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4 votes
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We're experiencing the biggest revolution in movie ticket prices in decades
8 votes -
Pixar's dumpling short "Bao" is polarizing audiences with cultural themes
12 votes -
The Last Dragon - What happened to Laura Charles manager - What are you thoughts on Laura Charles?
I always had a little problem with Laura Charles in this 1985 cult classic. At the beginning of the movie, Laura's manager is begging her to play a tape. He tells her a man named Eddie Arcadian...
I always had a little problem with Laura Charles in this 1985 cult classic.
At the beginning of the movie, Laura's manager is begging her to play a tape. He tells her a man named Eddie Arcadian will hurt him if he doesn't get it played. He is literally terrified and begging. You can see he is terrified.
Laura actually says to him, "My life isn't filled with all that...... Drama." That's how she says it, she pauses before the word drama. Think about how dismissive that is. He is scared for his life and tells her as much, and she just says something that dismissive. Then she berates him like it is his fault he is in the situation. And the kicker is, she says her life isn't filled with all "of that drama" for two reasons. She liked the idea of it. The idea of thinking she was this person with no drama. And because she didn't care because it didn't affect her.
So the movie goes on. Now Laura is in danger of Eddie. It was all because Eddie wanted the tape played. There wasn't any "drama" in her life that caused it. But does she stop and realize that? Nope. Does she for one second think, "Gee maybe it wasn't my manager's fault he was in this situation. I wonder if he is okay?" Nope. She suddenly cares because it affects her.
And then everything in the end works out for her of course. And we never know if Eddie killed the manager or what happened to him. Laura never even looked for him to even just apologize, let alone make sure he wasn't dead.
What are your thoughts?
3 votes -
The Man from Earth (2007)
10 votes -
Memories of Murder (2003) - Ensemble staging
5 votes -
How did some of cinema's greatest films end up in an Iowa shed?
14 votes -
Best Kept Secret in Podcasting/Radio - Filmically Perfect
4 votes -
The trouble with Johnny Depp
14 votes -
In a Heartbeat (animated short)
5 votes -
Terminator 6 to be direct Terminator 2 sequel
14 votes -
Abduction as romance
17 votes -
AMC unveils answer to MoviePass: $20 subscription plan
8 votes -
Good horror movies not that well known
Hey guys, do you know any good horror movie that are not that well known because I have watched all of the known movies and trying to find new ones. Any recommendation will be appreciated.
9 votes -
Future "A Star Wars Story" spinoffs on hold at Lucasfilm
11 votes -
George Lucas Would Have Set Third Star Wars Trilogy in 'Microbiotic World' Linked to Midi-Chlorians
10 votes -
Anyone want to discuss Hereditary? Please?
This movie absolutely destroyed me. To be fair, I am very affected by the sadness and trauma of others, so it's not surprising that this movie almost killed me. To borrow from a comment I made on...
This movie absolutely destroyed me.
To be fair, I am very affected by the sadness and trauma of others, so it's not surprising that this movie almost killed me. To borrow from a comment I made on another user's post "This movie was a 2 hour long gut punch, and the end was a fever dream." It was so very traumatic, exhausting, uncomfortable, and TERRIFYING. And traditional horror movies do not ever scare me.
My overwhelming feeling for most of the movie was profound sadness. This family torn apart, the horrible things they say and think... the panic attack that Peter has and when he asks his friend to hold his hand? That was one of the times I actually cried. His numb stupor after his sisters head gets knocked off by a telephone pole(!!!!!). His mother's screams when she finds her headless daughter in the back of the car. The desperation when Steve splashes Annie in the face with water. The two times (one reality, one dream) Annie says just awful things to Peter. Peter smashing his face into the desk. Peter screaming/pleading "Mommy!" as Annie tries to get into the attic after him. These are all times I felt overwhelming sadness. Tons of other feelings: anger, disgust, terror, etc. But huge amounts of sadness that I've never felt during other horror movies.
