Movies you've been watching...

[LiveOVErdrive]

I forgot all about the 2018 tomb raider. It had such potential but ended up being just... So... Mehhh. The game it is based off of was so great, story-wise. I think their biggest mistake was dropping the supernatural elements and making it into a scooby doo situation.

The bike chase scene at the beginning was fabulous though. And it's been a while but I think I remember the acting being solid too.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Tomb Raider 2018 was a good solid action film. Nothing amazing, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[Metropolis]

It Comes At Night was pretty decent post-apocalyptic horror/thriller. Really liked the sound design and how tension was built with silence and music in right places. In the end plot itself had too much mystery in it, but it wasn't that kind of movie which needed lot of deep explanation. Lack of proper action was bit disturbing in a weird kind of way.

 

[TedEH]

Tomb Raider 2018

I remember seeing that movie, but not much else about it. The one thing that stuck with me is how much effort went into trying to recreate some of the visual set pieces from the games, which I appreciated. The rest was forgettable. I don't remember disliking it either soooo Success....?

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

The aforementioned screenwriter from Tomb Raider 2018 is probably going to get a lot of blame, but I am guessing it's more the directors. I hate this unknown quantity BS. Hire someone that's done something that actually relates to the material, guys!! I mean sure, sometimes you luck out and get the Russo Bros, but just as often you get a Colin Trevorrow.

It sounds like I'm simplifying the process but in fairness to CM's screenwriter, she has some comic cred like Gotham City Sirens.

Personally I love getting promising upstart directors to do these type of movies to give a fresh perspective. Colin Trevorrow isn't the best example as the Jurassic Park franchises don't have the luxury of having executive producers who adore the source material like Kevin Feigie or Geoff Johns (let alone a property with such a rich lore). On the same token, it doesn't always work that way either when directors get creatively suffocated. Marvel lost Patty Jenkins and Edgar Wright because of that.

On the flip side, having David S Goyer on board would usually be a great idea with his wealth of superhero work in his resume, but this is the same guy who missed the point of She-Hulk and (along with Zac Snyder) was so fascinated with having Superman commit murder. I get trying to add dimension and complexity though that's more of an issue of characters being rather boring... but that's a whole different topic.

The more I think about Captain Marvel, the more I appreciate it (a good sign for slow burn movies). I sounded down initially (comparing iy to Thor Dark World was admittedly harsh) and while most of my opinion still stands, if anything it's on par with Doctor Strange but with better execution of character development, something I wished Doctor Strange did rather than rush to the action scenes. It's almost has a Sundance vibe to it, which explains a lot given the duo at the director helm. Perhaps I'm so used to bombastic spectacle being superhero movies and all, but Feigie did say upcoming movies will be much smaller and character driven in scope. I didn't expect it so soon.

As for the whole controversy...

Spoiler

I find it amusing so many guys are offended and arced up by a bloody superhero movie. I did think that Annette Bening's character is a sound middle finger salute to all offended incels everywhere.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I watched Captain Marvel. It was solid, definitely better than most of the origin story films besides ant man/black panther.. They didn't push the gurrl power agenda as hard as I was expecting them to, which was good imo. It was basically Carol= stubborn/tough throughout her life, instead of some misandrist feminazi bullshit like shared eq wanted it to be (ok fine there was a bit of "girls can do anything guys can" but it wasn't super heavyhanded like I expected). I'm actually really glad they just threw viewers into the deep end beginning with Danvers on Hala instead of doing a chronological progression of how she became Capt. Marvel. There's a bit of a twist that threw me for a loop involving the skrull (and totally messed with my Secret Invasion predictions), but it was nonetheless interesting. Goose is the best character in the film hands down though

 

[wankerness]

Of COURSE they didn’t push that kind of thing, they have to make millions in China etc, it’s guaranteed to be super inoffensive to all but the biggest tools.

I just rewatched Ant Man and the Wasp, it’s in serious running for my favorite Marvel movie. If they’re going to go towards more smaller scale movies like this, that’s great news.

 

[BlackMastodon]

Seems to be the majority opinion that Captain Marvel was solid, but not spectacular, and I agree with what everyone's saying here. To me it had a really solid first 2 acts but then fell a little flat and amped up the cheese for the 3rd act. I liked everyone in the movie though: Brie was a solid Carol and played up the reckless part of the character well, Samuel L Jackson was great as a young Nick Fury, Jude Law was good as usual. I'm right there with you with ranking it around Dr. Strange.

