

This sounds dangerous but you have to explain to me what the problematic aspects are of the race metaphors are in the film. Also what police corruption?

Are you referring to the fact that only 10% of the population are predators?

[Slow Ben]

Oh, you asked for it.

[QuickTidal]

Slow Ben, on 03 July 2017 - 03:04 PM, said:

Oh, you asked for it.

^^I was gonna say this.

I'm going to stay out of it.

[polishgenius]

Seduce Goose, on 03 July 2017 - 02:18 PM, said:

This sounds dangerous but you have to explain to me what the problematic aspects are of the race metaphors are in the film. Also what police corruption?

Are you referring to the fact that only 10% of the population are predators?

Well, it's the fact that it's using the herbivores prejudices against the predators as an analogy for real-life racism, and teaching kids that we can all live together etc. Fine, except in the context of the movie the herbivores' prejudices are totally justified and based on obvious genetically wired differences between them and the carnivores. If a kid takes the point of the movie too literally he's essentially learned that the minorities the predators are standing in for are actually different and more naturally inclined to violence but it's okay coz they can learn to live like civilised beings.

The police corruption is more of a couple of throwaway joke, but basically a plot point is solved when

Spoiler

she gets the possum to threaten the weasel. And then she literally becomes The Godmother.

[amphibian]

The "prejudices are based on genetic stuff" is absolutely true. The movie clearly wants to talk about prejudice and it both plays with stereotypes and tries hard to acknowledge the thorniness and pain that they bring. It ends up being an Animalized Crash, which sucks and is kinda dangerous. As funny as the sloth part is, consider that damn near every animal is shown as conforming to some stereotype, that all the predators who aren't cops are bad, even if they're not eating other animals.

One of the dangerous parts is that a racist could go into this movie and come out thinking that their beliefs are affirmed because the movie's metaphors and "conclusions" are so inept in the end that they're able to be stretched that far.

A rabbit absolutely does have something to fear from a fox. This is baked into real world things and the fictional universe that Zootopia is within too. So getting the "bad people" out is so hazy within the movie that it ends up being a mishmash of "cops are good" and "reverse racism is bad too".

It's just a bad movie upon contemplation. A kid might love this, but adults should be like "Walt Disney, with his anti Semitic and anti-brown people ideas, probably would have thought this was terrific, so I should be careful in using or showing this instead of just popping it on and letting it soak into my kids".

[Aptorian]

polishgenius, on 03 July 2017 - 03:47 PM, said:

Seduce Goose, on 03 July 2017 - 02:18 PM, said:

This sounds dangerous but you have to explain to me what the problematic aspects are of the race metaphors are in the film. Also what police corruption?

Are you referring to the fact that only 10% of the population are predators?

Well, it's the fact that it's using the herbivores prejudices against the predators as an analogy for real-life racism, and teaching kids that we can all live together etc. Fine, except in the context of the movie the herbivores' prejudices are totally justified and based on obvious genetically wired differences between them and the carnivores. If a kid takes the point of the movie too literally he's essentially learned that the minorities the predators are standing in for are actually different and more naturally inclined to violence but it's okay coz they can learn to live like civilised beings.

The police corruption is more of a couple of throwaway joke, but basically a plot point is solved when

Spoiler

she gets the possum to threaten the weasel. And then she literally becomes The Godmother.

I would argue that is the most cynical position your could take on this issue. Look at the way the society is structured. Most of the strong characters in the show are predators or predator like. A lion is the mayor. Bears, tigers, leopards, etc. are police officers or enforcers. You also see some Rhino's, Elephants and a Water Bison in these roles, but I'd argue that these animals are themselves a kind of predators in this society. And they themselves blur that distinction between what might makes animals dangerous.

Having those characters in leadership positions at the start of the film, to me signalled that the predators are "better" than the herbivores. A notion that bunny cop fights to dispel.

Furthermore the very core of the story and the message for the kids, is that Predators are not evil.

Spoiler

The feral predators were made so by a drug. A scheme thought up by a bunch of evil Sheep. The fact that it is the Mayor sheep and her cronies that were behind that scheme further proves that all animals, all people, are capable of evil.

As for the corruption thing:

Spoiler

At the time Bunny cop had turned in her badge. She was strictly speaking a citizen. Also that weasel was an asshole

This post has been edited by Seduce Goose: 03 July 2017 - 04:32 PM

[Aptorian]

amphibian, on 03 July 2017 - 04:25 PM, said:

The "prejudices are based on genetic stuff" is absolutely true. The movie clearly wants to talk about prejudice and it both plays with stereotypes and tries hard to acknowledge the thorniness and pain that they bring. It ends up being an Animalized Crash, which sucks and is kinda dangerous. As funny as the sloth part is, consider that damn near every animal is shown as conforming to some stereotype, that all the predators who aren't cops are bad, even if they're not eating other animals.

One of the dangerous parts is that a racist could go into this movie and come out thinking that their beliefs are affirmed because the movie's metaphors and "conclusions" are so inept in the end that they're able to be stretched that far.

A rabbit absolutely does have something to fear from a fox. This is baked into real world things and the fictional universe that Zootopia is within too. So getting the "bad people" out is so hazy within the movie that it ends up being a mishmash of "cops are good" and "reverse racism is bad too".

It's just a bad movie upon contemplation. A kid might love this, but adults should be like "Walt Disney, with his anti Semitic and anti-brown people ideas, probably would have thought this was terrific, so I should be careful in using or showing this instead of just popping it on and letting it soak into my kids".

I think you're injecting a ton of societal politics into this film that aren't really merited.

First and foremost, it's a cartoon. It's made for kids and it's meant to be funny. The animals nature is played up not just to give the viewer something they recognize but also to surprise them when the character's break your expectations. Fat Cheetah Receptionist is the happiest, most chatty character in the story. Sly fox is a dejected rogue who was tricked and stereotyped by other kids when he was young, the most powerful and scary character is Hamster Corleone and of course Bunny Cop is determined to break all the barriers in society. The show explains how the characters can be more than they're born to be and that we are all a product of the society we grow up in.

I think your last point about Walt Disney is a massive disservice to the hundreds or thousands of people who worked to make Zootopia. Zootopia is a fun, happy, bright and lovable film. You're trying to subvert the films messages, by injecting fear and prejudice into a world that rejects these notions. Because it's a fucking children's movie. Not a Spike Jones joint.

From an outside perspective, as a white middle class male, I find it sad that you can't make a film that plays with race and stereotype in a fun way, without immediatly jumping to the most cynical and worrying conclusions possible. Sure, a racist might walk in and get the wrong message, but who gives a shit about him or her? There's a million other people who will watch a film that shows that there is hope for a better future and that people can grow or change with positive encouragment.

This post has been edited by Seduce Goose: 03 July 2017 - 05:00 PM

[amphibian]

Apt, confirmed Crash fan.

[amphibian]

Zootopia might be a children's movie in form, but when the creators intentionally take on issues like segregation, racial inequalities, and even briefly talk about things like nappy hair politics, they open the work up to critique of those things.

But I'm just me, so you won't take me all that seriously. There's people like Tressie McMillan Cottom who have sociology phDs, are black, deal specifically with racial issues in the US, and say the movie is bad.

[amphibian]

Blazing Saddles dealt with racial issues with more intelligence, compassion, and critique and that was 40+ years ago in a satirical comedy.