Let me preface this by saying I know what the director has said about his vision and "what the movie really means." But I've never cared about a movie enough to actually fundamentally disagree with the person who created it before. self-deprecating eyeroll
This movie as a straightforward demon-possession/ occult movie does nothing for me. The whole time I had no doubt that it was a family torn apart by mental illness and that devastated and terrified me.
I'm going to post my inexpert interpretation as a comment. It won't be a synopsis, but there will be oodles of spoilers.
*Edit: I thought the movie was great. I don't know if I'll ever see it again.
5 votes -
Opinions on Hereditary?
So I have been hearing mixed things about Hereditary and was wondering if anyone here has seen it? My GFs sisters BF said he fell asleep in it and we normally have pretty similar taste in movies,...
So I have been hearing mixed things about Hereditary and was wondering if anyone here has seen it?
My GFs sisters BF said he fell asleep in it and we normally have pretty similar taste in movies, which makes me hesitant to see it. I LOVE horror and thrillers, but I've heard that it is kinda boring from a few people I trust.
Just wondering what people think! Try not to spoil anything. ;)
6 votes -
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom no spoilers review
Boy howdy. This movie. I like dinosaurs. A lot. Jurassic Park is probably my favorite movie of all time. So whenever a movie that focuses on dinosaurs comes around, I'll give it a look. I was...
Boy howdy. This movie.
I like dinosaurs. A lot. Jurassic Park is probably my favorite movie of all time. So whenever a movie that focuses on dinosaurs comes around, I'll give it a look. I was stocked that the Jurassic franchise was coming back in 2015, and I went on my first date with my girlfriend to see it. So while it wasn't the best movie of all time, it holds a special place in my heart.
That being said, this movie kinda sucks. I managed to find a copy online to check it out, because I was worried about the quality and I don't have money to spend willy nilly, so I figured if I liked what I saw I'd just pay money to see it in a theater later. However, after watching it I can say that unless my girlfriend really wants to see this movie, I don't think I'll fork over the cash to watch it in a theater.
There are good bits to this movie, so I'll start there.
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The dinosaurs look fucking fantastic. Even though I was watching a shitty cam of the movie, I could see the quality, time, and love that went into each creature in this movie and the CGI meshed nearly perfectly with the animatronics that at times it was difficult to tell when one ended and the other began. They are the best they've ever looked.
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The Indoraptor, despite it's stupid name, is fucking cool. It was intimidating and scary, with a solid visual design. It stalked through the third act of the movie with malice and menace.
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Christ Pratt Christ Pratt's his way through this movie. Tons of charm as usual, though even he can't save this train wreck.
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There were a few beautiful shots and fun set pieces, with one shot in particular actually making me a little emotional. You'll know it when you see it.
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Several fun homages to the first film. Nothing special, but the way some parts were shot and framed had me going, "Oh, it was just like that in the first one!"
Now on to the bad:
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This movie has no sense of what it wants to be. Each of the three acts seem to come from entirely different movie ideas. It goes from serious to lighthearted to shockingly dark at the drop of a hat, and there's no real sense of coherence to the plot.
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The villains are cartoon characters and weak and pointless at best, and literally the stupidest mother fuckers on the planet at the worst. You'll know who I'm talking about when you see it.
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The side characters are all pointless and serve more as diversity ticks on some corporate stooges "Focus Group" checklist than as actual characters. Are you ready to see the same "Not Richard Ayoade from the IT crowd" black nerd "hack the mainframe" bit you've seen a hundred times before? How about "tough opinionated alt-chick"? who doesn't take shit and is totally capable? The actors are fine for their parts and I mean no disrespect to them, but their characters feel like such cookie-cutter "side characters" that I just finished the movie and have already forgotten their names.
