Movie Discussion Thread

The main franchise honestly doesn't feel like Starwars. I could care less about the next episode and don't plan to support anything done by Rian Johnson or even JJ Abrams who signed off on that train wreck. I'll Pay to see Gareth Edwards (Rogue One Director).

 

I saw the Last Jedi with my son yesterday. Full disclosure, I had never seen a Star Wars movie all the way through until my son got interested in them about 6 years ago. I'm 39 years old so that might be the reason, just too young to give a shit when they were originally released. The last Jedi fit right in with my expectations, I don't see it as being any different from any of the others - the prequels were the worst of the bunch but I don't think the original trilogy is much better and the new movies just seem like "fluffier" versions of the old trilogy.

I think i liked the Rogue movie the best, but that was more of a war movie if I recall correctly.

EDIT: That whole Leia flying though space thing is just the dumbest thing I have seen since watching and episode of the SYFY series "The Expanse" when a dude in space takes a big deep breath and basically takes his helmet of to adjust something and puts it right back on. It was also just super unnecessary. Why not just have her injured in an explosion or something?

 

Yeah, I think one place we all agree is on the prequels being garbage. I think a fair amount of us were children when the Originals came out, so they may have been more impactful or impressive to us.

 

This is what I think every time someone mentions the prequels.

 

I'm honestly not understanding the level of hate TLJ is getting. I really enjoyed it. I thought it was much better than than TFA but not as good as Rogue One. The fan backlash is really quite confusing in this case. Overall, the Disney films are vastly superior to Episodes 1, 2 and 3.

 

When they make Luke out to be a bitch, have things in the film that go outside the established realm of what's believable (Luke being a bitch, for one) in the very long established Starwars Universe AND give us asinine plots with often ridiculous dialogue and even worse attempts at jokes... basically they fucked up Starwars. They fucked it up. In large parts they even fucked it up on purpose with Luke delivering a soliloquy about the meaninglessness of the Jedi when he should of been out somewhere beating down Snoke with his 'laser sword' I walked out of the theater at 4AM feeling like I'd been told to go f**k myself, that this Starwars isn't for Starwars fans, it's for people who want to congratulate themselves for being able to appreciate the 'bold risk taking' and the 'diversity' and the 'lack of fan service' while excusing the fact that a tremendous amount of what was said and done in this move made no sense.

That people are telling Disney that they will cheer for a movie so full of nonsensical story and absurd dialogue and humor has me worried for other Disney owned franchises, Marvel, Pixar, Fox, etc. In other words, yes, this movie and the acceptance of it may have single handedly ruined the genre of movies for anyone actually expects movies to make any sense.

Damnit.

 

Meh. TFA was fan service. It basically was a big budget fan film. It was trying so hard to be a nostalgia circle jerk. I actually found it quite dull. At least TLJ was trying to shake things up a bit. The only way I can tolerate one of these cash grabs every year is if they take risks. Fans need to stop acting like Star Wars has been ruined by TLJ. It's just bandwagon hysteria. Plus Lucas already desecrated Star Wars with the prequels so they should be thankful that the new films are a big improvement.

The bigger tragedy this year was that no one turned out for Blade Runner. The industry needed that film to succeed. Bold big budget sci fi died with that film. Star Wars will be fine. I'm more worried about the slow death of new stories that are not tied to established franchises. That's what we should really be pissed about.

 

I'm not attached to Star Wars at all. But TLJ was one of the few movies that I actually was hoping to fall asleep during, right in the middle of the movie. It was bad.

 

I don't so much think that TFA was intended as fan service so much as Abrams playing it very very safe with a plot that deliberately mirrored New Hope in the attempt to put out a film that felt like Star Wars again after the prequels had been so distinctly un-Starwarsy. This one swung way to far the other way and they put out a movie that doesn't even make sense. Also, what's wrong with fan service, with giving the people what they paid to see?

I get the argument against predictable and repetitive. Shaking things up is fine, but it needs to be done well. Again, absurd or meaningless plots, horrible and misplaced attempts at humor, stuff going on that just would never happen in a 'Real' Starwars movie (Leia in Space, nearly assassinating and then abandoning a still conflicted Ben/Kylo). These are the same people who saw their much further gone father come back, and now they're giving up on Leia's Son? ...Blow me.

A script that is unexpected and incoherent is still... incoherent. Some people are baffled that the negativity is so strong. I and Many like me are baffled that anyone would even accept such dumb plot lines, jokes, and characters, especially at the expense of what could have been an Awesome send off to (Yes) one of the most iconic movie characters ever. You can do Vader, Chewie, Yoda, R2 and C3P0 forever. They only had one chance at Luke's last chapter and they spent it with him on an Island pissing on the Jedi? Fuuuuck Off...

