Movies, Movies, Movies!

[Set2Stun]

Gotta create a new movie discussion thread here.

This week I decided to go through the Star Wars prequel trilogy again before finishing up the Andor series and rewatching Rogue One. Aaaaand they're not great!

I still want to toss child Anakin into a sarlacc pit, and I'd love to see a scene where Jar-Jar gets tortured to death, but it's still an entertaining movie overall. Dumb lore, horrible dialogue, cartoonish CGI throughout definitely hurt the picture, but there are some very good parts, like the pod race and the Darth Maul fight. I can't imagine rewatching it anytime soon, though. Might be the last time.

Episode II is probably the weakest of the three, as a big focus is the absolutely cringey romance between Anakin and Padmé. There's simply no reason for her to be interested him as far as I can tell. He's a petulant child, a whiner, who's obsessive, possessive, and rather creepy. Plus, he hates sand. I will admit that the last 40 minutes of the movie are very cool and thrilling. Hate it all you want - the Yoda fight kicks ass.

I finished the last one yesterday evening, and I think it's the best of the three. It's not a cartoonish kid's movie; it's dark, disturbing, and at times shockingly violent. There are still some silly moments, such as, "I have the high ground!" but there's a lot more good than bad here. It did suffer a bit by our knowing which characters were going to live, whereas in Episode I we're not really sure outside of the main core.

I haven't seen Rogue One for a while now. Looking forward to revisiting it !

 

[Naja Noir]

The child Anakin didn't bother me as much as he bothered others. And though I found Jar Jar a bit, jarring at times, I don't hate him either. I love the theory that suggests he was a hidden Sith Lord. Make those rewatches interesting anyhow.

I'm a Star Wars fan, not quite a nerd, but a fan and have read a couple of the "Legends" books, Darth Plagueis" being my favorite, though it's Vader who I find myself often quoting. I'm admittedly not one to normally root for the bad guys, (they are evil yes) but I get really tired of the dogmatic Jedi. Their need for total control of the galaxy is quite dystopian to my mind. I have rooted for them, sure, but when I start a rewatch lately, I always just feel pretty, "meh" about the Jedi.

I agree the last one of the three is by far the best. I know people didn't care for the actor, but watching him go dark and transform are some of my favorite moments out of the entire franchise.


I'm a sucker for Sci-FI movies, where new worlds are explored in fantastical detail. I watched first Dune, loved it, but not gotten back to it. I suppose I will at some point.

Haven't watched the Netflix show/miniseries Rebel Moon yet. I'm thinking that's where I'm headed though.

Got any good sci-fi recommendations? Movies or miniseries?

 

[Set2Stun]

Yeah I can see why the Jedi can be seen as stuffy scolds. Still better than being genocidal space nazis though

The two recent Dune movies are awesome. Had to get copies on 4K since I do plan on watching them many more times. I thought Rebel Moon was okay, not amazing or anything, but as you mentioned it's fun to explore new universes. I don't think it deserved the hate that it got, but it's sounding like Netflix is going to bail on the franchise after just the two movies.

A really neat sci-fi movie that I like to recommend is Prospect. It's a few years old now but it still feels like no one knows about it, even though one of the leads is the ubiquitous Pedro Pascal. There's also a new series of Love, Death + Robots which I will be viewing immediately once I resub to flix. I still gotta make the most of my Apple, Crave, and D+ subs before they expire.

 

[DLC]

I love Lord of the Rings. I cannot express my disappointment at that abomination they put on Prime. They turned Galadriel into Anime Girlboss and totally forgot she's already married to a guy named Celeborn. Then it gets worse. So I gave up midway thru the 2nd episode. Muh lore.

 

[Set2Stun]

I love Lord of the Rings. I cannot express my disappointment at that abomination they put on Prime. They turned Galadriel into Anime Girlboss and totally forgot she's already married to a guy named Celeborn. Then it gets worse. So I gave up midway thru the 2nd episode. Muh lore.

I tried SO HARD to love this show. I ignored all the nonsense as best I could and tried to focus on the good bits. I did not finish the third episode of season 2 and I haven't looked back. So very sad and disappointing. It's quite the feat to make a LotR project worse than the Hobbit movies, yet here we are.

