General Movies Thread

[AsGryffynn]

Joker might be nearing one billion in revenue soon. If so, can't wait for the "told you so" that the MCU fanboys will get.

[Deathhappens]

Edge of Tomorrow was legitimately good though. Forgoes the downer ending of the original work for a more Hollywood ending, sure, but still really fun and well made.

Edge of Tomorrow was utterly terrible and a disgrace to the original novel. Hell, even Ghost in the Shell did it better.

Edit: To clarify, it being terrible and it being a disgrace to the original are two separate sins. It would still be terrible even if it was original, because it was anything but "original".

[Mattias]

Originality isn't a must have. A very well made conventional story is still good. John Wick was great, even though it's just 1999's Payback.

That said, Ghost in the Shell definitely missed way harder than Egde of Tommorrow did. Both got Hollywood-ized, but at least people were trying in EoT. GitS felt like no one wanted to be there.

[Skull]

The Invisible Man looks really good. Shame I feel like I've watched the entire movie after seeing that trailer.

Also, people who make trailers take note - if the first half of a movie is playing coy around whether the supernatural elements are in someone's head... don't give away the answer in the trailer.

[Mattias]

Terminator Dark Fate is a pretty decent movie. A little bit too many action set pieces, but overall works out okay.

The weird thing is how the Terminator movies keep flip flopping on their ideal every movie. T1 was huge into fate and destiny. T2 was all about fighting fate and making a better world. T3 goes back to accepting the inevitable. Salvation substitutes fate and destiny for programing, but is all about going against the grain. Now this one is back to Destiny.

[SpoonyViking]

It's almost like they should have stopped at the first sequel... :-P And honestly, much as I think it's a really good movie, I think the first one was its superior in many ways.

[ballinamon]

I watched the movie I think is better that the last 2, what is not so much praise because both of them were kind of bad. T3 Terminator chick is still the most difficult to deal and powerful Terminator, but this one came second.

[Mattias]

Jojo Rabbit is a good movie that is really hard to categorize. It's primarily a love story, but with absurdist comedy, Nazi satire, and overt anachronistic speech in places. Also occasionally super depressing.

But it also has Sam Rockwell as an alcoholic soldier resenting being forced into non-combat roles because of injury, as the comic relief. So 10/10.

And Rebel Wilson is a goddamn monster.

[SpoonyViking]

John Leguizamo as the Clown in the Spawn movie is actually good. I mean, the movie is a mess, but that's not his fault.

[Skull]

Really? 4 is the finale? After Donnie Yen said 2 was the last one and then 3 was the end of the trilogy...when's 5 then?

[LegalLoliLover]

This is OK, but I would much rather prefer a movie about the Taiping Rebellion in the style of Makai Tensho. It wouldn't likely be made in mainland China, though, given that the Chinese Commies have this weird thing where they are bothered if you combine history and fantasy (but have done so far already established works, such as Journey to the West or 3 Kingdoms).

[Skull]

Watched "Blade Runner" for the very first time, the Final Cut by the way.

Very interesting experience. I really adored the visual style thanks to the late Syd Mead. The performance by the main antagonist at the end was especially captivating.

And as for the eternal question...no I do not subscribe to the theory that Deckard was secretly a Replicant. In my mind it completely undermines the whole theme the film was trying to convey, not to mention it wasn't foreshaddowed at all.

[SpoonyViking]

It was very, very vaguely foreshadowed with the unicorn dream, but I agree - Deckard being a replicant is stupid.

[Skull]

It was very, very vaguely foreshadowed with the unicorn dream.

How?

[Mattias]

IIRC the unicorn dreams (which are actually unused footage from another movie they had lying around) imply that the guy who made them knew what Deckard was dreaming about, because it was programmed into him.

[SeiKeo]

Being trapped in the 'is Deckard a Replicant' discourse ironically even gets made fun of by 2049, but I still think this is something that you should know from the original movie to not worry about per se

[Skull]

Spent a lazy afternoon watching the "Phantom of the Opera" (1943). Notably the only Universal horror film to win an Oscar.