Spoiler

I thought it was really cool how they started out the movie with her as a Kree accusor and that it was almost a prequel to Guardians of the Galaxy. And the twist of having the Skrull actually be refugees trying to escape the Kree was also really interesting. At this point I think Secret Invasion stuff would need to come from a reboot but I'm okay with the direction it's going. If I wanted the same story then I'd read the tpb's of the comics.

 

[Ralyks]

Finally saw Bohemian Rhapsody. Much better than I expected. And as much as I like Rami Malek, I couldn't see him being Freddie. But he pulled it off, so kudos, and much luck to him at the next Bond villain.

 

[Seabeast2000]

Polar.

 

[Seabeast2000]

Polar.

Oops, yes Polar. Definitely fun and totally worth the time, cheese and all. I get the distinct impression they left Part 2 wide open as an option, so chop chop Netflix.

 

[wankerness]

I finally watched Captain Marvel and meh. The trailers are exactly what the movie is like, despite people saying that she’s way more animated/interesting and that she’s given better dialogue. Nope!!!

The first twenty minutes is the worst, it’s a huge exposition dump that’s a feedback loop of uninteresting and confusing. I didn’t dislike it, and it never gets to the depths of stupid of the first two Iron Mans, but it has the least interesting character in the Marvelverse besides maybe Doctor Strange. Like, maybe the movie itself is better than Iron Man 1/2 and Thor 1/2, but Iron Man and Thor themselves were way better defined than her. I’ll see what they do with her going forward, but this movie was not very good. I think it was mainly writing and direction. They went with wonky plot structure over character development, and while I see how the movie would have been dull and predictable without it, I think her character suffered a lot for it.

 

[Seabeast2000]

Triple Frontier. Netflix, worthy of a watch. Some interesting/unexpected choices in soundtrack tunes....especially the closing credits.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Triple Frontier. Netflix, worthy of a watch. Some interesting/unexpected choices in soundtrack tunes....especially the closing credits.

It was pretty good. I still don't get Netflix's model where they limited release films in theaters for like a week and then slap it on netflix though

 

[Seabeast2000]

It was pretty good. I still don't get Netflix's model where they limited release films in theaters for like a week and then slap it on netflix though

Maybe its the new style, not DTV but not theater-ppv-HBO-DVD. I'm assuming its a revenue-maximizing strategy.

 

[Mathemagician]

Watched ant man and wasp and remembered why I loved the first one. It’s hilarious and I liked all the characters.

Watched annihilation. Pretty damn good cosmic horror which I lolololoooove. So I’m biased.

Watching the Netflix movie on comedy in dangerous countries/areas like post-saddam Iraq, Damascus, etc etc. VERY interesting.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Maybe its the new style, not DTV but not theater-ppv-HBO-DVD. I'm assuming its a revenue-maximizing strategy.

That's the thing though, they're limited release, so it's not like they're maximizing profits since they barely make it into any theaters even in a bigger area like minneapolis. Hell, I WANTED to see Annihilation and Triple Frontier in theaters and couldn't for the life of me find them anywhere, so I ended up streaming them.

 

[Seabeast2000]

That's the thing though, they're limited release, so it's not like they're maximizing profits since they barely make it into any theaters even in a bigger area like minneapolis. Hell, I WANTED to see Annihilation and Triple Frontier in theaters and couldn't for the life of me find them anywhere, so I ended up streaming them.

Hmm, I thought Annihilation was a full theater release? I know people who saw it in the theater....just thought it was in normal rotation. Been wanting to see this anyway....
BTW, I got on Google Earth and could not find the Andes-Beach scenario short of 100++ miles between the two in Columbia......

 

[wankerness]

It was a full theater release, but since Netflix released it and plastered their name on the trailers people got confused and some probably stayed home thinking it would be on their service simultaneously or something. That’s what I did!

I think its release was a bit bigger than Ex Machina’s, like it played in most multiplexes briefly (thanks to flopping) but depending on how backwater your town is it might not have gotten anywhere close.

 

[wankerness]

Paddington - good 7/10

I, Daniel Blake - really good, gets to bit a bit much towards the end but one of the best central characters I've ever seen 8/10

Paddington 2 - for what it is, practically a masterpiece, reminded me of everything from Wes Anderson to Big Fish with all the style, great characters, etc 9/10

Bride of Reanimator - nowhere near as good as the first, but the gore/creature effects are easily some of the best of the 80s/90s 6/10

My Cousin Vinny - Marisa Tomei is so good, too bad she's only allowed to talk in like 20 minutes worth of scenes in a 2 hour movie, even the two yutzes that get arrested at the beginning get more dialogue, pretty good anyway 7/10