Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
YEP.
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Movie Time 2.0: TT mini reviews
- Thread starter Rascally Badger
- Start date
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- Tags
- movies
It's worth noting that while TMP came out after Star Wars, it 1) was the ultimate evolution of several projects that had been in development long before Star Wars came out, and 2) as a property with a legacy of its own that predates Star Wars, it very intentionally trying to set itself apart from Star Wars instead of lowering itself to becoming a Star Wars wannabe. And I'm very glad that it didn't. I like that Star Trek is not just a differently skinned Star Wars and that the two are distinct and bring different things to the table.
It's closer to 2hrs than 2.5, but I empathize with what you're putting down. As a kid, those flyby sections were maddening to sit through and it was my most-avoided and hated Star Trek movie because of it. However! I appreciate those overly long shots a lot more these days because of context. Both the context of the time when the film was made, and the context of current Trek. Those shots were overly gratuitous, even back in 1979. But it was also the first time really hardcore fans ever got to see extremely detailed images of the Enterprise. Back then, there was no internet, no Trek documentaries, no official Trek magazines, no Star Trek Experience, and most importantly no home video and no HDTV. All you had was blurry, analog, SDTV. You'd be considered very lucky and well-off to have had even a 19" color TV back then. So those long glamor shots of the Enterprise was just a very early form of fanservice, which I can respect. These days, modern film making is so frenetic and fast paced, that we just never get to see long establishing shots or flybys anymore of Star Trek ships. I don't need a 4 minute flyby, but just slowing down for even a few seconds with a stable perspective would do modern shows/films a world of wonder instead of fast moving, shaky cameras everywhere all the time.
If you ever are inclined to rewatch the movie at some point, consider hunting down the 2000s Director's Cut. It abbreviates all those lengthy flybys into a much easier to digest version of the film.
clarice
bebadosamba
*scraches beard, tilts head, scratches shoulder with the hand under the clothes*
Yeah! I think i'm going to watch Sanjuro next. I've never seen it. I'm also itching to watch Hidden Fortress again for some reason.
Yesterday i saw Margaret; it entered my category of Good Movies to Watch That I'll Never Think About Or Remember Seeing. It's a good category.
Quigley Down Under is an underrated little movie. Solid Alan Rickman villain performance, Laura San Giacomo giving her all in a role that is heart-felt and ill-considered, Tom Selleck is there reminding every one that he could have been Harrison Ford. I don't really want to unpack how the movie deals with Aboriginal Australians, which feels like standard 90's attempting to be progressive but actually being a little insulting, and also being too cowardly to draw the straight line between the Aboriginal Australians and Native Americans, and their colonizers penchant for genocide.
Olli
(he/him)
Drew Goddard wants to be Quentin Tarantino so bad in this one. The movie would have played out a bit better for me if that aspect was toned down a notch or two.
Purple
(She/Her)
It did not escape my notice, but Nomad was just a w’il guy. V’ger was a monster machine that dwarfed suns.
Phantoon
I cuss you bad
That always looks so cool. Sanjuro is also great, have you seen Seven Samurai? Another amazing film.
I actually quite like Bad Times at the El Royale, but discount Tarantino is about the only way to describe it.
clarice
bebadosamba
Yes, i have seen it! I liked it a lot. It moved me a bit, too. And yeah, love Mifune's mannerisms in Yojimbo/Sanjuro, haha.
I just saw Sanjuro and Hidden Fortress. I don't think the story in Hidden Fortress is that interesting to me, but it is shot in such a interesting way. I love all the walks in nature, all the bushes, tree branches, stones, streams, etc. And Sanjuro is a good addendum to Yojimbo.
jpfriction
(He, Him)
Now remember guys, grip it and rip it.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
The Tale of Zatoichi Continues
The next Zatoichi tale and a direct follow up to the first film. Its as good as the first but in different ways: I think the first one is a bit more poetic but this one is more action packed and moody. The premise is Zatoichi is hired to massage a prominent governor only to discover he's quite mad, albeit harmlessly. Nonetheless, his men don't want Zatoichi spreading the word and try to kill him. Meanwhile, a one-armed yakuza is hunting down Zatoichi on a much more personal mission. I was actually surprise we get this much backstory with the reveal that the one armed man is his brother who stole his girl and it has a great melodramatic finale and kind of a wonderfully abrupt ending. Its becoming more of an action series now, albeit one with more emphasis on moody build up to fights than the fights themselves, which is fine with me.
