Films The Official bit-tech Movie Thread - What have you seen lately?

Sorry guys, totally with Guinevere on this one
- joint top film(s) of 2016 (with Deadpool and London has Fallen) for me.

 

Citing London has Fallen doesn't do your argument any favours.

 

Well, we can't agree on everything.
And while I am certainly with you with regards to Deadpool, I feel I must ask; London has Fallen ... really?

 

Yes, London has Fallen.
It is pure mindless entertainment.

• Cerebral dialogue, complex plot, consistency ? No.
• Ludicrous action sequences that you just have to laugh at? Yes.

Anyone who went to see it expecting anything else is just plain stupid.

I go to the cinema for escapism fun. Films should be larger than life, they should make you laugh. I don't want to have to think to enjoy it, it should be obvious.
That's not to say I cant/wont enjoy a film that requires thought, but I'll wait for the bluray/dvd for that, you don't need 20ft tall talking heads, 20ft tall explosions, hell yes!

 

X-Men: Apocalypse 3/10

Essentially, some nice show effects and heaps of destruction, with a soulless enemy with four helpers that are introduced and then forgotten.
A thorough "Meh!"

...tbh, the X-Men universe is too convoluted for me, this movie for instance is set after X-Men: Days of future past, but many of the characters play younger versions of themselves. Except for some others, that lived their lives for a decade or so
No doubt there's an expanation, but none is given, and the movie doesn't make me care.

 

X-Men: Apocalypse - don't bother / 10

Xir above pretty much summed it up. All flair and no substance. Mathew Vaughn did a fantastic job at rebooting the series, only to have Bryan Singer flush it down the toilet. They completely wasted Apocalypse. Not nearly as formidable as he was in the comics or animated series. Even his voice sounds weak.

Independence Day: Resurgence - Why, God? Why? / 10

A movie that has too much going on to give any amount of weight to any one scene. Epic set pieces are underwhelming, and

Spoiler

everybody and their brother wants to sacrifice themselves to save the planet

.

 

I agree that X-Men was not what I expected, the plot was weak.
Another movie I was looking forward too was Star Trek, this was also weak. I could cut and paste Xir's review of X-Men and it would still fit (I'd have to change the four helpers bit though!).

 

Dallas Buyers Club:

Acting: 10/10 Story: 5/10ish

The movie is based on the life of Ron Woodroof who imports illegal medication into the states after being diagnosed with HIV / Aids. The acting is just phenomenal, rightly rewarded with several academy awards. However the movie seems to promote alternative medicine and self medication somewhat.

 

Maybe I'll do that when I finally receive the new Star Trek

 

I had a similar thought on how it seemed to promote alternative medicine somewhat, but then I was so engrossed in the character study element of the film that it didn't matter too much. Also, it took me absolutely ages to realise Jared Leto plays Rayon - sensational performance, every bit as good as Matthew McConaughey.

 

Angry Birds Movie 7.5/10

It really is better than it sounds. By Sony pictures in conjunction with Roxio themselves (the company actually worked on it too) comes a movie version of the game you play whilst having a dump.

It's...surprisingly good. It's very bright and looks great. Kids are entertained by the visual gags going on and adults can be entertained by the puns and gags hidden in plain sight. There's a lot of bird, egg and pig jokes and you know kids won't understand most of them. They have some decent actors and the story is interesting and simple enough to keep the children's attention. It's actually pretty funny in places. I couldn't call it the best animated movie recently, but it's pretty watchable.

 

In the same vein as Westworld, I've only just come across Archer on Netflix. It's bang on and so chock full of jokes that I keep having to rewind because I'll be laughing at one and would miss the next. Half way through season two and so many "holy sh#t snacks" "phrasing" catchphrases that it constantly puts my funny bone in the "danger zone"!

Well worth a few episodes a night at 20 minutes a piece!

I even went back and watched some SeaLab 2021 as it's the same guy... In case you guys didn't know, SeaLab 2020 was a Hanna Barbera show that Adam Reed redubbed changing the tone of the show and played on adult swim.

Archer is just balls out mental and I think Cheryl is becoming my favorite character...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Errrr, would I as a foreigner? I don't get what you're speaking about.

 

Just puns mostly, they're pretty simple so even a foreign speaker would understand. For example they're talking about how suspicious the pigs are - "Something doesn't smell kosher here".

 

Captain America: Civil War - 6/10

I thought the entire premise was a bit far fetched. I mean, yes I understood it but would they really have gone to war with each other? However, I did enjoy it overall. Right up until they introduced Spiderman. I loved the Spiderman movies but MY GOD he was ****ing annoying in this! His voice, his constant whining or talking or whatever the hell it was he was doing. The glee I experienced when he got hurt was nigh on perverse. Had he not been in it I would have gone 7.5/10.

 

Ghostbusters (2016) 0/10

An absolute steaming pile of crap. A decent cast but crap (no) storyline. If they are gonna reboot, why not just remake the actual original film. Or make a story that continues from the orginal. Ghostbusters II was pony but this turd was 1000 times worse.

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows 6/10

big improvment over the first, and i thought it did decent fan service to the orignal 90s cartoons, than the first one. my kids enjoyed it much more as well.

 

Ghostbusters (2016) - 7/10

My wife and I watched this tonight. I can say that I liked it. It's coming out of a trend in Hollywood where SNL style jokes and gags are strung together loosely with a small bit of plot. I tend to hate this (Despicable Me 2 is a prime example). But for whatever reason this movie seems to not bother me. Maybe it's just that I found most of those stupid jokes mildly funny, and a few made me actually laugh.

One thing that it does really well is represent the women in the film. They're funny. Most of their lines, jokes and performances could have just as easily been made by a male, and I think this is great. This isn't "Girls Ghostbusters, for Men" where the women are gorgeous with perfect tits, where someone gets in a vulnerable situation and we see them in a state of undress, or just boobs or ass for no reason at all (like 80s movies). The women aren't there as a token, they aren't just the objects of men's affection or a desirable prize to be won. It's also not "Girls Ghostbusters, for Girls," where the women talk about things only women like, or things that society thinks women should like, like shoes and purses . . . and what man they think is most attractive.

It's "Ghostbusters" for everyone, but starring women instead of men. It's great. If we want to say that the original was for everyone even though it starred men, then we have to accept (and I mean this in a really broad way) that women can be the protagonists of films that are aimed for everyone and not just women, and in turn the movie industry needs to get better at making those films and trusting that people will be able to accept them.

So, is Ghostbusters a great film? No. Not really. It's pretty dumb. But it's 100x better than 2015's "Pixels" starring Adam Sandler. Ghostbusters is watchable, and if you look at it with the same expectations for physical gags and camp that we got with the original movies, you should have a reasonably good time watching it.

 

Ghostbusters - 6/10
This was mindless, but not terrible either. Good fun, all in all.

Alice - Through the Looking Glass - 5/10
It lacked some of the innovation that the first one had, and, as a consequence, seemed a bit "meh"

Independence Day Resurgence - 6/10
Not great, not terrible... just meh.. .good action scenes, but completely predictable.

ARQ - 6.5/10
I'd score this higher, but ultimately, the enjoyment wasn't quite high enough for a 7... somewhat predictable, but at least the concept was a wee bit off the beaten path.

 

Ok this makes me a little less ashamed to say my last film watched is Finding Dory. It was a date night....don't judge. And you know what, it was actually very good.