Got the LotR extended edition discs on 4K a while ago, so I'll just keep watching those instead.

Question - Which is the best LotR movie?

I think it has to be Fellowship.

 

[Luxuria]

I understand how you feel about the prequels. I loved them when I was young (and yes, Jar Jar. Not going to lie. I was a kid.) But I think the thing that bothers me most about the prequels is that it is all the scenes you didn't need in a book? Like it's all people TALKING about what they did, not showing what they did. The best example is when Anakin and Obi-Wan (Does it have a dash?) are talking in the elevator in #2. It's a very short scene, but Anakin's saying:
"Remember the time we got caught in that alien animal nest and I had to save you?"

And me, the viewer am like, "couldn't we see that? Instead of this boring elevator ride to another scene of talking?" It's like ALL the action happens off screen. And when it DOES, it's...okay. I think George wrote the thing ass backwards. I still love the films, but we didn't NEED to see the trade negotiations go wrong in #1. We could have SHOWED the bad things happening on Naboo. Like, the Prequels are "Anakin and Obi-wan reminisce on the good ol' days while being forced to deal with government affairs."

That's really all.

Also, Anakin's fall to the Dark Side was TOO fast. Like, the time spans in the movies is crazy.

 

[Set2Stun]

Last night I watched Mickey 17. I'll always make it a point to check out the latest science fiction flicks on streaming, as I am a huge sicko for such things.

The premise is so good. Excellent beginning, hooked me right in as a movie should. The first quarter was quite compelling and I felt like I'd be telling everyone to watch this one after the credits started rolling.

Buuuut it kinda fell apart for me. I don't think I can really recommend it. The main thing that ruined it for me was:

Spoiler

Mark Ruffalo's awful, annoying Trump impression. There are better ways to make this satirical and darkly funny. This was a horrendous choice. His wife and partner in crime, played by Toni Collette, was also quite grating. I don't know how much screen time they actually had, but it certainly felt like way, way too much. Really derailed the whole thing for me. Unfortunate !

I thought the aliens were pretty cool, and Robert Pattinson was cookin' a bit, but ultimately this was a letdown. Too bad !

 

[Oscar Leigh]

Reluctantly, I must admit the Thunderbolts movie is actually quite good. Julia Louis-Dreyfus slays of course.

 

[Pik]

I liked the new Star Wars trilogy (prequel) and didn't watch most of the SW films/series after that. Rings of Power (watching season 2) and the LotR animation was fun though I only read part of the trilogy and not the other books (Silmarillion, The Hobbit etc). And Dune was okay (another book I didn't read :I, I'm more used to reading other genres but feel like eventually reading these too).

 

[DLC]

Rings of Power was so astoundingly bad. Bad as that absurd space witches Star Wars show. Nah, worse. I'll never make up my mind on this. Ever heard of this guy named Celeborn? Turning Galdriel into Girlboss Actual? Go Ratgirl!

 

[Set2Stun]

Rings of Power made me so sad. The production values really show. It's gorgeous, it's grand, epic. And it stinks and makes no sense.

I tried so so hard to like it, then to at least tolerate it as things got worse and worse, but I pulled the plug after the episode where they were trying to make the audience sympathize with the orcs - they have wives and children, and are being led astray by evil leaders! They themselves aren't evil! Give me a fucking break. I think that was the third episode of the second season. Simply could not take it anymore.

A fantasy world (or any imaginary world) needs to make sense in the universe in which it exists. If it doesn't, it pulls the audience right out of it. Don't get me started on the "Harfoots." It's like if in this world, a Japanese dude and a Ghanian woman got together and their child ended up with Indian features and spoke in a cockney accent. Just, huh?

And plenty of the "hooks" they went with were all about, "hey audience, who do you think *this* character is in those movies that you love??" Not interesting at all. Dumb. Do not like.

I could rant for a while on this subject but I should give it a rest.

 

[DLC]

I feel really sorry for the crew of that shit show - the set and costume people and so forth. I stopped midway through the 2nd ep. Sweet Baby Inc strikes again.