The next Zatoichi tale and a direct follow up to the first film. Its as good as the first but in different ways: I think the first one is a bit more poetic but this one is more action packed and moody. The premise is Zatoichi is hired to massage a prominent governor only to discover he's quite mad, albeit harmlessly. Nonetheless, his men don't want Zatoichi spreading the word and try to kill him. Meanwhile, a one-armed yakuza is hunting down Zatoichi on a much more personal mission. I was actually surprise we get this much backstory with the reveal that the one armed man is his brother who stole his girl and it has a great melodramatic finale and kind of a wonderfully abrupt ending. Its becoming more of an action series now, albeit one with more emphasis on moody build up to fights than the fights themselves, which is fine with me.
Disney Watch Continues with The Three Callabrellos, which I was relieved to see did not open with an unskippable ten second disclaimer apologizing for impending racism. It did have an unskippable five minute sequence of Donald Duck being uncomfortably horny for human women, however.
Movie was otherwise another collection of shorts all vaguely tied together with the pretext of Donald learning more about South America, this time he’s being friendly and inquisitive about everything instead of being such a bad tourist it could be considered a diplomatic crisis.
Ive also realized that subtitles are a necessity for anything with this much Donald Duck
Movie was otherwise another collection of shorts all vaguely tied together with the pretext of Donald learning more about South America, this time he’s being friendly and inquisitive about everything instead of being such a bad tourist it could be considered a diplomatic crisis.
Ive also realized that subtitles are a necessity for anything with this much Donald Duck
I watched the Editor from Astron 6. Its the first film from this group that I've seen.
I was kind of mixed on it.
The movie keys in on some gaillo tropes to good effect: cigarette smoke everywhere, red herrings, and occult imagery. However while watching the film, I couldn't help but wonder how the film would have turned out if they tried to make a serious gaillo instead of a parody.
Based on my reaction to the Editor, I think I would like the Void more than Psycho Goreman. But this collective clearly has talent. I plan to see more of their films at some point.
I was kind of mixed on it.
The movie keys in on some gaillo tropes to good effect: cigarette smoke everywhere, red herrings, and occult imagery. However while watching the film, I couldn't help but wonder how the film would have turned out if they tried to make a serious gaillo instead of a parody.
Based on my reaction to the Editor, I think I would like the Void more than Psycho Goreman. But this collective clearly has talent. I plan to see more of their films at some point.
I just recently watched this trending movie on Netflix called Space Sweepers. Went in knowing nothing about it. Turned out pretty good, but the real selling point for me was the seamless mix of languages thrown in the movie. Just felt really natural, something that makes sense to me as a part of the setting.
I would generally expect future settings to have more cultural intermixing and language mixing ala Blade Runner and Firefly. This movie sidesteps it by giving everyone universal translators, which lets them keep the nuances of their languages as it is in the current day rather than doing what Firefly tried to do by insinuating some Chinese/American mixed remnant empire and botched it by having everyone throw in some broken Chinese every now and then.
Anyways, what was really cool for me was seeing how much more Spanish I could naturally pick up, but what was especially cool was when one of the supporting characters spoken in Nigerian Pidgin English and I was likethis is a unix system, I know this "Whoa those language classes paid off, I kinda get what he's saying." Anyways, decent movie. Extra extra credit for actual good language representation instead of the usual of having some actor with no familiarity with the language butcher it. Special exception for Don Cheadle in Rush Hour 2, whose Cantonese was surprisingly decent.
I would generally expect future settings to have more cultural intermixing and language mixing ala Blade Runner and Firefly. This movie sidesteps it by giving everyone universal translators, which lets them keep the nuances of their languages as it is in the current day rather than doing what Firefly tried to do by insinuating some Chinese/American mixed remnant empire and botched it by having everyone throw in some broken Chinese every now and then.
