Movies you've recently watched

[IncantatioN]

Watched Justice League on opening night and it was a mess. I went with the lowest of expectations and here's what that did for me - I realized after the movie that some of the action was cool and left it at that. On my commute to work the next morning, none of that really mattered and what I thought last night about the characters, shallow motives, bad or flat jokes, a Batman that blows, weird jarring CG or whatever in the beginning and all the problems it had were there to stay. The villain was weak and it didn't really explain a lot of things about what was going on. Without spoiling much, I'll say I enjoyed the Flash and some of the humor around him. His treatment reminds of the current (light, funny) Spiderman reboot. I read early tweets about JL being better than BvS but that's a low standard to begin with.



Speaking of messes, I almost forgot about The Dark Tower. I finally watched it on a long flight and regretted it instantly. It didn't piss me off as The Last Airbender but it left a hole in the 'what if' or 'why did they do it this way' department. The trailer is mad deceptive and shows most of the coolest action sequences that simply look cool no doubt but the movie lacks substance and you don't get behind, at all.

[Johnstantine]

Watched Justice League on opening night and it was a mess. I went with the lowest of expectations and here's what that did for me - I realized after the movie that some of the action was cool and left it at that. On my commute to work the next morning, none of that really mattered and what I thought last night about the characters, shallow motives, bad or flat jokes, a Batman that blows, weird jarring CG or whatever in the beginning and all the problems it had were there to stay. The villain was weak and it didn't really explain a lot of things about what was going on. Without spoiling much, I'll say I enjoyed the Flash and some of the humor around him. His treatment reminds of the current (light, funny) Spiderman reboot. I read early tweets about JL being better than BvS but that's a low standard to begin with.

Man, I hate to agree with you since I love DC, but god damn I feel the same way. Honestly, to me it's a lot like Tomorrowland--I hated it, but I loved it and I can't explain why. Weirdly, I actually enjoyed Steppenwolf as a villain, but I hated Batman (complete 180 from BvS, which is the version I loved). Even Diana felt completely different in this. Aquaman was just sort of all over the place with his characterization, while Vic was pretty spot-on. Barry though...he was like a mix of Wally, Barry, Jessie and Bart in one. He was super awkward, which I think the intention was. Ezra Miller did a great job, though. I think they finally got Superman right, too. Felt like he was flying through blue skies again, like he should be.

Strangely, I think the movie would have been much better had Snyder just stayed on and finished. I absolutely loathe Joss Whedon, so hearing he had been hired to finish up production was a major boner-kill. You could tell the exact moments he touched up since he has to always add in some shitty one-liners or humor.

As I'm typing this now, the movie hasn't even made $100,000,000 at the box office, which is the lowest a DC movie has opened to. It's a shame that WB didn't take notice of what made Wonder Woman such a success and approached this as such. I imagine heads will roll once the weekend is up, because the word of mouth on this movie isn't strong enough to give it some extra legs in the coming weeks. Apparently they needed to make $600,000,000 worldwide to break even, but that probably won't even happen.

[Aazealh]

It's a shame that WB didn't take notice of what made Wonder Woman such a success and approached this as such.

Allow me to infuriate you by saying Wonder Woman was mediocre at best as a movie, and that its success rested almost exclusively on the popularity of the character itself and what she embodies (female empowerment) in a social context where it's sorely needed.

[Johnstantine]

Allow me to infuriate you by saying Wonder Woman was mediocre at best as a movie, and that its success rested almost exclusively on the popularity of the character itself and what she embodies (female empowerment) in a social context where it's sorely needed.

I don’t find it infuriating. There were a lot of cringey moments in the movie. It wasn’t my favorite, but I also didn’t hate it. Like you said, it was mediocre.

Gal Gadot happened to be my “boner of the month” at the time, so I enjoyed it for what it was.

[ThePiedPiper]

I found Gal Gadot very charming in WW. I think she came off as irreconcilably childish at times, and a straight doofus in others, but I found her innocence in other instances refreshing. In JL she was passable (I saw her as much more mature and intelligent, and rightly so given the time jump). Sadly the movie suffered a lot from mediocrity, so there wasn't much in the way of scenarios that accommodated more varying [or interesting] expression. I had a decent lens in which to compare Gal Gadot in the films because I attended a double feature of both WW and JL.