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Speaking of side characters, the little girl in this movie is actually fine. She's a good actress and much less annoying than the kids in the last movie (and most of the kids in Jurassic Park movies for that matter), but they do something with her that is so baffling and out of nowhere that it just screams, "WE WANTED A TWIST BECAUSE THE KIDS LOVE TWISTS". It has no bearing on the plot at all aside from "justifying" a characters horrible and frankly nearly psychotic decision towards the end of the movie. Again, the young actress does a great job with what little she was given and I feel given a better script she can definitely shine.
Honestly, there's a ton of other little things I could nitpick at this movie for, but those above are definitely the biggest flaws I feel this movie has. You can tell that there as a solid idea behind this movie, but that idea got buried under a mountain of other ideas that were all meshed together into a weird goulash of a movie. This things reeks of "directed by comity".
Overall, there are so many eye-rolling moments in this film, coupled with a weak plot, dialogue, and side characters that even the always charming Chris Pratt and some killer dinosaur effects can't save it.
5/10. If you like dinosaurs and wanna see the best ones you're likely to get for a while, feel free to check your brain out at the door and enjoy at a matinee. Otherwise, don't expect to enjoy this movie if you're hoping for something more than Transformers without the sexism, racism, and dinosaurs instead of robots.
If ya'll have any questions, ask away. I'll try to avoid overt spoilers though, so I'll do my best to answer as vaguely as possible.
4 votes -
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After Ever After 3
4 votes -
Ewan Mcgregor cast in Shining sequel
4 votes -
Last Jedi Opinions? So Solo is not doing so well in theaters
Solo is not doing so hot in the theaters right now, despite the good reviews. Here's hoping that positive word-of-mouth can save it. But what I've noticed online is a huge amount of people placing...
Solo is not doing so hot in the theaters right now, despite the good reviews. Here's hoping that positive word-of-mouth can save it. But what I've noticed online is a huge amount of people placing most of the blame on the divisiveness of The Last Jedi. While I never claimed that the Last Jedi was a perfect movie and it definitely has some serious flaws, I feel like the hate train for that movie is hugely overblown online compared to what actual people out in the real world think. So I figured I'd check in here and see what the general opinions are on The Last Jedi.
EDIT: shit, anyway I can fix that title?
24 votes -
Dune (1984) review
Dune was not well-reviewed when it premiered, with Roger Ebert calling it the worst movie of the year, though it has since become a cult classic. I recently read the book and had never seen the...
Dune was not well-reviewed when it premiered, with Roger Ebert calling it the worst movie of the year, though it has since become a cult classic. I recently read the book and had never seen the movie, so I decided to check it out.
I understand the criticism; parts of it feel rushed, and there are many little things from the book that are incorporated into the movie but aren't fleshed out very well. However, having read the book, and therefore being able to piece together the things that were glossed over in the movie, I thought it was pretty great.
The costume design, spaceships, sets, and sand worms were all executed well, though they are obviously dated by today's standards. Those things all contribute to the overall mood of the movie, which I thought matched the book nicely.
They took some liberties with the villain, the Baron Harkonnen, who they gave a skin condition and the ability to float around, which aren't present in the book (or at least were a small enough part that I don't remember them), and I thought were a little too over-the-top.
Overall, I rate the movie 8/10, but I don't expect it would hold up that well if you haven't read the book.
12 votes -
Donald Glover as Willy Wonka? Fictional characters' changing races
12 votes -
First Man | Official trailer
7 votes -
Halloween | Official trailer
7 votes -
Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse | Official trailer
13 votes -
The problem with action scenes in DC movies [video]
3 votes -
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World | Official trailer
4 votes -
Star Wars actress Kelly Marie Tran deletes Instagram posts after abuse
18 votes -
The problem with DC action scenes
18 votes -
Jerry Maren, last surviving munchkin actor from Wizard of Oz, dies aged 98
5 votes -
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s new trailer looks incredible
11 votes -
What's everyone's favorite movie?
I personally have been getting really into anime the last two years and Akira is by far one of the greatest movies I've seen! Edit: Thanks for sharing all these great films! I've got a lot of good...
