Movies

[Ap2000]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Al Kusanagi" data-cid="182064" data-time="1417201496">I'm a huge Star Wars fan, but that trailer has left me cold. The Expanded Universe had to die for this? Fuck you, Disney!
 
But I am beyond hyped for Jurassic Word.</blockquote>
What do you mean with "this"?
So far we only see concepts, basically.

Besides, EU might not be canon anymore according to Disney, but that doesn't mean that stuff like SW:TOR (which I'm playing as a pseudo Kotor 3 right now) can't still thrive.
Ultimately, all it means is that EU won't be in the movies.

[aine]

Terminator: Genisys Trailer

Another classic pissed and shat on just because. Fuck you 21st century.

[Ap2000]

[quote="aine"]
Terminator: Genisys Trailer


Another classic pissed and shat on just because. Fuck you 21st century.
[/quote]
 

I wonder if they've learned anything from Salvation.
I just hope it's a Terminator-wise stupid, but entertainment-wise cool movie like 3. Not even awaiting it to be as good as 1 or even 2.
 
It's really funny how many sequels/remakes of long running have been announced or at least got a trailer this year.

[aine]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Ap2000" data-cid="182249" data-time="1417726362"><blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="aine" data-cid="182244" data-time="1417722090">Terminator: Genisys Trailer

Another classic pissed and shat on just because. Fuck you 21st century.</blockquote> 
I wonder if they've learned anything from Salvation.
I just hope it's a Terminator-wise stupid, but entertainment-wise cool movie like 3. Not even awaiting it to be as good as 1 or even 2.
 
It's really funny how many sequels/remakes of long running have been announced or at least got a trailer this year.</blockquote>
I'm sure we had this conversation before, but I still think T3 was a load of garbage while Salvation was actually a worthy sequel - not trying to rehash the same tricks again, not trying to top something that can not be topped at its game, but just taking it into new direction. And I'm pissed off at this new trailer because of all the stupid "reboot" stuff and leeching off the legacy by re-making classic scenes just because they could. Screw that.

Incidentally I just went on a little trailer spree yesterday and thought the same, just more along the lines of "pathetic" rather than "funny". I'm not even that excited for the new Bond now that the Skyfall story arch is over and the best M is gone.

[Ap2000]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="aine" data-cid="182256" data-time="1417736246">
Incidentally I just went on a little trailer spree yesterday and thought the same, just more along the lines of "pathetic" rather than "funny". I'm not even that excited for the new Bond now that the Skyfall story arch is over and the best M is gone.
</blockquote>

I liked Skyfall more than any other Bond movie since Goldeneye, so I am looking forward to it.


And, unlike nearly every other Bond movie, it actually had a cool intro. Watching it on a huge IMAX screen was utterly mesmerizing, a feast for the eyes and ears.

[Ap2000]

[quote="showraniy"]
I saw Interstellar this past Friday and have to say that I think it gave me all the gratuitous space shots I love while making up for narrative pitfalls in Gravity.


Interstellar is the space movie I've really wanted to see for a long time, so I hope it wins a lot of awards. I will say that I absolutely do not understand the love for the soundtrack though since it was SO loud during dialogue at times and was just dramatic noise most of the time. Maybe it was just our theater or something, but at some points, I could hear everyone in the theater asking one another what was said because the music drowned out a line or two. Get your shit together, mixing person!


But yeah, I enjoyed Gravity and all, and Interstellar's moment towards the end of the movie with the supermassive black hole was WAAAY too unbelievable to slide, but I'd say Interstellar comes out much, much better overall. It's Gravity space shots without the same unnecessarily heavy handed narrative IMO.
[/quote]
 
I was expecting more from Interstellar.
I was hoping for a "planet hopping" space adventure somewhat grounded in reality, which it really wasn't.
Sounds mixing of the German version was very good where I saw it.
 
[spoiler2]
When they started out with "these twelve planets", I was totally thinking they'd at least visit each one of those.
But then they explained that only 3 sent back signals.
In the end it was one huge water planet and antarctica, with a brief shot of Tatooine before the credits rolled. :|
 
It started out rather realistic, or at least very believable, but then it went full-on Star Trek with slinging around THE EVENT HORIZON OF A BLACK HOLE and turn into Cube 2: Hypercube.
And for some reason Anne Hathaway didn't age at all?
[/spoiler2]
 
I'm inclined to agree with the Rottentomatoes.com rating of 73%. It never felt boring and was well put together.