Batman seemed ...lazy? tired? I dunno, there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm on his part, as opposed to him in BvS. To me he was just going through the motions of what the script demanded, and he never convinced me to care about anything. For myself, I was mostly running off sheer anticipation of seeing all the heroes fighting on-screen and how the dynamics between different members would play out. If I were to see it a second time I'd have nothing much to look forward besides a certain fight in the middle of the movie. The movie simply can't stand up to scrutiny.

The Flash was okay. He definitely got better as the movie progressed. Cyborg was alright, and I didn't mind Aquaman. The characters themselves made sure the movie wasn't terrible, but again they really didn't have much to work with. And the aforementioned fight in the middle was good. I actually caught a thrill during the sequence because of the Flash and Wonder Woman's part in it. The scene after the credits seems to promise something interesting, but at this point I'm only in it for the fight scenes and the actors themselves. I see the movies getting better never.

[Johnstantine]

Batman seemed ...lazy? tired? I dunno, there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm on his part, as opposed to him in BvS. To me he was just going through the motions of what the script demanded, and he never convinced me to care about anything. For myself, I was mostly running off sheer anticipation of seeing all the heroes fighting on-screen and how the dynamics between different members would play out. If I were to see it a second time I'd have nothing much to look forward besides a certain fight in the middle of the movie. The movie simply can't stand up to scrutiny.

Yeah, I agree on that. Afleck had a lot of hopes for the character, but I think taking on a multiple movie role might not be something he's into anymore. He did an interview recently where he said he wasn't sure how long he would play the character, despite having originally said he was in it for the long haul. If anything, I think Whedon's added dialogue pussified him.

[Johnstantine]

Sorry for the double post, but just had to share that I finally was able to see Blade Runner 2049.

Favorite movie of the year, by far.

[Griffith]

Sorry for the double post, but just had to share that I finally was able to see Blade Runner 2049.

Favorite movie of the year, by far.

As someone that was hard on it at first, it was infinitely better than probably anything else I saw this year besides Get Out. And yeah, I'm talking about Star Wars, because for all the hoopla 2049 is the 3 hour sci-fi legacy film you're looking for.

[Johnstantine]

As someone that was hard on it at first, it was infinitely better than probably anything else I saw this year besides Get Out. And yeah, I'm talking about Star Wars, because for all the hoopla 2049 is the 3 hour sci-fi legacy film you're looking for.

Man, I thought Get Out was INCREDIBLY overrated. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I just didn't get the hype surrounding it.

[Salem]

I loved Get Out.  Found the premise considering the twist quite original and overal a disturbing enjoyable film.

[Griffith]

Man, I thought Get Out was INCREDIBLY overrated. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I just didn't get the hype surrounding it.

Well, I guess it depends on what you think it was. To me it was a pretty excellently constructed horror satire and social commentary where every detail actually mattered and pays off, and it works both as a straight horror concept and obviously on a much greater scale as an allegory (though each part enhances the other instead of getting in each other's way). Some of the themes actually aren't that different from 2049, but fresher, deeper and more specific than exploring humanity and human rights via robots. That's why I rated it higher despite 2049 being more up my alley as a gorgeous, top tier sci-fi thriller. In general I also think the surprise factor worked in Get Out's favor: it's a horror movie from a comedy guy and is supposed to have some social commentary that could all easily fall flat, but instead it worked on every level and blew away expectations. Wheras something like Blade Runner both has to live up to larger than life expectations while also being pretty esoteric (the big budget prestige follow up to a movie that bombed). Anyway, I'd recommend giving it a second chance because it's a different experience when you already have the puzzle pieces fit together.

TL, DR:

I loved Get Out.  Found the premise considering the twist quite original and overal a disturbing enjoyable film.

What he said.

[Skeleton]

Well, I guess it depends on what you think it was. To me it was a pretty excellently constructed horror satire and social commentary where every detail actually mattered and pays off, and it works both as a straight horror concept and obviously on a much greater scale as an allegory (though each part enhances the other instead of getting in each other's way). Some of the themes actually aren't that different from 2049, but fresher, deeper and more specific than exploring humanity and human rights via robots. That's why I rated it higher despite 2049 being more up my alley as a gorgeous, top tier sci-fi thriller. In general I also think the surprise factor worked in Get Out's favor: it's a horror movie from a comedy guy and is supposed to have some social commentary that could all easily fall flat, but instead it worked on every level and blew away expectations. Wheras something like Blade Runner both has to live up to larger than life expectations while also being pretty esoteric (the big budget prestige follow up to a movie that bombed). Anyway, I'd recommend giving it a second chance because it's a different experience when you already have the puzzle pieces fit together.