 

Read the whole thread on Jedi and many of you make excellent points. Here's mine:

This is personal so turn away from the spoilers if you must. The movie basically reminded me of the time I almost lost my virginity to the hottest girl I ever dated only to have my little sister walk into the room without knocking literally right before it happened.

It never happened, with her anyway. A lot of living between then and now, but I'll never get that one back.

So, pretty much Luke. We will never get that back barring some masterful and imaginative story telling in the next movie and I don't know that I'll pay to watch it.

I've got a lot, lot more but don't feel like putting the spoiler tag up. I will say that I disliked it so much that I find the whole negative conspiracy theory absurd and would be more inclined to believe the positive impressions where paid for…not to disparage anyone that really liked the movie.

Also, I am going to buy episodes 1-3. I swore I would never do it. My fondest memory from Phantom Menace was finger banging the same aforementioned now middle aged, if not dead, chick in the theater. The dialogue sucked from what I can remember and mito-whatevers are still absurd, Binks still sucks, but I do remember Obi-Wan's last stand against Maul. The race subplot actually contributed to the plot even if the premise was absurd. Finally, I wanted to see what happened to Obi Wan in the next movie. In current form, I really don't care what happens to anyone but maybe Chewie and I would bet he dies in the next episode from appendicitis or a really bad stubbed tow.

 

Saw La La Land last night and damn, I'm impressed. What an interesting and well crafted film, it really blurs the line between a drama and a musical. It's very "dreamy" and I'm pretty sure not everyone will like it, some will probably hate it. But I really liked it, I don't think there's ever been a film quite like it.

Then I found out that the director, Damien Chazelle, is also the writer. And he's also the same guy that wrote and directed Whiplash, and he's just 32 years old. Holy crap I'm impressed, this guy is going places. If he keeps making films of this caliber he's going to end up one of the all time heavy weight directors along the lines of Kubrick and Coppola.

 

It's arguably my favorite movie ever.

Resonated with me not just as a fine piece of cinematic work that I was hugely impressed by (on a technical and creative standpoint), but also on a personal level, some of the main themes explored throughout the film really hit me hard.

It's hard to sum up all that I love about this film. To be as concise as possible: how music and film were interwoven so adroitly. The injection of new ideas alongside paying homage to the classics. Also Emma Stone, wow.

 

I saw TLJ this weekend...

Compared to The Empire Strikes Back or even Rogue One, TLJ (for me) was too much of an action flick. It reminded me more of a Transformers movie than an installment of Star Wars.

I didn't hate it but haven't made any plans to see it again (unlike all the previous SW movies)...

 

Any horror fan around here?

I seldom catch movies after i got married since my wife is not a movie fan. Any good horrors lately?

 

Try "Get Out" if you haven't already, though it's more of a thriller than horror. Love this movie to bits!

 

Will do! Thanks.

I heard Insidious 3 is coming out. Hhmm.

 

I was supposed to go see TLJ with friends on Wednesday. I ended up not going. Talked to him tonight. He nodded off during the casino scene and the guy sitting next to him feel asleep for most of the movie. He thought it was one of the worst movies he’s seen. Not SW’s movies, but in general, was just a mess. On the way out my other friend said WTF was that. Glad I saved my money.

 

I happen to be a movie buff who watches at least one movie a week. These are my favorite films of 2017.

Kimi no Na wa.
La La Land
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Koe no Katachi
Get Out
Dunkirk
It
Blade Runner 2049
Steel Rain

 

Technically, La La Land should be considered a film from 2016, no? Unless I guess you meant films that you watched in 2017?

On that topic, I caught many films released in 2016 during a recent movie binge, and felt that on the overall, it was a far greater year in cinema as compared to 2017. Though I'm expecting to see Lady Bird, Columbus, and The Shape of Water in the next month-ish or so, so that opinion is still somewhat open to change.

My picks for films that I managed to see this year?

Manchester-By-The-Sea - Acting of the highest order. That one scene with Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams blew me away. Nuanced storytelling at its finest. The concept of this film was audaciously simple, to the point where it was so easy to fail and fall apart. Kenneth Lonergan did a masterful job at the helm.

La La Land - I can't find a single thing that I don't love about this film. The themes explored throughout really resonated with me. The essence of LA was perfectly captured, at least according to my memory of it. I have never ruminated so deeply about a film ever before and ever since, and this is unquestionably my subjective favorite movie in a long long time, maybe ever.

Dunkirk - Had somewhat guarded expectations after Nolan's last two disappointments with TDKR and Interstellar. Ended up watching this 4 times in total. Somewhat of a hybrid film-documentary. A brutally honest and authentic portrayal of the chaos and horror of combat. Aerial scenes with the Spitfires made my hairs stand on ends. My favorite war film of all time.