[Macros]

Fast and Furious 7

A nice moment at the end as a send off for Paul.

Outside of that, man these movies are so dumb and ridiculous it's just amazing, we spent most of the time commentating on it and pissing ourselves laughing.

I assume 8, somehow, tops to ridic quotient

[QuickTidal]

Macros, on 30 January 2022 - 08:39 AM, said:

Fast and Furious 7

A nice moment at the end as a send off for Paul.

Outside of that, man these movies are so dumb and ridiculous it's just amazing, we spent most of the time commentating on it and pissing ourselves laughing.

I assume 8, somehow, tops to ridic quotient

The 9th one goes to space…seriously. Lol!

[worry]

The Last Duel -- thought this was pretty good! A welcome twist on the Rashomon formula, very strong performances, has an interesting pace & structure well-suited for a 2.5 hour movie, and is a bit more action-packed than you might expect. Ridley Scott's old-man whining about the box office aside, very much worth a watch imo.

[QuickTidal]

worry, on 07 February 2022 - 06:24 PM, said:

The Last Duel -- thought this was pretty good! A welcome twist on the Rashomon formula, very strong performances, has an interesting pace & structure well-suited for a 2.5 hour movie, and is a bit more action-packed than you might expect. Ridley Scott's old-man whining about the box office aside, very much worth a watch imo.

I really enjoyed how the filming angles and techniques changed for each "version" of the truth. Like when it's Driver's characters version of the scene in question it's shot wide angle and almost tries to come off as "playful" even though she was still saying no....but when you get to her version of the scene it's all tight close ups and it's shot like a horror movie. That attention to detail was not lost on me.

Don't get me wrong I NEVER want to watch it again, it was deeply uncomfortable viewing, but it's a solidly great film.

worry, on 07 February 2022 - 06:24 PM, said:

Ridley Scott's old-man whining about the box office aside

To be fair to Ridley, he's not wrong. This film has more technical and story promise than even the BEST MCU films can manage...and yet it flounders at the box office. Same is true of BR 2049...one of the BEST films of the last decade, and somehow did poorly. I'm sure Villeneuve was thinking the same thing as Ridley.

This is not a new take either. Recall when some idiot move critic on twitter watched MASTER & COMMANDER early on in the pandemic and claimed it was a good way to fall asleep, and Russel Crowe had a reasonable twitter go at him for it....because quite frankly how ANYONE could watch the opening of that film (a film that is one of the best films of the 2000s if not all time, Peter Weir don't miss) and fall the fuck asleep when the it's (one of the finest) an insane action sequences put to film and actively won awards for sound design...must have narcolepsy problems nothing to do with a movie.

[worry]

It floundered at the box office because it was a FOX movie Disney deliberately let die, aimed squarely at the audience most likely to shun theaters during that era of the pandemic. Also, Ridley Scott whines about young people addicted to cell phones avoiding his 2.5 hour traumatic period drama (loser energy), while Russell Crowe throws his cell phone at nerds the way Gambit throws playing cards (hero energy).
That said, again, very good movie.

[amphibian]

I think I have a bit of a different perspective than you two - I don't think the movie truly worked until Jodie Comer was finally on-screen to do the awesome stuff she does. I think that's a purposeful tactic with the recursive narration and the examination of medieval customs, misogyny, property, church, corruption, autonomy, and so on. But it means the movie kinda doesn't work well for 2/3rds of itself.

It's gorgeously shot, the locations are stunning, the costumes awesome, and the acting superb - even Affleck does great. But they sidelined their superstar for much of the movie...

[worry]

I can see how YMMV there, but I do think Comer's work in the first two segments is still stellar (as is everyone's imo), and I think the third segment (which is indeed the best) benefits from the foundation of the first two. Things like the "property crime" element, the risk of the formal accusation, and Jean's mother's scenes work even better with this stripping of layers. I was tuned into the entire movie though, so none of that is to say I only appreciated the first 2/3 in retrospect -- so I do agree it's a genuine difference of opinions. I will also add this: I watched this on Sunday, but on Saturday I watched We Need To Talk About Cosby, so I was more than primed to see these first two stories laid out on the table in all their glory, before the third act comes in and vivisects them.

[amphibian]

I can't watch documentaries like the Cosby ones or most of the dead/hurt people ones. It just takes the wind out of me in a way that's hard to bounce back from. I like that people keep making documentaries and movies that care about exposing institutions and practices that lead to these awful situations and I support that fully - but I can't watch many of them. I'm glad you watched it too.

I think we're in the middle of a probably 25 year span where it's going to be mega hard for movies like The Last Duel to be made. There's just so much money pouring into superhero movies and prestige TV series (I'm looking square at GoT, Wheel of Time, LotR, HBO shows, and Witcher) that a 2 hour work of art that can't really scale up just isn't going to bring in the business to consistently get finance people/entities to agree to keep making them.

I have no idea how the Avatar movies are going to be received and I'm mega curious about that.