Anyways, what was really cool for me was seeing how much more Spanish I could naturally pick up, but what was especially cool was when one of the supporting characters spoken in Nigerian Pidgin English and I was like
That wasn't the problem. The problem was that people were speaking Chinese, eating Chinese, wore Chinese-style clothing, etc. but with the notable absence of anyone actually Chinese.
Can anyone who understands cricket help me with the end of Lagaan?
In the final two overs, the British bowlers keep accidentally throwing wide, which I understand results in one run for the batters, but the number of runs they need exceeds the number of remaining deliveries in the match. In the final delivery, the hero hits it over the boundary for six runs to win the game. Why didn't the bowler throw another wide? Wikipedia says that a wide bowl doesn't count against the number of deliveries left in an over, but that doesn't seem to be the way it works in the movie. What am I missing?
In the final two overs, the British bowlers keep accidentally throwing wide, which I understand results in one run for the batters, but the number of runs they need exceeds the number of remaining deliveries in the match. In the final delivery, the hero hits it over the boundary for six runs to win the game. Why didn't the bowler throw another wide? Wikipedia says that a wide bowl doesn't count against the number of deliveries left in an over, but that doesn't seem to be the way it works in the movie. What am I missing?
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Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
The Parallax View
At this point, I feel like I've finally seen all of the major 70s era paranoid thrillers and this is definitely one of the bleakest of a bleak lot. I mean, even in all the other ones the protagonist lives. I would put it a little lower than Three Days of the Condor and much lower than The Conversation but its still a great little thriller and a film about a company doing headhunting for creepy loners in order to turn them into expendable paid assassins feels kind of upsettingly perfect for this era.
At this point, I feel like I've finally seen all of the major 70s era paranoid thrillers and this is definitely one of the bleakest of a bleak lot. I mean, even in all the other ones the protagonist lives. I would put it a little lower than Three Days of the Condor and much lower than The Conversation but its still a great little thriller and a film about a company doing headhunting for creepy loners in order to turn them into expendable paid assassins feels kind of upsettingly perfect for this era.
Phantoon
I cuss you bad
It's got bigger problems than that, from what I've read it's as close to the cricket of the time as the Yugi-oh anime was to the game
I actually found that but it doesn't say anything about what I was wondering. It's possible I was misunderstanding what was happening but I don't know why the British would be reacting negatively to those bowls if they were helping prevent the Indians from hitting their required runs per bowl.
Space Sweepers was a lot of fun and tightly written. Was kinda surprised how it's very explicitly about contemporary social issues. The best sci-fi is about the present etc etc. It did run a little long for my tastes and the emotional stuff was little heavy handed but otherwise a fine space opera that's worth the watching.
Metz forced me to watch The LLighthouse for the podcast. I'm very glad he did! One of my favorite watches of the past year. Whew what a film. If nothing else, it shows us how much we've been slacking at Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Metz forced me to watch The LLighthouse for the podcast. I'm very glad he did! One of my favorite watches of the past year. Whew what a film. If nothing else, it shows us how much we've been slacking at Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Why'd ye spill yer beans?
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Piglet's Big Movie
While I was lukewarm on the Tigger Movie, I ended up liking more than I thought. The Piglet movie is MUCH more of what I would expected; completely bland and dull and lacking in the charm that made the first Winnie the Pooh movie so charming. Its not like its AWFUL or even relying on pop culture references as its contemporaries. In fact, it even does what I wanted the last movie to do: make it more a series of vignettes. There's an overarching story about looking for Piglet (who isn't actually lost) and looking at Piglet's scrapbook and realizing how important he is to them through stories and the message of appreciating the people in your life whom you might have taken for granted is nice but it feels like every 5 minutes is a montage with one of the Carly Simon penned songs for the film and only about 1 song that's good (but it is pretty good). It even ends with what appears to be a Carly Simon music video and I like her OK but it feels at this point like they've really lost the thread of what makes Winnie the Pooh charming, instead with it being sort of a hollow simulacrum, one lovingly created but leading to nothing. So the next one I'm going to watch is the Heffalump one and I am not looking forward to that. Its probably got a big story and everything. But I'm determined to watch the Disney theatricals and I've heard the one that follows, Simply titled Winnie the Pooh, is actually good. Hope people are right about it.