I personally have been getting really into anime the last two years and Akira is by far one of the greatest movies I've seen!
Edit: Thanks for sharing all these great films! I've got a lot of good movies I gotta look into now :)22 votes -
Guilty pleasure movies?
What are everyone's favorite "Guilty Pleasures" when it comes to film? You know, those movies that you love, but if someone asks you which movies you're into, the ones you don't necessarily admit...
What are everyone's favorite "Guilty Pleasures" when it comes to film? You know, those movies that you love, but if someone asks you which movies you're into, the ones you don't necessarily admit to until you trust or really like the person. Here are a few of mine:
- The Fast and the Furious franchise, especially Tokyo Drift.
- Titanic
- Mean Girls. I don't know if I can count this one since it seems to waiver between guilty pleasure and cult classic depending on whom you ask.
17 votes -
Upgrade (2018)
The ending of a movie ultimately makes it or breaks it for me. I'm old. I've seen thousands of movies. I've read thousands of stories. It's hard for me to be legitimately surprised by an ending....
The ending of a movie ultimately makes it or breaks it for me.
I'm old. I've seen thousands of movies. I've read thousands of stories. It's hard for me to be legitimately surprised by an ending.
The ending of Upgrade blew my mind.
If you love an unusual ending, if you love sci fi, and if you don't mind a little bit of the old ultra-violence, I fully recommend.
5 votes -
Mortal Engines | Official trailer
5 votes -
White Boy Rick | Official trailer
3 votes -
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part | Official teaser trailer
8 votes -
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure - Large Marge
6 votes -
I just watched The American [2010]
Not gonna do a review or anything like that, I just wanted to say I really liked it! It was really atmospheric and profound. I love this type of slow movie. Anyone seen it? Thoughts?
3 votes -
Thoughts on rewatching the Star Wars Prequels: Why Anakin's story didn't work.
So, i just rewatched the prequel trilogy and had soem thoughts, far removed from my first watching, and also after the new films, The Clone Wars, Rebels etc. It comes down to this. If you don't...
So, i just rewatched the prequel trilogy and had soem thoughts, far removed from my first watching, and also after the new films, The Clone Wars, Rebels etc.
It comes down to this. If you don't buy the Anakin arc, it doesn't matter how good or bad the rest is, it all fails. And for many of us, we don't buy it, for several reasons.
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There is really NO foreshadowing in The Phantom Menace (TPM) that Anakin will turn bad. He's the blonde, ever helpful, committed to others all American good kid. Missing out on putting something in here was insane. Also, relying on the acting talents of a kid this young is rarely going to work out. I think the only thing they tried to do was show he had 'attachments' to peopel which was incompatible with Jedi-ism, but this wasn't greatly effective. It always seemed to clash with the emphasis on connections between peopel Obi-wan talks about in ANH.
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I don't find the relationship between Padme and Anakin believable. I mean, I don't think anyone does. Remember this is basically THE lever for his shift to the dark side. An awful script and terrible acting aside, I don't see how it was ever going to be believable. He had a boyish crush, she is interested in youngsters? There is no development fo their relationship to speak of, he's sold from minute 1 and she doesn't seem to have any journey to falling for him. Maybe he radiates a midichlorian pheromone? I don't see what we are supposed to think drove the relationship, even had the script, acting and direction been on point. And there were so many better ways to do it. Make them the same (ish) age when they met? Then you'd have a teenage crush as an ember they both carried that reignites later. There are many other ways, but it almost seems like they didn't try any of them.
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Anakin's dark side is tied to teenage against not to character traits. He's as emo as Kylo Ren would be later. The greatest danger to the galaxy is teenage hormones and the rage that comes from intractable acne. Again its exacerbated by the acting/dialogue/direction but still. His darkness is all driven by protecting people, but very selectively some people over others. And the other part is his entitlement, that he deserves more, which is really not compatible with the character in TPM. Also, he is selective what barriers he maintains. He never goes back for his mum but he is happy to get jiggy with Padme. If protection of those he loves is his main driver, why didn't this happen in any way between TPM and AotC.
