Movie Discussion Thread

The Intruder. For the most part this was a very plain movie but Dennis Quaid was just great. He totally made this movie worth watching.

 

So it's official... there's a 4th Matrix film on the way, with Reeves, Moss and Lana Wachowski returning.

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/matrix-4-keanu-reeves-carrie-anne-moss-lana-wachowski-1203307955/

Not sure how I feel about this. The first film is obviously a once in a lifetime brilliant work of art, but the sequels are garbage... there are good things about them to admire, but they are the Star Wars prequels of the Matrix franchise. Great ideas without the elegant simplicity the first film is famous for.

I feel like the filmmakers were under a much tighter leash for film #1 and got too much creativite freedom for the sequels, a common problem which usually results in bad sequels. As a result the sequels felt like a philosophy term paper slapped together into some kind of threadbare narrative, with an overabundance of cartoonish CGI (although I thought the CGI was much better handled in Revolutions).

I hope the studio is a bit more strict this time around. Brilliant ideas need a foundation of practical storytelling tropes.

 

You know more about the studio/budget/production factors behind these films than I do. But speaking strictly about actors, I've seen some amazing recent work by Keanu Reeves & Carrie-Anne Moss; both are at a peak of acting prowess & creativity. IMO their acting is better technically and richer emotionally than in the MATRIX days. So I'd love to see a 4th film, so long as it doesn't go down the CGi rabbit-hole & fail to put humanity front & center, as too many special effects epics tend to do now.

 

The first film is pretty great but is dragged down for me by association with the sequels, I wish I could unwatch them.

 

It'll be interesting to see the different qualities they bring with age now that nearly 15 years has gone by since the last one. Reeves certainly doesnt need to play much catch up with getting into shape, judging by the John Wick movies.

Wonder why Fishburne isn't coming back. Honestly even more than Reeves I thought he was the rock of the franchise. His cool, calm but authoritative vibe was one of the highlights. Though I hated what they did with him in the third film... relegated to more of a sidekick role, taking orders and barely able to keep up. Bleh.

 

Jesus this looks awful. We're a long way from T2 (the best action film ever made)

 

I actually have higher hopes for this than the new Matrix.

Then again I kinda liked Annabelle Comes Home too lol.

 

Suddenly I'm reminded of ORPHAN. Anyone remember that? It was ~10 yrs ago, a satisfyingly scary and disturbing little B movie. It didn't break any new ground, but gave me a charge, sitting there in the dark with my popcorn...

Can't wait to see READY OR NOT when I get home from vaca. Based on things I've read, it looks to be right up my (trash-strewn, crime-infested) alley.

 

They may as well have just shown a carton of milk with the word "franchise" stamped on it at the beginning and saved me the trouble.

Garbage from top to bottom. I can't believe Cameron is actually putting his name on this shit. It checks every generic action blockbuster/woke culture check box there is.

Maybe the film is great, but that trailer makes me not wanna see it. I'll skip it like I did the last one unless reviews are stellar.

And yeah Matrix 4 will probably be trash. I haven't liked a single thing the Wachowski's did after the first film.

 

Franchise/sequential films generally suck. We all know this, but nonetheless rush to put down $$ to see the latest edition of whatever franchise they're serially reanimating.

But there are exceptions, franchises that are consistently good...even cases where the 2nd or even 3rd film bettered the 1st. Off the top of my head, I can think of 2 consistently good franchises:

TRANSPORTER: The 1st film was perfection, but the 2nd, while not as good, had much to recommend it, particularly the very bad baddies. And Jason Statham. Did I mention him?

BOURNE: All 3 films that star Matt Damon are superlative. The 1st (THE BOURNE IDENTITY) was a wonderful surprise...I'd read fiction like this, but hadn't seen it done so well onscreen. But the 3rd film (THE BOURNE ULTIMATIM) is a revelation, among the most thrilling of all thrillers I've seen. I watch it about once a month, and each time, have difficulty pausing the film. It feels like one long, unbroken scene of ever-mounting stress and danger. The chase scene with Bourne in pursuit of Desh, who's in pursuit of Nicki Parsons, is a tour de force of editing & cinematography--as is the early pursuit scene in Waterloo Station.

There are several additional pleasures with the Bourne series:

1. Joan Allen: It's a cliche, but I'd watch her read the phone book. And in the Bourne franchise, she has a dream role for character acting: the most principled player (and whip-smart) in a rigged, unprincipled game
2. David Straithairn: He's one of our greatest living actors, the kind who disappears into character roles. in the 3rd film he plays one of the great amoral bad guys in film.
3. I even like the 4th film that stars Jeremy Renner. It's not top-of-the-line but it's very good.

Anyone else care to jump in?

 

The Bourne trilogy is indeed the rare franchise that doesn't really misstep.

I'd add the Back to the Future trilogy is superlative from top to bottom. The sequels are about as good as you can expect from sequels.

Alien/Aliens
Rocky 1/2/3/4
Terminator 1/2
Star Wars OT

Predator 2 despite being a cheese-fest is quite good for what it's trying to do.

 

Maybe we can all agree the new Joker film looks great?

 

Yes Straithaim is indeed magnificent. Wonderful, underappreciated clutch actor.

Happened to be watching him now in Good Night and Good Luck.

 

Regret to admit I've missed nearly all of Strathairn's most praised films, including the one you name. The first time I really noticed him was in L.A. CONFIDENTIAL. He was young, handsome, and veiled...hard to tell whether he was a good or bad character (I like that). As he aged he became a very convincing amoral bad guy (2 BOURNE films); also has taken to playing military commanders (2 GODZILLA films).

I need to watch his earlier films, especially those w/John Sayles.

 

Also great in The River Wild as Meryl Streep's husband.

 

Don't give me shit for saying this, I don't think they are amazing or anything, but you know what franchise gets overlooked: Mission Impossible. Those are some entertaining popcorn flicks and each successive film is better than the last. It's too bad the Bond films don't have the same consistency.

What else...trilogies are easier than franchises, like The Dollars Trilogy or Before Trilogy for pure excellence. Maybe Mad Max.

I have a soft spot for those Kung Fu Panda movies.

 

I'd argue the Mission Impossible films didn't become successively better until part 4 (Ghost Protocol). Part one was excellent, two was garbage, three was passable but looked like a TV movie. They didn't seem to really hit their stride until Brad Bird and Chris McQuarrie came aboard.

 

No matter how many times I watch Karyn Kusama's excellent The Invitation, there's always a lingering sense of dread that grabs hold. This is highly highly recommend and is on Netflix.

 

Tonight it's Orson Welles' visual tour de force The Stranger. Absolutely visually stunning from beginning to end. Welles had a particular gift for visual composition and inventive camera blocking (where the actors and environment are relative to the camera).

 

The new Motown documentary on Showtime called Hitsville: The Making of Motown is absolutely fantastic. I’ve seen lots of Motown docs but this one has a ton of vintage clips I’d never seen before including the clip of Little Stevie Wonder singing Fingertips Pt 2 at the Apollo - the video of the live performance which became the hit record. Worth checking out