While I was lukewarm on the Tigger Movie, I ended up liking more than I thought. The Piglet movie is MUCH more of what I would expected; completely bland and dull and lacking in the charm that made the first Winnie the Pooh movie so charming. Its not like its AWFUL or even relying on pop culture references as its contemporaries. In fact, it even does what I wanted the last movie to do: make it more a series of vignettes. There's an overarching story about looking for Piglet (who isn't actually lost) and looking at Piglet's scrapbook and realizing how important he is to them through stories and the message of appreciating the people in your life whom you might have taken for granted is nice but it feels like every 5 minutes is a montage with one of the Carly Simon penned songs for the film and only about 1 song that's good (but it is pretty good). It even ends with what appears to be a Carly Simon music video and I like her OK but it feels at this point like they've really lost the thread of what makes Winnie the Pooh charming, instead with it being sort of a hollow simulacrum, one lovingly created but leading to nothing. So the next one I'm going to watch is the Heffalump one and I am not looking forward to that. Its probably got a big story and everything. But I'm determined to watch the Disney theatricals and I've heard the one that follows, Simply titled Winnie the Pooh, is actually good. Hope people are right about it.
John
(he/him)
I watched this with my kids, after watching others like Totoro, Kiki, Ponyo, and Arrietty. Earwig was a definite disappointment compared to those, though my kids did laugh at more scenes than in the others. It felt more like a Dreamworks joint than a Pixar/Disney level film, but even the pacing was all weird. It seems like it's ramping up to something, and then just sort of ends.
Back in the early DVD era, one of the DVD evangelist websites (maybe The Digital Bits?) crowed about the Zatoichi series, and Netflix didn't offer them at the time. I ended up signing up with a company called Greencine that focused on indie films and imports, and rented a few. They were good, but nothing about it stuck with me long term. I thought they lost something when shifting from B&W to Color, but that could've just been my young aspiring film snobbery thinking that the old ways are best, or trying to compare to Kurosawa.
My partner and I watched Attack the Block for Valentines. Because why not? Anyway I enjoyed the adventures of Finn and The Thirteenth Doctor defending the projects from werewolves that ate glow-in-the-dark Otter Pops, with an appearance by Simon Pegg's best bud. It was fun!
John
(he/him)
Oh yeah, we did watch Dunkirk over the weekend, because it was on HBO Max. This was a case that the absolutely fantastic trailer overshadowed the slightly confusing timelines of the movie. Still good, but the trailer's ticking watch sound design was top notch, and the movie couldn't sustain that level of tension. I think the only movie that kept its tension the whole way through was Gravity, but I only saw that once in the theater.
Terminator: Dark Fate was a competent modern action movie, but like a lot of modern action movies it just becomes a frictionless CGI mess precisely when the stakes are supposed to be at their highest. Dark Fate was at its strongest in the frantic opening half hour or so that attempted to recapture that original Terminator feeling of being on the run from a relentless killing machine, on a relatively small scale. Its Terminator 2 style big action set pieces fell flat for me. Apparently this was a huge bomb and there will be no sequel to it, making it the 4th Terminator 3 movie.
Official Terminator 3 rankings:
Competent
Dark Fate
Good Bad Movie
Genisys
Forgettable
Terminator 3
Salvation
The top two slots can flip, depending on whether you are in the mood to value competence or a good bad movie.
Official Terminator 3 rankings:
Competent
Dark Fate
Good Bad Movie
Genisys
Forgettable
Terminator 3
Salvation
The top two slots can flip, depending on whether you are in the mood to value competence or a good bad movie.
I think Salvation is a sequel to Terminator 3, (the first one) but it is forgettable, so who knows. Well, okay, I remember a big robot hand reaching into a building and gobbling up an old woman. And a musical remix of Christian Bale yelling at somebody combined with Barbra Streisand yelling about something or at someone. (the song is the only reason I can remember this incident)
e: song slaps but if it's problematic I'm only saying this from memory and not because I'm listening to it now
e: song slaps but if it's problematic I'm only saying this from memory and not because I'm listening to it now