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Anakin's seduction by Palpatine is silly. Its related to the point above. I guess if you don't buy the internal driver for his change, the external one makes little sense either. He preys on the weaknesses he exhibits, but the shift to him believing patent untruths is too abrupt. We aren't shown enough for it to be believable. Had we seen Palpatine messing with the minds fo others more directly, that might have helped, but we didn't get that. Again there were so many other ways to do this. If he'd fooled Anakin into inadvertently doing soemthign really bad, he coudl have then revealed himself and basically said that if Anakin fessed up then it would also hurt those he loved. But no its 'i have a vague idea of maybe stopping an unknown future threat to your weirdly inappropriate wife, pls go kill soem kids, m'kay?'. All we get is some iffy bad dreams, but again with no previous intriduction of Anakin as prophetic, thats not very convincing. Had that, say, been established earlier, it might have worked better. .
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Anakin's change to Darth Vader (suit and all) is too quick. I think they wanted to show the entombing of Anakin, and i get that, but they jumped right to the last stage. Had they shown essentially the v0.5 beta of the suit it might have been much better. Think the hilarious home made spiderman costume in the Toby Mcguire versions, ot the MNk1 iron man suit. It would have given us Vader but left for a sense of time between RotS and ANH.
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[ Added, forgot this before] - Anakin seems nothing like OT Darth Vader. The mannerisms, tone, style and feeling fo the two are hugely different. If you watch the end of RotS then the start of ANH, you get this right away. Again had you had the feeling the metamorphosis took longer it might have worked, but with the presto chango Vader makeover, its more jarring
So there are a gazillion other issues with the films. Some narrative, some continuity, many script, some racial, mostly all summed up as 'George Lucas made ANH accidentally, and peaked at that'. I will list a few in a comment below that occurred to me on this rewatch, but the core is this. The Original Trilogy is the Story of Luke. The prequels are the Story of Anakin. Had this worked better, i think we'd have been able to overlook the rest muuuuch more easily. There were missed opportunities all over the place. Maybe when they reboot the prequels :-D soem of this can be fixed up.
7 votes -
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The Ideology of the First Order
7 votes -
Anyone see any good documentaries lately?
I just watch the first film in the Qatsi trilogy today and I was blown away. Philip Glass is a master... Anyways looking for any recommendations.
11 votes -
Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian Is Getting His Own ‘Star Wars’ Spinoff, Teases Kathleen Kennedy
16 votes -
Blindsight | Teaser 2
4 votes -
Mowgli | Official trailer
7 votes -
The growing emptiness of the Star Wars universe
21 votes -
Any Letterboxd users here? I'd love to see the variety of your fantastic tastes here, from cinephiles to casual film lovers!
Here's mine for reference!
5 votes -
Solo: A Star Wars Story discussion
Have any of you seen Solo? Possible spoilers if not. Personally, I loved it. After having been dissapointed by The Last Jedi, Solo was refreshing, in my opinion it felt like a classic Star Wars...
Have any of you seen Solo? Possible spoilers if not.
Personally, I loved it. After having been dissapointed by The Last Jedi, Solo was refreshing, in my opinion it felt like a classic Star Wars film. I loved all the characters, including Ehrenreich's potrayal of Han which I fully bought.
Also the humour, compared to The Last Jedi, was far better. Whilst there weren't many laugh out loud moments, I was grinning throughout. And I far preferred it to the eye rolling cheesy jokes of TLJ.
And as someone who has watched the Clone Wars and Rebels series, I loved the reveal of that certain character.
Of course there were some cons, but they were relatively minor, in my opinion. The opening was a bit rough, and I got a bit confused at the end with the constant changing sides. And to be honest, I didn't really care for Marauders.
What did you guys think?
19 votes