That said, they definitely toned down the "horror" elements as "Erique" (dunno why they changed his name) is presented as a rather plain violinist at first as his descent into madness and ultimate disfigurement takes up around the first third of the film. Even after becoming "The Phantom", he's portrayed more as a cunning opportunist and murderer known to everyone rather than an urban legend haunting the Palais Garnier that everyone doesn't believe. The opera scenes themselves were a bit self indulgent, I was half convinced I was watching a musical at points as there were several long scenes with almost no dialogue other than singing.

As for the characters, they ramped up the comedy bits quite a fair part - especially when it comes to Raoul trying to woo Christine only for Garron to get in the way as a running gag...culminating in Raoul dryly asking Garron out to dinner in the epilogue after Christine blows off both of their invitations. As for Christine herself I have mixed feelings, on the one hand I liked that she wasn't as much of a damsel in distress as the original novel...but at the same time by stripping out a lot of her earlier scenes it robs her of much of her character as a whole - in particular her tragic relationship with her father which pushes her into the arms of the Phantom in the first place is completely excised. On a side note, it was a bit weird but kinda cool to have Fritz Leiber cameoing as Franz Lizt even if it was a bit ahistorical.


All in all, it was a pretty good film on its own merits. Just don't go in expecting the masterpiece of horror that the '25 version was. I give it two thumbs (wearing opera masks) up.

[Skull]

*Chants in Ancient Egyptian...*



So continuing my foray into the Universal Horror canon, I watched "The Mummy" from 1932. Completely pointless trivia but it's interesting to know that this movie was originally planned to be a Cagliostro movie until several revisions.

Anyways, onto the movie itself. Put real basically, it's pretty much the reverse of the Brendan Frazier remake - whereas in the remake Imhotep only comes to life after the tomb is opened and spends most of the movie *as* a mummy who is hunting for body parts to become human...the original has Imhotep's sarcophagus discovered separately and he almost immediately assumes a human disguise as "Ardath Bay" who acts as the treacherous adviser leading the archaeologists to the Princess' tomb so they can do the dirty work for him as he slowly kills them off one by one whilst making it look like accidents. Boris Karloff does a very good job as the creepy yet charismatic Imhotep.

Obviously being a movie from the thirties there isn't much in the way of action, with the climax having the protagonist be a glorified distraction whilst the trapped heroine of all people is the one to kick Imhotep's ass by praying to the Gods who make him go poof. But regardless the acting is all very solid and definitely worth a watch even if you've seen the remakes.

I give it two bandaged thumbs up.

[Mattias]

I saw it as a double feature with Lon Cheney's Wolfman a few years ago in my local theater. It was really slow as a movie, even though it was only an hour long. Karloff was great, but everyone else felt all over the place. Part of that might just be the fact that Wolfman was such an energetic movie in comparison and I saw the literally back to back.

[Skull]

Believe it or not, Griffin is Universal's deadliest monster...despite being a mere man. Makes you think don't it?



So apparently the 2020 remake of "The Invisible Man" came out coincidentally a few days ago so I decided to bump the 1933 original to be the next to watch. Funnily enough Boris Karloff was going to play Griffin but didn't want to take a paycut so Claude Rains takes the role instead. Another interesting bit of trivia is the MC is called "Jack" and the heroine being played by Gloria Stuart who is probably best known for Old!Rose in Titanic - "I'll never let go Jack!" XD

I haven't read the H.G Wells novel so I unfortunately can't compare it against the film. But on the whole I enjoyed it a lot, Claude Rains seemed to have a lot of fun playing the insane scientist who one moment is playing harmless pranks like pantsing people only for the next moment is killing hundreds of people while singing children's songs. He kinda steals the show as the other characters aren't quite as memorable. The special effects were really good and surprisingly held up even by today's standards.

Another very good film. I'd give it two invisible thumbs up. Three Universal movies down, five to go...