TL, DR:

I loved Get Out.  Found the premise considering the twist quite original and overal a disturbing enjoyable film.

What he said.

Have you guys listened to Peele’s commentary for Get Out? I loved the movie, but the commentary added so much to the film for me. I was surprised by how many little details in the film were symbolic or had deeper meanings (for example the deer’s head in the room they imprison the main character in being a symbol of black men/masculinity, “buck” being a word used for a black man). Peele also has a pretty cool mythology for the movie that unfortunately was only very lightly hinted at. And he’s a total horror nerd so it’s fun relating to him as he geeks out on the subject.

[Johnstantine]

Well, I guess it depends on what you think it was. To me it was a pretty excellently constructed horror satire and social commentary where every detail actually mattered and pays off, and it works both as a straight horror concept and obviously on a much greater scale as an allegory (though each part enhances the other instead of getting in each other's way). Some of the themes actually aren't that different from 2049, but fresher, deeper and more specific than exploring humanity and human rights via robots. That's why I rated it higher despite 2049 being more up my alley as a gorgeous, top tier sci-fi thriller. In general I also think the surprise factor worked in Get Out's favor: it's a horror movie from a comedy guy and is supposed to have some social commentary that could all easily fall flat, but instead it worked on every level and blew away expectations. Wheras something like Blade Runner both has to live up to larger than life expectations while also being pretty esoteric (the big budget prestige follow up to a movie that bombed). Anyway, I'd recommend giving it a second chance because it's a different experience when you already have the puzzle pieces fit together.

TL, DR:

What he said.

I’ve seen it twice, actually. The first time I had it all figured out pretty much as it happened. Honestly, the twist/reveal felt a lot like the one in the Prestige (people who didn’t see THAT twist coming a mile away still baffles me).

I just don’t get the love for it. And that is coming from someone who typically enjoys everything.

[Griffith]

Have you guys listened to Peele’s commentary for Get Out? I loved the movie, but the commentary added so much to the film for me. I was surprised by how many little details in the film were symbolic or had deeper meanings

I've only heard his commentary for the deleted scenes but even that made it clear that he put a lot of thought into everything and the implications of it just were never coincidental.

I’ve seen it twice, actually. The first time I had it all figured out pretty much as it happened. Honestly, the twist/reveal felt a lot like the one in the Prestige (people who didn’t see THAT twist coming a mile away still baffles me).

I just don’t get the love for it. And that is coming from someone who typically enjoys everything.

Well, let's jump in and say the love for it is not about those twists so much as the symbolism for blackness in America, white supremacy, and the exploitation or appropriation of black bodies, art, and culture etc. (Stephen Root literally wants to take his "eye"), which make it a truly black-centric horror film with a unique and thought-provoking POV, at least to me (YMMV). Yet, even though that permeates almost every scene, it's not preachy but always entertaining and also works as a clever, straight ahead horror movie too (this is where Last Jedi's allegory falls short for me). I think that's what really opened people's eyes about it and you don't easilly find a lot of movies occupying all those spaces simutaneously and yet so seamlessly (and economically, in an hour and a half instead of like three!).


Saw Pixar's Coco tonight and it was pretty good, though speaking of twists it uses some of Pixar's standbys.

[Walter]

I saw Get Out in theaters and thought it was great. Reading the comments earlier today re-inserted that movie in my brain and I've been thinking about how clever it was all over again. Johnstantine, I don't know for sure, but it sounds like you might have gotten caught up in the suspense element of the movie, which is really just a wrapping holding all the other elements together. Whether you successfully guessed the truth about what's happening before the big reveal, there's a lot to appreciate in that movie, from the constant double-meaning dialogue, the indirect (arguably MOST direct) racism, to of course, the fact that this is basically a science-fiction movie about modern day racism, taken to extremes. And certainly there's a lot to appreciate with the symbolism, which is often both for laughs AND carries meaning (the way Bradley Whitford's character ends up, impaled by a taxidermied deer, which seems random until you consider the procedure itself).

[Griffith]

I think I mentioned this on the podcast or my initial thoughts on TLJ about a fan-edit of Force Awakens and Last Jedi to make a better stand-alone Star Wars revival, and re-watching some of Force Awakens cemented it in my mind:

STAR WARS: The Jedi Awakens

Basically, The Force Awakens minus some fat and Starkiller Base, plus the throne room and heroics from the end of The Last Jedi tacked on the end. It'd be about as long as The Last Jedi but with the focus on the search for and return of Skywalker and the reawakening of the Jedi.

