OT: Let's talk about movies (and TV shows)... Part XX

[GoodKiwi]

Tried to watch River as per recommendation from GoodKiwi, first episode was quite meh for me. Could be because I'm sick as a dog, but going to try the next episode regardless.

"River" is not for everyone as it is niche. Glad you at least gave it a try. If you didn't like the first episode, you probably want to pull the plug on the entire thing. Just my opinion.

It's probably GoodKiwi's favorite series.

Like you, I was never quite able to get into it. My favorite part and character was the Canadian serial killer who is haunting River in his visions.

"Probably"? C'mon, @Runner77 - "I'm disappoint".

I'm eternally grateful to sheed for telling me about Unforgotten, wife and myself have been binge watching it. Such great sad stories.

I am not after taking credit, but I'm pretty positive no one else outside of me has ever commented on "Unforgotten" in these threads. I only bring it up because seemingly no one else here has seen the series and that's a shame.

 

[ArtPeur]

Just finished watching The Haunting of Hill House. It was pretty good. It wasn't some lame ass cheesy horror series. It had a good story, interesting characters, good acting, and a pretty complex and interconnected plot with some decent scares and tension.

I was pleasantly surprised.



I didnt even bother watching the Solo film. I just laugh when someone asks if I've seen it. I've lost all faith in Star Wars under Disney.

The Last Jedi was one of the worst movie disappointments of my life. What a terrible film. Just chalked full of SJW and leftist propaganda right to the brim, all capped off by a terrible story and characters we dont give a **** about.

All of our childhood heroes are all sad, old, failures now, and we're supposed to all of a sudden care about some mary sue who's motivation is completely non-existant in a story that has no defined direction.

Pure trash.

The Force Awakens was already terrible, imo

 

[NobleSix]

The Force Awakens was already terrible, imo

It wasnt great at all, but I rank it in the same tier as The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones... which isnt praise at all lol.

The Last Jedi was legitimately awful though. It's in a league of it's own for me. It was a spit in the face to fans and every star wars story that was told before it. Took a total shit on the lore, the characters that we grew to love, the core themes of the saga... pretty much everything.

IMO it's the worst movie in the saga by far. Even worse than the Phantom Menace, which reigned supreme as the worst for a long time. I never thought they could top it... but then came Rian Johnson.

 

[sandviper]

The Force Awakens was already terrible, imo

It wasnt great at all, but I rank it in the same tier as The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones... which isnt praise at all lol.

The Last Jedi was legitimately awful though. It's in a league of it's own for me. It was a spit in the face to fans and every star wars story that was told before it. Took a total **** on the lore, the characters that we grew to love, the core themes of the saga... pretty much everything.

IMO it's the worst movie in the saga by far. Even worse than the Phantom Menace, which reigned supreme as the worst for a long time. I never thought they could top it... but then came Rian Johnson.

TFA I get the criticism, but I really enjoyed it. I liked the energy Abrams infused into the film and the actors seemed really enthusiastic. Movie was a bit cartoonish but it was to me as Lucas described as a movie an original trilogy Star Wars fan would have made.

I didn’t hate TLJ but it wasn’t a “fun” movie for me. Also, the last 30 minutes felt like “oh crap, we’re already at two hours run time and have no idea how to end this movie!”

 

[Runner77]

"Probably"? C'mon, @Runner77 - "I'm disappoint".

At least I got the series right.

Also, with the parade of series that get reviewed in this thread, I tend to be cautiously pessimistic when it comes my ability to remember what is said about each one.

 

[Per Sjoblom]

"River" is not for everyone as it is niche. Glad you at least gave it a try. If you didn't like the first episode, you probably want to pull the plug on the entire thing. Just my opinion.



"Probably"? C'mon, @Runner77 - "I'm disappoint".



I am not after taking credit, but I'm pretty positive no one else outside of me has ever commented on "Unforgotten" in these threads. I only bring it up because seemingly no one else here has seen the series and that's a shame.

I loved River and I love Unforgotten. The main woman in both shows is such a great actress and her character in the latter is very sharp and smart, a very good detective, empathy, quick of thought.. It is making a season 4 of Unforgotten. It's so emotional that I'm taking a break watching Striker tonight and save season 3 for later.

So I'll thank you for Unforgotten.

I had such a weard dream last night, I dreamed I was a Swedish detective and I tried to catch a serial killer who used a lot of snuff which is very common in Sweden, in fact that was one of the things we demanded to keep when we joined the EU, it's forbidden in all other EU countries.
This serial killer left a snuff trail when he killed people. Then I woke up.

 

[overlords]

It wasnt great at all, but I rank it in the same tier as The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones... which isnt praise at all lol.

The Last Jedi was legitimately awful though. It's in a league of it's own for me. It was a spit in the face to fans and every star wars story that was told before it. Took a total **** on the lore, the characters that we grew to love, the core themes of the saga... pretty much everything.

IMO it's the worst movie in the saga by far. Even worse than the Phantom Menace, which reigned supreme as the worst for a long time. I never thought they could top it... but then came Rian Johnson.

Whoa there, comrade. I've been told by good sources that online hatred directed towards this movie could only come from incels and russian bots. Reported.

 

[NobleSix]

Whoa there, comrade. I've been told by good sources that online hatred directed towards this movie could only come from incels and russian bots. Reported.

 

[Per Sjoblom]

Have you seen Monty Python's quiz with Mao, Marx and Lenin?

 

[Runner77]

While I am ranting on shows to end, Hawaii Five-O is DONE. Just end the series FFS. Lethal Weapon should end also as while I like Stifler, you can't have a LW without Riggs. Add to this, Damon Wayans is planning to leave himself.

I was never able to get into Hawai 5-0, always find found to be another cookie-cutter police show with people way too slick to be taken seriously.

 

[sandviper]

I was never able to get into Hawai 5-0, always find found to be another cookie-cutter police show with people way too slick to be taken seriously.

Five-O, just like Lethal Weapon, I liked because of the buddy action comedy element. The relationship between Steve and Dano has some great jokes and moments, but I think the show has run its course. I haven’t been much of a fan of the new characters and didn’t like the show’s handling of equal pay behind the scenes.

 

[Runner77]

They don't know what to do anymore in the comic character universe.

Now this: https://io9.gizmodo.com/batmans-butler-alfred-is-finally-getting-the-live-actio-1826075604

A movie about how Alfred became Batman's butler? Like, who cares.

Quipped Colbert:

"Move over Caped Crusader! There's a new hero in town. And he's almost done polishing the oyster spoons.
I'm glad Alfred is a story because I have so many questions about the years Alfred was trained to be a butler.
How did he learn to balance a tea tray? When did he decide to grow a mustache?
And that is all of my questions."

"But, here's a good thing. Hey, if Batman's butler is getting a show, then any minor character is getting a show.
What if Batman's butler needs a haircut, there's only one hero for the job.
This fall on CBS, Kevin James is ... Batman's Butler's Barber. Get ready for a little off the top ... of adventure."

The above perfectly captures how all of these comic book series and movies are running out of material.

 

[ArtPeur]

Inb4:

10 eps of "who was Bruce's father?"
10 eps of "the backstory of the Waynes"
10 eps of "Jesus was a Wayne"
10 eps of " who killed the Waynes, his backstory"

 

[Kimota]

I was never able to get into Hawai 5-0, always find found to be another cookie-cutter police show with people way too slick to be taken seriously.

I couldn't get into the new Hawai 5-0, like I couldn't get into the new Lethal Weapon like I can't get into the new Magnum PI. The whole idea of using an old concept but replacing it with younger actors doesn't appeal to me. It's something that turned me off even when I was young. I know what they are trying to do, to get at a younger demo, you have these guys run after the bad guys shirtless, the girls are gonna love it but after that they wonder why the TV ratings are not as strong as it was in the 80s when they catered to the whole family. My niece watches the current Dynasty and it's one of her favorite Tv shows but it's made to cater to the Gossip girl crowd and that's fine. But the 80s Dynasty had humongous numbers cause the appeal was across the board. Anyway that was my rant of the day. lol

--------

About the recent Star Wars, I have no idea why but I was not a fan of TFA but I liked TLJ. Maybe I must be the opposite of most fans. lol TFA was just unappealing and boring to me, like it was the same stuff that had seen before, not much creativity. While TLJ I saw a story that progressed and we had Luke in action beating this huge machine by himself.

----------

BTW I have seen the movie Bad Times at the El Royale.

It's by the director of Cabin in the Woods and I think he wrote it himself. I loved CITW and it had actors that I like Jon Hamm, Jef Bridges, Chris Hemsworth, Dakota Johnson but it left me on my appetite.

It's a fine story, the concept is similar to QT's Hateful Eight in that various shaddy people end up in one place and we try to discover who they are and there's a few flashback going into their past or going into scenes prior. Compared to EE though, there's not much to the story.

Main problem is that it is kind of pointless and at the end you are like "that's it?". I don't want to crap on the filmmakers but it sort of feel like it was like an artist's over indulgeance. There's a fine line between being bold and whatstherightword...vanity progect? The story is essentially the sort of thing I used to write as a 15-16 years old when I had no structure and thought I was a genius. Instead of starting with a plan of where I wanted take the story and what kind of story it would be, I would write and write and write random things that would go through my head and my characters would go leap and bounds. And at the end it made little sense and it didn't mean anything. Sometime I would manage by luck to spawn one interesting element of what I wrote and it was the same here when you see the kid's story had the end, it's poignant but it doesn't make up for the fact that it was a big waste of time.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

I couldn't get into the new Hawai 5-0, like I couldn't get into the new Lethal Weapon like I can't get into the new Magnum PI. The whole idea of using an old concept but replacing it with younger actors doesn't appeal to me. It's something that turned me off even when I was young. I know what they are trying to do, to get at a younger demo, you have these guys run after the bad guys shirtless, the girls are gonna love it but after that they wonder why the TV ratings are not as strong as it was in the 80s when they catered to the whole family. My niece watches the current Dynasty and it's one of her favorite Tv shows but it's made to cater to the Gossip girl crowd and that's fine. But the 80s Dynasty had humongous numbers cause the appeal was across the board. Anyway that was my rant of the day. lol

--------

About the recent Star Wars, I have no idea why but I was not a fan of TFA but I liked TLJ. Maybe I must be the opposite of most fans. lol TFA was just unappealing and boring to me, like it was the same stuff that had seen before, not much creativity. While TLJ I saw a story that progressed and we had Luke in action beating this huge machine by himself.

----------

BTW I have seen the movie Bad Times at the El Royale.

It's by the director of Cabin in the Woods and I think he wrote it himself. I loved CITW and it had actors that I like Jon Hamm, Jef Bridges, Chris Hemsworth, Dakota Johnson but it left me on my appetite.

It's a fine story, the concept is similar to QT's Hateful Eight in that various shaddy people end up in one place and we try to discover who they are and there's a few flashback going into their past or going into scenes prior. Compared to EE though, there's not much to the story.

Main problem is that it is kind of pointless and at the end you are like "that's it?". I don't want to crap on the filmmakers but it sort of feel like it was like an artist's over indulgeance. There's a fine line between being bold and whatstherightword...vanity progect? The story is essentially the sort of thing I used to write as a 15-16 years old when I had no structure and thought I was a genius. Instead of starting with a plan of where I wanted take the story and what kind of story it would be, I would write and write and write random things that would go through my head and my characters would go leap and bounds. And at the end it made little sense and it didn't mean anything. Sometime I would manage by luck to spawn one interesting element of what I wrote and it was the same here when you see the kid's story had the end, it's poignant but it doesn't make up for the fact that it was a big waste of time.

It's Drew Goddard, writer of Buffy, Lost and Daredevil and now directing movies since Cabin.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

They don't know what to do anymore in the comic character universe.

Now this: https://io9.gizmodo.com/batmans-butler-alfred-is-finally-getting-the-live-actio-1826075604

A movie about how Alfred became Batman's butler? Like, who cares.

Quipped Colbert:

"Move over Caped Crusader! There's a new hero in town. And he's almost done polishing the oyster spoons.
I'm glad Alfred is a story because I have so many questions about the years Alfred was trained to be a butler.
How did he learn to balance a tea tray? When did he decide to grow a mustache?
And that is all of my questions."

"But, here's a good thing. Hey, if Batman's butler is getting a show, then any minor character is getting a show.
What if Batman's butler needs a haircut, there's only one hero for the job.
This fall on CBS, Kevin James is ... Batman's Butler's Barber. Get ready for a little off the top ... of adventure."

The above perfectly captures how all of these comic book series and movies are running out of material.

And the sad thing is a show about Alfred’s backstory has a 99% chance of being better than anything related to Batman since Affleck replaced Bale

 

[Kriss E]

And the sad thing is a show about Alfred’s backstory has a 99% chance of being better than anything related to Batman since Affleck replaced Bale

That doesn't say much though.
Honestly, I have no idea who ever thought Ben Affleck would be a good superhero...Honestly, wtf.

 

[sandviper]

I couldn't get into the new Hawai 5-0, like I couldn't get into the new Lethal Weapon like I can't get into the new Magnum PI. The whole idea of using an old concept but replacing it with younger actors doesn't appeal to me. It's something that turned me off even when I was young. I know what they are trying to do, to get at a younger demo, you have these guys run after the bad guys shirtless, the girls are gonna love it but after that they wonder why the TV ratings are not as strong as it was in the 80s when they catered to the whole family. My niece watches the current Dynasty and it's one of her favorite Tv shows but it's made to cater to the Gossip girl crowd and that's fine. But the 80s Dynasty had humongous numbers cause the appeal was across the board. Anyway that was my rant of the day. lol

--------

About the recent Star Wars, I have no idea why but I was not a fan of TFA but I liked TLJ. Maybe I must be the opposite of most fans. lol TFA was just unappealing and boring to me, like it was the same stuff that had seen before, not much creativity. While TLJ I saw a story that progressed and we had Luke in action beating this huge machine by himself.

----------

BTW I have seen the movie Bad Times at the El Royale.

It's by the director of Cabin in the Woods and I think he wrote it himself. I loved CITW and it had actors that I like Jon Hamm, Jef Bridges, Chris Hemsworth, Dakota Johnson but it left me on my appetite.

It's a fine story, the concept is similar to QT's Hateful Eight in that various shaddy people end up in one place and we try to discover who they are and there's a few flashback going into their past or going into scenes prior. Compared to EE though, there's not much to the story.

Main problem is that it is kind of pointless and at the end you are like "that's it?". I don't want to crap on the filmmakers but it sort of feel like it was like an artist's over indulgeance. There's a fine line between being bold and whatstherightword...vanity progect? The story is essentially the sort of thing I used to write as a 15-16 years old when I had no structure and thought I was a genius. Instead of starting with a plan of where I wanted take the story and what kind of story it would be, I would write and write and write random things that would go through my head and my characters would go leap and bounds. And at the end it made little sense and it didn't mean anything. Sometime I would manage by luck to spawn one interesting element of what I wrote and it was the same here when you see the kid's story had the end, it's poignant but it doesn't make up for the fact that it was a big waste of time.

I’m a sucker for buddy cop stuff. I was a big fan of LW when the movie came out in the late-80s as I enjoyed 48 Hours and the first couple Beverly Hills Cop.

At the time, the buddy cop genre was new as was the use of non-granite built muscle bound super soldiers as an action hero. Riggs in LW was that, a lethal weapon, but he wasn’t 250 of muscle who can take down a cartel house on his own. Ultimately, it was the chemistry between the actors that made the movie.

Magnum PI... never got into the original and didn’t see the point of the remake.

——

100% TFA didn’t move SW forward or do much for world building. To me, that was ok as to be honest all I want is:

1. Some kick ass tie fighter and x-wing fights
2. The Millenium Falcon simply being awesome.
3. A light saber fight or two

TFA hit all those for me but like I said, Abrams brought a real energy to the movie. I know it his style isn’t for everyone, but I loved the first two Star Trek reboots for the same reason. Plus, as in ST and TFA, he (Abrams) really got the actors/characters to develop good chemistry on-screen.

I will admit, ST reboots and TFA are rather shallow, but my expectations are different for those movies. I can appreciate world building outside Star Wars prime, but in the prime storyline, I just want to escape.

That said, Solo was trash. Damn, thanks Disney for making my favorite character in SW completely uninteresting.

—-
I liked Cabin in the Woods. Bad Times at the El Royale I completely forgot to watch though, lol. I did want to see it but didn’t know it came out. Guess I’ll just wait for video.

 

[sandviper]

They don't know what to do anymore in the comic character universe.

Now this: https://io9.gizmodo.com/batmans-butler-alfred-is-finally-getting-the-live-actio-1826075604

A movie about how Alfred became Batman's butler? Like, who cares.

Quipped Colbert:

"Move over Caped Crusader! There's a new hero in town. And he's almost done polishing the oyster spoons.
I'm glad Alfred is a story because I have so many questions about the years Alfred was trained to be a butler.
How did he learn to balance a tea tray? When did he decide to grow a mustache?
And that is all of my questions."

"But, here's a good thing. Hey, if Batman's butler is getting a show, then any minor character is getting a show.
What if Batman's butler needs a haircut, there's only one hero for the job.
This fall on CBS, Kevin James is ... Batman's Butler's Barber. Get ready for a little off the top ... of adventure."

The above perfectly captures how all of these comic book series and movies are running out of material.

Honestly, if anything, it’s simply writers are lazy and don’t know how to properly adapt comic books. Comic book movies are often trash because nobody can capture several hundred issues worth of character background and history and portray it in 2 hours.

In the TV show Gotham and the current portrayal of Alfred by the always awesome Jeremy Irons in the yet terrible DC movie universe, Alfred is no longer the meek butler. Both the show and movies seem to imply Alfred may have some special forces background and is a legit badass.

Now, I can’t comment on whether this is going to be any good or not, but I will actually credit them for actually trying new material. For DC, everyone knows (and cares) about the main heroes; Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc. For Marvel, it was Spider-Man and the X-Men. Characters like Iron-Man, Thor and maybe to a lesser extent, Captain America were “B” characters. I will bet 90% of COMIC book fans had no idea who the Guardians of the Galaxy were when they announced it.

Now, a movie about a butler is about as far as I’d go. Credit for trying something new, but because of the close association with Batman, I am not sure how easy this will be to pull off.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

I have to take back my comment from yesterday. Although episodes 1 and 2 of season 3 of Daredevil are long winded and boring, after that from episode 3 and onward, it's pretty good, even great. Even better than season 2.

If you loved the first two seasons, you gonna surely like this new season if you can get through the first 2 episodes.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Honestly, if anything, it’s simply writers are lazy and don’t know how to properly adapt comic books. Comic book movies are often trash because nobody can capture several hundred issues worth of character background and history and portray it in 2 hours.

In the TV show Gotham and the current portrayal of Alfred by the always awesome Jeremy Irons in the yet terrible DC movie universe, