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Thread: What movie did you see today?

  1. #1651
    Ditto. They must have spend $5 out of the $250 million budget on the plot.
    Hope is the denial of reality

  2. #1652
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    Quote Originally Posted by Loki View Post
    Ditto. They must have spend $5 out of the $250 million budget on the plot.
    Yeah, that's kind of how I felt. Maybe Craig felt a need to wrap up the Bond story now that he's leaving as the lead. It all felt formulaic.
    Congratulations America

  3. #1653
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    Le tout nouveau Testament; a delightfully absurd movie that explains why things are the way they are and that doesn't end well for God.
    Congratulations America

  4. #1654
    Senior Member Flixy's Avatar
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    To keep in line with last night's wild west themed party this afternoon we watched The man who shot Liberty valance. My expectations for old westerns aren't that high, but I really enjoyed it
    Keep on keepin' the beat alive!

  5. #1655
    So, I waited and waited and resisted all temptation for weeks in order to be able to see tFA in sthlm on my visit back home, in glorious lasery IMAX 3D (the only time 3D feels like it's worth it), and then it turned out there wasn't a single ticket available that whole week and I had that scene spoiled to boot. So I finally saw it back here in this dump of a town and managed to pick the room with the worst audio.

    And I still had a blast

    I loved Rey and liked Finn. BB-8 was kickass. Dameron was cool but he seemed mostly to be there to inspire shippers. Snoke was suitably dark and scary. I fully expected to dislike Ren, and I did hate seeing his dumb face and hearing his dumb voice, but I found his young appearance and weakness of character to be more compelling than I expected. He was certainly a lot better than Hayden Christensen was in a similarly whiny and weak role in movies that shall not be mentioned I didn't like Maz, esp. her voice.

    Obv there were some things that I wish had been done differently, and I do feel that Abrams and the actors occasionally squandered some of the tension they'd built up with weird changes of scene and pacing as well as kinda dumb remarks. Nevertheless, the movie felt hella epic and I only noticed "flaws" because the rest of the movie was so enjoyable.

    By far the best thing about the movie apart from Rey and the fact that it's finally here was the soundtrack. Holy crap was it awesome.

    I haven't wanted to re-watch movies at the theatre in a very long time but I kinda wanna see this one again soon. But maybe not in this useless town.
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  6. #1656
    Quote Originally Posted by Aimless View Post
    I loved Rey and liked Finn. BB-8 was kickass. Dameron was cool but he seemed mostly to be there to inspire shippers. Snoke was suitably dark and scary. I fully expected to dislike Ren, and I did hate seeing his dumb face and hearing his dumb voice, but I found his young appearance and weakness of character to be more compelling than I expected. He was certainly a lot better than Hayden Christensen was in a similarly whiny and weak role in movies that shall not be mentioned I didn't like Maz, esp. her voice.
    Spoiler:

    Yes, Ren was the big disappointment for me. Started out with just the right amount of evil awesome - ominous metallic voice and mask to boot. Then you find out that the mask is just cos he's a Vader-wannabe, and when he removes the mask it turns out he's a whiny teenager.

    I preferred Kristensen.

    Still, Ren may still up his evil quota in the movies to come.

    Snoke was suitably dark tho - agreed.

    The big surprise for me however was General Hux. The Hitler-esque speech he makes before firing the planet-busting weapon was fucking great. My favourite character. I like the way he overrides Ren when speaking to Snoke too.





    So far as Abrams is concerned, by and large, yep, job well done. A lot of it I felt was copy-paste from Ep IV - esp in terms of desert planets, discovery of the force, and big round planet-busting weapons. But I guess he knows what worked the first time round so didn't vary too much in theme or setting.

    Rey and Fin, were okay. Rey a little bit wooden, but she'll do. Wasn't too convinced about Fin's American accent either, given that he's such a London-boy, but it didn't detract from his character.

    I preferred Dameron. He seemed fallible and human, and cool with it.

    Last edited by Timbuk2; 01-06-2016 at 10:34 AM.

  7. #1657
    Was anyone else a little put off by how young all the top ranking New Order characters were? Made them seem less like an evil power and more like Lord of the Flies with access to WMD.
    When the sky above us fell
    We descended into hell
    Into kingdom come

  8. #1658
    I think it stressed how this is still their parents' war. Most of the big wigs from the original trilogy would have been killed/jailed or whatnot. Star Wars was always supposed to be a family drama.
    Last edited by Ominous Gamer; 01-06-2016 at 02:50 PM.
    "In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."