[NekoKaiSai]

I went to see Mortdecai yesterday evening, and it was pretty good.  I usually don't watch comedies, but it was a crime one with Johnny Depp and Ewan McGregor.  I wasn't expecting there to be vomit, though.

[aine]

I'm disappointed how overlooked American Sniper got during Academy Awards. Really hoped to see Clint walk down with his own trophy, instead of one of the least significant technical ones.

It also sucks that consistently boring and bland Arquette got one for Boyhood, while pretty amazing Ethan Hawke who played opposite her didn't. But I don't know how the other nominees in their categories stood up.

As usual I missed out on a lot of top nominated movies during their theatre runs, I hope they will have replays now so I can catch up.

[Ap2000]

[quote="aine"]
I'm disappointed how overlooked American Sniper got during Academy Awards. Really hoped to see Clint walk down with his own trophy, instead of one of the least significant technical ones.


It also sucks that consistently boring and bland Arquette got one for Boyhood, while pretty amazing Ethan Hawke who played opposite her didn't. But I don't know how the other nominees in their categories stood up.


As usual I missed out on a lot of top nominated movies during their theatre runs, I hope they will have replays now so I can catch up.
[/quote]
 
I don't care about any movie awards, but I am going to watch Birdman tonight.
But it's cool that they gave Citizen four an award, even if the MPAA is being such a politically motivated asshole about it:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B4TQbkcIMAAK8Ir.jpg
 
I also watched Nightcrawler about a week ago, which was absolutely phenomenal.

[aine]

Didn't hear about Citizenfour - I rarely follow documentaries, something I feel pretty bad about - but this piqued my interest. After reading the synopsis I'll be sure to check it out.

Birdman is also on my must watch list, I've seen people who normally never agree on anything rave about this one.

[Ap2000]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="aine" data-cid="185158" data-time="1424707650">Birdman is also on my must watch list, I've seen people who normally never agree on anything rave about this one.</blockquote>
Birdman is a quite unique movie and it's very interesting from a technical aspect.
A few small parts of it reminded me of Sion Sono and the whole commentary on movies and moviegoers is also pretty well done.

[Ap2000]

I'm nearly two years late, but I finally ended up watching Pacific Rim.
It had a lot more action than I expected and I'm happy it wasn't weighted down by useless exposition of characters, at least for most of the time. But there were a few clichées that I found absolutely unnecessary (warning, function failing, gotta do it manual!, but he wasn't dead!, the Russians us old technology). The movie could have easily been cut down by a few minutes with those scenes removed. I'm sure it would have made the movie better, eventhough I do have to say the movie did not feel "too long" at all.
What I really, really, really liked was the explanation of what the Kaiju were and where they came from. It's always a poor and shitty cop-out when there is a mysterious, seemingly unnatural enemy, but then it's all left ambiguous.
Rinko Kikuchi is damn pretty, but they gave her a really stupid looking haircut.
Fights were cool, but everything was CGi'd at night and sometimes the camera was just too close. Might have been the DVD quality, but I also found that the textures on the Kaiju looked pretty unrealistic.
I think the 72% on Rottentomatoes is a fair overall raiting. Subjectively, I would probably give it a little bit higher rating.
 
At some point I had to laugh out loud, because it went full-on anime, but that's fine.

[WonderBuono]

I saw Insurgent yesterday. I thought the first movie got a little more hate than it deserved, but this one was just... not good. Almost nothing actually happened (I ranted that it took them a whole movie to do what The Maze Runner did in about 15 minutes.) I've never read the books (and don't plan to), but I can't imagine how on earth they're going to do the last book across two movies.


I'm probably going to see Cinderella tomorrow. I'm really only watching it for the Frozen short before it. XD

[michisings]

I watched Cinderella a little while ago. I did a review of it, but be careful because this has plenty of spoilers. If you haven't seen the movie, it is best to avoid this.

http://livesasweetworld.blogspot.com/2015/03/beyond-trailer-cinderella-2015.html

[Ap2000]

Cinderella, you say?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pt1_VvVZVY

[WonderBuono]

@michisings: Great review! I left a comment on your blog. :)


@Ap2000: LOL, those songs are amazing. :P

[michisings]

@WonderBuono Thank you so much! I read it~

[al kusanagi]

STARWARSSTARWARSSTARWARSSTARWARS!!!111111111111111!!!2314151231!!!!!

[Ap2000]

[quote="Al Kusanagi"]
STARWARSSTARWARSSTARWARSSTARWARS!!!111111111111111!!!2314151231!!!!!
[/quote]
 
Man, still not saying who exactly the new main protagonist?