See, not hard, was it? And half the world isn't pissed off either. =)

[JMP]

I watched Victoria and Abdul the other day with my mom. It was one of her Christmas presents. Strange tale of the friendship between a very elderly Queen Victoria and a man named Abdul. It was based on true events that weren't uncovered until 2010 (I think they said). The acting was very good, but something felt like it was missing or not done as well as it could have been. Can't quite put my finger on it. I felt so bad for Abdul's fellow traveler who ended up getting roped in and being made Abdul's servant and then dying in a country he hated. I guess those were such different times it's hard to judge looking back at a story like that from a modern perspective. It all seems so weird. Anyway, I'd give it a 3 out of 5.

[Johnstantine]

I was unbelievably excited to watch The Cloverfield Paradox. I turned it on. I was unbelievably excited to be done watching it.

What a letdown. The movie had no clue what it wanted to be.

[Joe Chip]

Have you guys seen Black Panther?? Is it any good??

[m]

Have you guys seen Black Panther?? Is it any good??

I have. I may not be the right person to give an opinion, as I’m liking Marvel movies less and less with each new movie, but I can say that Black Panther is definitely a Marvel movie, for better and worse. I didn’t think it was a bad movie by any means, but I didn’t think it was outstanding either. If I were to rate it, I’d give it three out of five.

[Johnstantine]

I have. I may not be the right person to give an opinion, as I’m liking Marvel movies less and less with each new movie, but I can say that Black Panther is definitely a Marvel movie, for better and worse. I didn’t think it was a bad movie by any means, but I didn’t think it was outstanding either. If I were to rate it, I’d give it three out of five.

Agree 100%.

[Griffith]

On that note, I finally saw Thor: Ragnarok, and after hearing for months it's this great, super fun flick among the best Marvel has ever done... it was alright. It didn't take itself seriously at all, but that kind of undermined all the cool stuff in it, because visually it's a treat that doesn't seem to have boundaries for better and for worse, so it's basically an animated comedy with no emotional core (other than the obligatory crescendo moments it doesn't even buy into). Here's hoping Panther takes itself at least seriously enough to have a little internal gravity.

[IncantatioN]

I'm going to Black Panther tonight. Zero expectations.

On that note, I finally saw Thor: Ragnarok, and after hearing for months it's this great, super fun flick among the best Marvel has ever done... it was alright. It didn't take itself seriously at all, but that kind of undermined all the cool stuff in it, because visually it's a treat that doesn't seem to have boundaries for better and for worse, so it's basically an animated comedy with no emotional core (other than the obligatory crescendo moments it doesn't even buy into). Here's hoping Panther takes itself at least seriously enough to have a little internal gravity.

I thought the new Thor was OK too, nothing special to talk about outside of the fact that some fight scenes were done well. They made it a lot more colorful than previous Thor movies, sort of akin to the Guardians treatment. Most jokes/ supposedly funny situations felt flat.

[Griffith]

I'm going to Black Panther tonight. Zero expectations.

I'll make space for your review, I think they're the most sober and cogent on the board at this point. =)

I thought the new Thor was OK too, nothing special to talk about outside of the fact that some fight scenes were done well. They made it a lot more colorful than previous Thor movies, sort of akin to the Guardians treatment. Most jokes/ supposedly funny situations felt flat.

Glad you said so because that hits it on the nose, it's trying to Guardianify Thor into something more fun. Which I sort of understood going in, but forgot by the end because while it has all the irreverent space hijinks on its surface, it has none of the pathos so therefore misses the mark. This movie didn't know how and wouldn't dare to be as unapologetically sentimental as the Guardian movies are at heart. That's what made all the other stuff work though and why it doesn't go over as well here (it's copying the worst parts of those movies when the jokes are trying too hard). Anyway, I can't feel the emotion of a moment just because Sir Anthony Hopkins tells me to, especially when everything is seemingly just made up and inevitably undone on the spot.

[NightCrawler]

Annihilation was pretty decent. From the director of Ex Machina. Recommended for fans of Stalker, Alien, 2001, The Thing, even though it doesn't achieve the heights of either of those.
The sci-fi is a bit underwhelming, but as an audio-visual experience, it's quite beautiful and unearthly. The horror elements were effective as well.