General Movies Thread

[Ideofago]

Also, the flooding plot point was also in Dark Knight Returns. Also, the giving her special treatment part could very well just be him trying to take advantage of her. Manipulative folks don't manipulate by beating your teeth in from the get go, that's usually stage 5. Also, I didn't notice any fanfares about his identity at all. Who was Elliot again?

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Oh, the reporter guy. Meh, that part was more about forging the connection between Bruce and Falcone anyways, if you don't know who Hush or Elliot is then the problem just ceases to exist.

[Mattias]

It wasn't so much fanfare as it was the camera pointedly avoiding showing his face for so long. It's the kind of shots you see when the villain is actually an old ally or someone of significance.

if you don't know who Hush or Elliot is then the problem just ceases to exist.

This is a bit of an issue in most modern movies. On one hand, you're absolutely right, knowledge of the source shouldn't have any effect on the adaption and should be treated as a stand alone entry. On the other hand, embracing that ideal also gets us things like ScarJo's Ghost in the Shell, Netflix Cowboy Bebop, or that Willim Defoe Death Note. It's a really fine line to walk, trying to throw out references to appeal to the fans, but not change things enough to piss them off. and it's a different line for every person, for every property. In the MCU, I loved when they made the Manderin a drunken figurehead, but I also hate what looks to be happening in Ms Marvel.

[Ideofago]

I think it's less about his actual identity and more a thematic emphasis on the role of masks in Batman.

I agree with the issue as well, but when critiquing, there must a difference be made between types of opinion. Critique subsists on the opinion and judgement of what we believe a work is trying to achieve, and how well it does so. What it should have done is a very fine line to walk, as it can very well veer away from what it should have done to better realise its vision, to what it should have done for me to like it more. I think this specific complaint about their interpretation of the Riddler falls to the latter rather than the former.

[Mattias]

In this case it definitely does. Normally the proper critiques are more about streamlining plot or adding character depths/engagements. Wholesale plot rewrites and armchair directing normally fall into the second.

[Ideofago]

Also, I just watched the joker scene and I agree with the decision to keep it out. It's very good in establishing themes and fleshing out things, but joker is too heavy a character to just drop and would've probably just been to ping-pong of as scene.

[Mattias]

It does help foreshadow the "I am Vengance" bit, though you also get that from the Riddler interrogation anyways. It would turn it from a "What have I been doing if he thinks this" into "They was right and I just didn't want to see it".

[Skull]

Poster

I felt the urge to watch a swashbuckling epic, and so I put on "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" (1958), the first in Ray Harryhausen's Sinbad "Trilogy" - the inverted commas to mean that despite the three films being about Sinbad, they have nothing to do with each other (in narrative, directors or casting) aside from the use of "Dynamation", a form of stop motion that Harryhausen created to depict the monsters.

All that aside, the film itself was pretty good. The title is somewhat of a misnomer as it is not adapted from the Seventh Voyage but is rather a mash-up of Voyages Three and Five with some other elements thrown in from other Arabian Nights such as the genie and a treacherous magician. Kerwin Mathews flexes his charm as the charismatic Sinbad, definitely more heroic than usual depictions as he ventures to an island full of monsters in order to save a princess and stop an impending war. Joining (and later opposing him) is Torin Thatcher playing Sokurah the magician. I must confess that during the climax as Sinbad breaches the castle demanding the villain reveal himself, I could not unhear him shouting "Sakura, Sakura!!!" XD

I would say that the monsters by way of Dynamation look a bit dated, but it was apparently ground breaking special effects at the time and to its credit it doesn't look that bad compared to say Army of Darkness which came out about 35 years later. It also indirectly influenced Star Wars - not in a narrative sense like The Hidden Fortress did but rather when Phil Tippett saw the movie as a child, he decided to get into special effects which led to him being hired by George Lucas.

Regardless, a very enjoyable heroic adventure movie. Not intellectually deep or anything perhaps, but it's just plain good fun that just about anyone can enjoy~

[SpoonyViking]

Have you seen The Thief of Bagdad? It's very much in the same veins, though obviously it doesn't have Harryhausen's special effects. I highly recommend it!

[Namelesss]

I can't believe I'm about go see Doctor Mom, I can't believe they'll show a hollow moon mahoyo teaser at my theaters very excited.

[Skull]

Have you seen The Thief of Bagdad? It's very much in the same veins, though obviously it doesn't have Harryhausen's special effects. I highly recommend it!

Lol, you and I discussed that film after I reviewed it in this very thread something like two years ago.

[Random]

So there's going to be an action movie about the mythology of beekeeping.

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okay so it turns out if you look up the history of beekeeping it's absolutely nuts and I immediately take back my implicit ridicule

[Skull]

So there's going to be an action movie about the mythology of beekeeping.

Somewhere in the distance, Nick Cage is trembling with fear...

[SpoonyViking]

Lol, you and I discussed that film after I reviewed it in this very thread something like two years ago.

...Oops. :-P
Memory is the first thing to go. XD

[Mattias]

I just got back from Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Hot damn was that a fun movie about Nhilism, Parental Expectations, and Kung Fu.

Only open if you don't mind being spoiled on the best gags (and it's still sounds like nonsense)

There's the 2001: A Space Odyessy but with hotdog fingers, The Dildo Beatdown, the Butplug doubleteam, Racoon-atouie, lapdog meteor hammer, Pro wrestler Jamie Lee Curtis, and an emotional moment from a rock with googly eyes.

10/10 go see it. We're all weebs so you should be fine with the movie being subtitled have the time as the cast switches constantly from Chinese to English.

[ResidentSeagull]

Having watched the trailer, I wonder what everyone's thoughts on Avatar 2 finally getting released are?

[Skull]

Bruh, the first film came out in 2009. Any cares I could have towards a sequel are gone with the wind...

[Rafflesiac]

Having watched the trailer, I wonder what everyone's thoughts on Avatar 2 finally getting released are?

Mild surprise that it occurred.

[Mattias]

I wonder if it will come out and look like ass, because it was shot with top of the line technology 13 years ago.

[pinetree]

Bruh, the first film came out in 2009. Any cares I could have towards a sequel are gone with the wind...

I actually know people who are legitimately hyped for it. Crazy.

[ResidentSeagull]

To be clear I wasn't expecting anyone to be excited for it. I'm with Rafflesiac on my reaction to it.

If anything, I do think it'll at least look pretty and I think it'll be an enjoyable theater experience.