  9. #1659
    Yeah, episode 6 took place ~30 years ago, and all the top Imperial officials are dead. Anyone replacing them would be in their 40s at the oldest.
    Hope is the denial of reality

  10. #1660
    Finally got around to seeing Episode VII. Thought it was decent, though pretty much all of the plot points were telegraphed way in advance. Maybe Abrams wasn't going for suspense, though - this seemed like more of a 'comfort food' movie than one that would challenge viewers with anything new or unexpected. I thought that Daisy Ridley actually did a pretty good job, especially when compared with the performances of previous leading actor Force adepts in the films. Adam Driver did not impress me as much, but that might not have been a problem with the acting so much as the character. The writing didn't suck, which was a relief.

    There were far too many 'just so' coincidences in the plot to explain away without resorting to some hand waving about 'the Force did it', but I guess that's fine. It was also a bit jerky at times, with some rather unnecessary interludes that distracted from the main story. There was the obvious mirror of a previous episode, which was fine by me given that this film is driven nearly entirely by nostalgia. I enjoyed the more realistic effects/stunts and the fact that Abrams didn't go too crazy with his aesthetic - it still felt like a Star Wars film in a way that the Abrams Star Trek films failed to match.
    "When I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: Why relativity? And why turbulence? I really believe he will have an answer for the first." - Werner Heisenberg (maybe)

  11. #1661
    I just got back from Force Awakens.

    Meh. At least it was better than the Phantom Menace, or Avatar, which was the other big sci-fi film that everyone gushed over that seemed pretty mediocre.

    Spoilery:

    Agree with wiggin, things were pretty telegraphed.

    I thought Ford gave a pretty good performance, but that just lead to unfavorable comparisons with his costars whenever he shared the screen with them. At least nobody was as bad as either of the prequel Anakins. Speaking of the prequels, there were no Jar-jar analogs here, so it's got that going for it.

    The plot was really nothing special. It was mostly just New Hope with better graphics and more contrivances. I thought the villains were good though. I liked Kylo Ren in spite of his ridiculous sword, though it did get harder to take him seriously any time he took the mask off. I can see why he wears it.

    Lastly, the writers have absolutely no sense of scale. In any meaning. I know I shouldn't expect hard sci-fi in a Star Wars film, but couldn't they at least try to be plausible?


    Summary: Not as bad as Phantom Menace. If you haven't already seen it, wait for it on Netflix.

  12. #1662
    his ridiculous sword
    Nothing wrong with crossguards, son. Arguably it's the original design, with offers no hand-protection whatsoever to the user, which is ridiculous.
    When the sky above us fell
    We descended into hell
    Into kingdom come

  13. #1663
    Quote Originally Posted by Steely Glint View Post
    Nothing wrong with crossguards, son. Arguably it's the original design, with offers no hand-protection whatsoever to the user, which is ridiculous.
    The point of crossguards is to prevent an enemy's blade from sliding into your hand. On his lightsaber, the devices which create the energy bit extend out past the point where an enemy's lightsaber would slide, thus making them completely useless. Previous entries in the series demonstrated that lightsabers cut straight through those parts as if they weren't there. Worse than useless perhaps, as now they're more dangerous to the user than to any opponent.

  14. #1664
    Senior Member Flixy's Avatar
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    Well, he uses it effectively by turning it into his enemy's shoulder right?
    Keep on keepin' the beat alive!

  15. #1665
    I don't believe the extensions coming out of the sides of the grip are what's generating the quillons, they're just covering them for hand protection.
    When the sky above us fell
    We descended into hell
    Into kingdom come

  16. #1666
    I doubt the creators even thought about it.

  17. #1667
    When the sky above us fell
    We descended into hell
    Into kingdom come

  18. #1668
    That just tells me I'm not the first person to think of the problem, which is unsurprising, and that somebody else was motivated enough to slap a bandaid on it.

    I'll take it though. It was hardly the most gaping problem with the science of the new movie anyways.

  19. #1669
    No kidding. Between this and the star trek reboot I'm convinced that JJ doesn't know what 'space' is.
    When the sky above us fell
    We descended into hell
    Into kingdom come

  20. #1670
    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    That just tells me I'm not the first person to think of the problem, which is unsurprising, and that somebody else was motivated enough to slap a bandaid on it.

    I'll take it though. It was hardly the most gaping problem with the science of the new movie anyways.
    His light saber with its cracked core crystal are covered in the awakens encyclopedia, which came out a few days before the movie. Abrams took a less is more approach concerning the movie and the book does a good job filling in the gaps.
    "In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."

  21. #1671
    Found the page that includes steely's image

    Click to view the full version
    "In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."

  22. #1672
    Finally got round to seeing Chappie.



    Was really really hoping this was edge-of-the-seat and hoo-ra amazing a la District 9, and not mildly entertaining run-of-the-mill a la Elysium.

    And it was. Loved every minute from start to end. And actually did find myself on the edge of my seat at times, and actually did cheer and shout at the screen.

    I loved the South African gansta style, I loved the way Chappie picked up said style from those around him, I loved the way he wrestled with the emotions and morality that he was developing, the internal battle of good against evil, the fallibility of broken humanity as seen through his digital eyes.

    Blomkamp has a fantastic touch. An unexpected human side to his stories, an empathy toward the most unlikely of characters.

    And fuck his effects are superb.

    Definitely makes my top ten all time, perhaps top five.

    Spoiler:
    Only minor gripe, in hindsight, is the 'uploading of consciousness' to a digital format that can be copied and replicated. And this Chappie created just by scouring and reading info from the internet.

    A step too far in far-fetchedness.

    But even though I raised an eyebrow at that side of it, I found it did little to detract from my involvement in the story, which I thought was superb.

    And, like with District 9, it is left open for a sequel.


    9.5/10


    ~


    Also caught Edge of Tomorrow, with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt.

    Watchable. Narrative was ok. The Mimics were fairly cool.

    Ho hum 6.5/10
    Last edited by Timbuk2; 01-19-2016 at 12:13 PM.

  23. #1673
    Quote Originally Posted by Timbuk2 View Post
    Also caught Edge of Tomorrow, with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt.

    Watchable. Narrative was ok. The Mimics were fairly cool.

    Ho hum 6.5/10
    My library teens and I watched this for our books to movie pick a few months a go. They really enjoyed it and I got a kick out of Tom Cruise playing a role that wasn't a prebuilt badass agent. The ending caused enough discussion that I had to do some fan research into how the ending worked.
    "In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."

  24. #1674
    Yep I can imagine it's a fairly good movie for group discussion.

    Spoiler:
    What was the discussion / confusion about the ending?

    So far as I gathered, they destroyed the Omega, and in doing so reset the day one final time, allowing Tom's character to tie up with Emily's character and live Hollywood-ever-after.


    Got the impression old Tom is getting toward the end of his ability to carry off the action hero. What is he now, later fifties?

  25. #1675
    Quote Originally Posted by Timbuk2 View Post
    Spoiler:
    What was the discussion / confusion about the ending?

    So far as I gathered, they destroyed the Omega, and in doing so reset the day one final time, allowing Tom's character to tie up with Emily's character and live Hollywood-ever-after.
    Did the omega blood mix with his? Is that what set off the reset? Why the harder reset farther back in time?

    From what I gather, the blood did mix, and since he killed the omega there was no longer a soft reset to revert to. No omega means no one to tell the minions what to do, and that means no invasion to get knocked out trying to avoid. So the next reset was was when he was in the helicopter, before meeting the general.

    And yeah, the book ending was better
    Last edited by Ominous Gamer; 01-20-2016 at 02:09 PM.
    "In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."

  26. #1676
    Hm. No spoiler tags then

    Oh yes I'd forgotten he'd reset a little further back in time.

    Must say I didn't read that much into the ending. I just guessed it was all contrived in such a way to wrap it all up nicely with a happy boy-girl-walk-off-into-the-sunset-together kinda thang.

    Would have much preferred it if there was no final reset; so he survives and can't go back to start again to get the girl cos the Omega is dead.

  27. #1677
    whoops, oh well it has been out for 2 years and hazir already talked about it once I think.

    Your ending is a bit closer to the book ending, but audiences generally don't go for comedies with dark endings.
    "In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."

  28. #1678
    Saw While We're Young and Gravity on a four hour train ride.

    While We're Young was sorta smart and fun! That Kylo Ren guy can play a good "is he a sociopath or just a millennial?" character really well. That's his thing.

    Gravity did not make me puke, which I was fully expecting (which is probably why I rented it on my tablet and didn't see in a theater...then again who sees movies in theaters anymore?).

  29. #1679
    Senior Member Flixy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadnaught View Post
    ...then again who sees movies in theaters anymore?).
    More people than ever, actually.
    Keep on keepin' the beat alive!

  30. #1680
    Indeed. Don't go as much as I'd like but I certainly go as much as I can.

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