 
I think they also put Revan in there, even if the mask is not exactly identical to his.
 
I would have prefered a little less nostalgia pandering, because the new design ideas look damn cool.

[aine]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Al Kusanagi" data-cid="187239" data-time="1429213934">STARWARSSTARWARSSTARWARSSTARWARS!!!111111111111111!!!2314151231!!!!!</blockquote>
I find my lack of hype reassuring. Failed too many times I've been.

[al kusanagi]

As happy as the new Star Wars trailer made me, the Batman vs Superman trailer did the complete opposite. What a complete piece of fucking garbage. DC needs to ditch that hack Snyder and his "vision" and hire someone who has actually read a single comic featuring the characters the movie is supposed to be about.
 
PS. Did you know Superman is supposed to be Jesus? I wasn't quite sure at first, but I got it around the 900th fucking time Snyder smacked me in the face with it!!!

[Ap2000]

[quote="aine"]
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Al Kusanagi" data-cid="187239" data-time="1429213934">
STARWARSSTARWARSSTARWARSSTARWARS!!!111111111111111!!!2314151231!!!!!
</blockquote>


I find my lack of hype reassuring. Failed too many times I've been.
 
[/quote]
 

It's a new Star Wars movie and Lucas is in absolutely no way involved, I can't not be hyped for it.

[Ap2000]

This is so good. This is so fucking good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc71YvWG0GQ

[aine]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Ap2000" data-cid="187586" data-time="1430341561">This is so good. This is so fucking good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc71YvWG0GQ</blockquote>
Strawberry didn't want to see Stalker with me in a theatre.

[Vikitty]

age of ultron was pretty solid. flawed in places, and some pacing issues, but it was so entertaining and intense. loved it.

[Madara]

The great actor and filmmaker Orson Welles would have turned 100 yesterday, so I did a tribute to him on my film blog:
https://briandanacamp.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/orson-welles-centennial/
In film school, Welles was like a god to us.
 
He directed CITIZEN KANE at the age of 25 and changed the face of Hollywood cinema, although he spent decades afterward trying to live up to his reputation.  

 
Here he is as Macbeth in 1948:

 
He died in 1985 and his friends and associates are still trying to finish his last film. Here's a piece in today's New York Times on the efforts involved:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/business/media/producers-turn-to-indiegogo-to-finance-orson-welless-final-film.html?ref=todayspaper

[Madara]

Today, Saturday, May 16, 2015, is National Classic Film Day and film bloggers have been invited to write about a favorite film today. I picked the romantic fantasy, PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (1948), which takes place in New York during the Depression and was largely shot on location there.
https://briandanacamp.wordpress.com/2015/05/16/favorite-classic-movie-blogathon-portrait-of-jennie-1948/#more-2526
 

 
Here's the link for the home page for the My Favorite Classic Movie Blogathon:
http://www.classicfilmtvcafe.com/2015/03/a-blogathon-in-celebration-of-inaugural.html
 
 

[Madara]

 
Studio Ghibli's latest film, WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE opened in NYC today. I hope you guys all get a chance to see it. I think it's the best Ghibli film since PRINCESS MONONOKE--18 years ago!
 
It's a love story, a ghost story, a coming-of-age story, an emotional spectacle with echoes of KIKI, TOTORO, SPIRITED AWAY and, esp. ONLY YESTERDAY (which not enough of you have seen). I'd rather not tell you any more about it. It's best to not know what to expect.
 

[WonderBuono]

I saw Tomorrowland today. I had high hopes for it since I love Brad Bird (and pretty much anyone else who has ever worked with Pixar, haha). It was cute, but it was definitely his weakest film. The beginning was pretty awkward, but it mostly got better after that. Several scenes looked REALLY GOOD, like those fast-paced scenes were the whole reason I went to see the movie. So yeah, it was kinda weird but it was nice to see a fresh, new idea come from Disney (even if it was inspired by an old park attraction, I guess). Now I must brace myself for all the live-action-remakes-of-classic-animated-movies that are going to be coming out in the next few years. Meh.

[Madara]

I wrote about WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE on my film blog:
 
https://briandanacamp.wordpress.com/2015/05/24/when-marnie-was-there-best-ghibli-film-since-mononoke/#more-2588
 

 
At the end of the piece, I include a link to the video for the lovely end song accompanying the movie, "Fine on the Outside," written and performed by Priscilla Ahn, an American.