 

[Pik]

Didn't finish watching the season 2 yet but it's not too awful imo, I like the premise od needing to guess who Sauron was in the first season and the scenes showing the Wizard's early days, and some of the other characters like Elrond, the Dwarf love story, and the Orc leader. If I had read the books it's possible I wouldn't like the series as much, could be the series' target audience are not hardcore LotR fans but those who watched the films only or don't have previous knowledge about any of it.

 

[Stuart Dren]

Recently...

Watched Ready or Not. Surprisingly good. One of the many movies in which the trailer makes it look bad. It had a habit of leading the viewer into thinking something absurd or improbable will happen, then reeling back right at the last second. Appreciated that.

John Carter of Mars was also good. Earnest pulp. Disney deserved more credit for than adaptation.

The Prestige was . . . dedicated. I liked it more for what it was attempting than what it achieved. For some reason, Christian Bale didn't sell me on his role. The rest was great. It had Michael Caine, too.

Nightmare Alley's composition as a story was beautiful, classic. Of course great acting and all that too.

 

[Set2Stun]

Watched Warfare last night. What a super-intense movie. I thought Black Hawk Down was a tough watch, but this one takes the cake. The realism, the screaming, the graphic violence. Won't be watching this one again, but it was quite the experience.

Can't help but feel for those highly-trained killing machines who were just a few years into becoming men, and going through such traumas that will be with them for the rest of their lives - physically and mentally.

I am sure there are criticisms about how it's not explained why these men were there, locally and from a wider perspective, or why there's virtually no perspectives offered from the Iraqis involved. But none of that matters imo - that's a different movie - this one is about these guys and this crazy event that they experienced and got through together.

I recommend it, but it's a tough watch to be sure.

 

[Sandor]

I've challenged myself to watch as many of the Westerns on Tubi as I can this Summer. Tubi's free, with ads, so I don't have to spend money on it. I spent money on the Criterion Channel for a bit but the subscription was a bit much for me right now. Tubi has a lot on it and they tend to rotate stuff. They also have a lot of the Italian Horror and Westerns froms the 60s and 70s I love so much. I'm currently going through the "Dollars" trilogy (A Fist Full of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly). Sergio Leone is a genius and I really appreciate his work. I think some of his scripts are a bit weak but that's not his fault. I'm going to watch "Toonstone" after which seems to be a low buget animated western from 2014. Hoping to bring something weird back to my movie club friends for them to enjoy.

I enjoyed "A Fist Full of Dollars" a bit, but "For a Few Dollars More" is way better. I found A Fist Full to be held back significantly by the lack of character development and actualization. It had some Jojo's Bizzare Adventure vibes in the fight scenes, suprisingly enough, a lot of outwitting people rather than just shooting them, which I appreciated. The ending was weak though, tbh.

John Carter of Mars was also good. Earnest pulp. Disney deserved more credit for than adaptation.

John Carter is one of my dad's favorite comfort films. I'm surpised I've found someone else who likes it. I'm glad!

 

[DLC]

A movie about two writers.

 

[DLC]

Watched Warfare last night. What a super-intense movie. I thought Black Hawk Down was a tough watch, but this one takes the cake. The realism, the screaming, the graphic violence. Won't be watching this one again, but it was quite the experience.

Can't help but feel for those highly-trained killing machines who were just a few years into becoming men, and going through such traumas that will be with them for the rest of their lives - physically and mentally.

I am sure there are criticisms about how it's not explained why these men were there, locally and from a wider perspective, or why there's virtually no perspectives offered from the Iraqis involved. But none of that matters imo - that's a different movie - this one is about these guys and this crazy event that they experienced and got through together.

I recommend it, but it's a tough watch to be sure.

 

[Set2Stun]

Oh yeah, I finally got to watch Come and See a couple years ago after I mentioned in a Discord how difficult a time I was having trying to watch this movie and was told it's on YouTube for free now. I'd been trying to find it for years on streaming and even tried downloading a few pirated versions, but none of them had subtitles !

That is another one of those "one and done" movies for sure. No desire to see it ever again lol.

 

[DLC]

No desire to see it ever again lol.

It's a masterpiece and not enough people are aware of it. The title's from the book of revelation, and the opening where he finds the gun is like he's pulling it from the underworld. It's largely told through people's faces, no need for constant Saving Private Ryan style blood and guts. That scene where they gather for a photo in the forest, it's astounding.