Movies

TenderLovingKiller® said:
I am very excited for this. Band Of Brothers is one of my favorite shows of all time. I was a bit disappointed in The Pacific but I think that was likely due to wanting it to be more of the same type of storytelling, It’s grown on me since though. Regardless, Masters Of The Air is something I am eagerly anticipating.
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I am excited for this one too. Band of Brothers is such an epic miniseries. We love to catch it when they replay it--usually for Memorial Day. My husband is a huge fan of aviation--he was big into airplanes when he was a kid, so this is right up his alley. During WWII, my grandfather was the guy that strung the line on the carrier deck to catch the airplanes.
 
Gavaxeman said:
We watched a decent film called No Exit on Disney + last night for what it’s worth ..a good take on the old strangers stranded in a snowstorm scenario
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We watched this a few weeks back and were pleasantly surprised. Went in blind not really expecting much but as you said, it was really decent!
 
Finally got around to The Batman and feel similarly underwhelmed as a lot of folks here. I do think it’s one of the better superhero movies out there, but that’s faint praise from my camp, as I’m simply hard pressed to think of many superhero movies that 1) attempt to tell a single story and 2) have any distinct artistic stamp.

That said, it felt less like a new take on Batman as a remix of elements of the last 30 years of Bat movies, thrown into a centrifuge until any semblance of the goofy or implausible is drained from the palette. There’s certainly a “take,” but it feels predicated on elements established previously. And it all feels weighted down by Batman’s place in the culture, and the “modern myth” status of the character. Things feel included not for the story, but rather because they’re “necessary to Batman,” thus the three hour running time for a ninety-minute plot.

Anyway, it sounds like we have more of these coming down the pike. Super excited for three or four movies from now, once they’ve done enough “world building” to feel comfortable putting Riddler in a bowler hat and suit covered in question marks.
 
Interesting to see the muted reactions on here for The Batman. It feels more and more like I watched a different movie than everyone else, as a lot of the criticisms I've read on here were things that either didn't bother me or that I disagree with, but it is what it is. There's never going to be a universally loved adaptation of a character as iconic as Batman and I respect that others didn't care for this interpretation, but I loved it. Sometimes you just gotta ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
gaporter said:
Interesting to see the muted reactions on here for The Batman. It feels more and more like I watched a different movie than everyone else, as a lot of the criticisms I've read on here were things that either didn't bother me or that I disagree with, but it is what it is. There's never going to be a universally loved adaptation of a character as iconic as Batman and I respect that others didn't care for this interpretation, but I loved it. Sometimes you just gotta ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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“Iteration” feels like the operative word for me; a big part of what I rejected was that this Batman totally feels iterative, and I just don’t like the “final draft” the culture is settling on. It feels like we’re just honing in on “dark, gritty, and grounded,” which feels incredibly unimaginative and aggressively un-fun to me. As a new draft of The Definitive Batman Movie of the 21st Century it totally succeeds; the opening with criminals freaking out at the bat signal feels like a successful result of that iteration. Framing Riddler as Social Media Zodiac Lite felt less successful.

All in all, its not a bad movie, I’m just exhausted by the lack of fun as well as the very specific aspects of the superhero power fantasy we currently glom onto. I think with some years or decades of remove, we’ll look back at the militaristic fascism of our superhero movies, and the way villains are sympathetically right-but-in-the-wrong-way outcasts who simply use the wrong type of violence to achieve their goals; and the rise of fascism in America won’t seem so confusing.

I actually find myself asking “why doesn’t Batman dance anymore?”
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gaporter said:
Interesting to see the muted reactions on here for The Batman. It feels more and more like I watched a different movie than everyone else, as a lot of the criticisms I've read on here were things that either didn't bother me or that I disagree with, but it is what it is. There's never going to be a universally loved adaptation of a character as iconic as Batman and I respect that others didn't care for this interpretation, but I loved it. Sometimes you just gotta ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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The decision to utilize such dark lighting and whispered dialogue was a bit exhausting. There's a difference between making a movie darkly lit to set the tone/vibe and just doing it for noir effect. It felt unnecessary in most areas whereas a movie like Batman Returns or The Dark Knight uses darkness to aid the story instead of using it to become the story. This is one of those critiques that boils down to personal opinion on style.

The disconnect between Commissioner Gordon and the other cops was very clunky. There was always a "why the fuck is this guy here" vibe when Batman was just awkwardly standing in the middle of these brutal crime scenes, and Gordon's vague response always to the tune of "idk he's just my boy lay off."

The Falcone storyline with Selina also felt haphazardly thrown together and glued into the middle of the plot. Did Selina really impact to what was happening with the Riddler? I'm sure this could be explained away with various dialogue bits but it just felt like a side mission in retrospect instead of an integral part to the plot.

The ending was also anti-climactic and I feel Paul Dano is a good casting choice as an outsider but I didn't find him particularly frightening when he needed to be.

The brightest spot for me was probably Colin Farrell as Penguin. I thought his character and portrayal were great.
 
Melt Face Molly Drop said:
The brightest spot for me was probably Colin Farrell as Penguin. I thought his character and portrayal were great.
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I watched this entire movie and had no clue this was Colin Farrell.

For me the style and tone of the movie were good, felt a bit like Seven in parts with the set decoration and lighting. The letdown for me was the whole allegory to a quasi-Reddit, incel group playing shoot-em-up with a newly-elected, demographic-minority, politician in the "climax".

The catwoman deus ex machina in the rafters was especially groan-worthy. Kind of blew the tone of the 2+ hour lead up for a contrived resolution.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
I am very excited for this. Band Of Brothers is one of my favorite shows of all time. I was a bit disappointed in The Pacific but I think that was likely due to wanting it to be more of the same type of storytelling, It’s grown on me since though. Regardless, Masters Of The Air is something I am eagerly anticipating.
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Band Of Brothers is one of my faves as well. Like to watch it Memorial Day weekend every year. I have the special tin box set. Pacific was just to gory for me to get through. Hopefully this is well done.
 
Max Sterling said:
Doctor Strange was definitely a Sam Raimi movie. There were things I REALLY liked about it and some stuff I wasn't too keen on. It was definitely the most dark/graphic Marvel movie.
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We have tickets for the whole family we bought a few days ago, but we may be rethinking taking the kids at first. My daughter (13 years old) in particular has a love/hate relationship with horror-adjacent stuff and may want to wait to watch it at home.
 
LeeVing said:
I rented it a week or so ago, but finally had a couple hours to watch X.

Loved it.

Will have to get the 4K when it comes out...and I've already posted that I ordered the OST - it gets released in 2023
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It really threw me off. It was great for sure but the
horny old woman
really threw me off 🤣

Apparently, they are already making a prequel which is exciting.
 
Yeah. I heard there was a post-credit scene that is a teaser for "Pearl", but the VOD rental I got through Amazon didn't have it.
 
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