[worry]

Re: that first paragraph, that's definitely understandable regarding the docs. I did watch the Michael Jackson one, but avoided the R. Kelly and Woody Allen ones for similar reasons. The advocacy is necessary, but you don't personally need to engage constantly with this darkness. Not to conflate them, but they've risen in parallel with true crime content in general and the post-Serial/Making A Murderer type stuff in particular, and it definitely feels like too much at once.

If anyone's wondering, I would say the Cosby doc is somewhere between these advocacy-minded docs and O.J.: Made In America, in that on top of giving survivors a voice and aggregating the damning facts, it also dives pretty deep into the social and historical contexts through which Cosby rose, and the monumental impact he had on the country and culture (good bad and ugly). Plus it's hard to quantify how big a figure he was to me personally, above any of these other figures, so there's an element of personally facing it and disengagement from a hero figure.

Aaaaaanyway, I am also curious about Avatar. I neither loved nor hated the first one, and it's become kind of a punchline for a lot of snarky people, but my general sense is that people mostly did like it well enough and it has more staying power or at least good will than film folks think? I dunno. I think Avatar 2 has a shot at being another phenomenon, whether its reception winds up sinking the following sequels or not.

This post has been edited by worry: 08 February 2022 - 04:40 AM

[Aptorian]

I'm watching the suicide squad (2021).

This is a weird film. I'm not sure I actually like it. It's very... Offbeat. Funny in a strange sort of way. Not a traditional action film. Just a collection of really weird characters, doing bizarre things.

[QuickTidal]

Aptorian, on 09 February 2022 - 07:50 PM, said:

I'm watching the suicide squad (2021).

This is a weird film. I'm not sure I actually like it. It's very... Offbeat. Funny in a strange sort of way. Not a traditional action film. Just a collection of really weird characters, doing bizarre things.

That's a solid description of it. It often feels like it's not really accomplishing anything?

The best comparison I have against BOTH SS movies is the Animated DC SUICIDE SQUAD: HELL TO PAY movie. It basically succeeds where both the other movies kind of fail, which is making the whole "assemble a team of weirdo villains into a team you can use to GET SHIT DONE." type story work...Ayer's SS tries this but it's got a lot wrong with it (some of which is clearly studio shit), and Gunn's movie is fun and crazy but never really tries to be more than that (nor do I think Gunn was interested in that aspect).

[Aptorian]

Finished Suicide Squad. Really strange action movie, not great, not bad. I did love The Big Bad though. That was about as original as anything I've seen in a super hero movie.

Started up Matrix Ressurections. I'm not really feeling it.

This manuscript is my least favorite Sci-fi concept, or take on it - the protagonist thinks he's insane/is in a mental institution/believes it was all a dream. It's the most creatively bankrupt bullshit that should be reserved for trashy TV shows that have run out of ideas.

This movie is a load of post modern masturbation, cast with off brand actors, pretending to be the real thing.

[amphibian]

I think you are missing the satirical aspects of Matrix Resurrection.

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 10 February 2022 - 07:03 PM, said:

I think you are missing the satirical aspects of Matrix Resurrection.

Agreed. I found the first half of the movie to be really cleverly satirical, and the second half was cream of story I wanted from a Matrix sequel.

[Tsundoku]

Matrix: Resurrection.

Not bad at all, good fun. Nice use of the old footage and callbacks to the "what is real" thing.
Hopefully this IS the final one though, as they really, really can't take it any further. I liked how they used the earlier sequels and developed the story from there, yet still brought it all full circle again.
A few quibbles, but nothing that really shat me.

Eight Barney Stinsons out of ten.

[Aptorian]

Watched this Red Letter Media video about all the bullshit videos that Bruce Willis has been making the last many years:

(Skip to around 9:30 if you don't want to sit through the long running Mr. Plinkett/VCR-repair story)



I was aware that he'd been doing a lot of straight to DVD B-movies the past couple decades but I wasn't aware it had gotten this bad. He's turned into a card board cut out you put in movies and try to sell based on his name and likeness alone. He's not even acting any longer. He's wearing an in ear microphone and just repeating lines fed to him!

This guy was my favorite actor in the 90s! How fucking desperate can he be? Does he have a gambling problem? Why not just retire?

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 13 February 2022 - 09:09 AM

[Tiste Simeon]

Yeah you'd think he'd have enough money to buy have to do this...

[Tsundoku]

Ivan Reitman is gone.

https://www.news.com...9c5adda222b3aed

[Malankazooie]

What'd you guys make of that Nope deal from Jordan Peele? I dunno man, seems like he might be drifting into MNS territory. I really enjoyed Get Out and Us, but Nope? Weird name too. I might be saying nawp to Nope.

[Aptorian]

For some reason youtube decided to start feeding med clips from movies about the financial crisis of 2008.

And that apparently worked because I just watched The Big Short. That's a fucked up story but also highly entertaining, considering the utterly dull subject matter. I love Steve Carell's character. A guy working in finance who hates finance bullshit. Highly watchable. Great performance by Christian Bale as well.

I'm currently watching Margin Call. Already watched half the film through clips on youtube. This movie is tight. It's one of those films that are packed with great actors and scenes. Snappy dialogue, heavy silences and tense moments.

Hell of cast: Stanley Tucci, Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Demi More, Simon Baker and more.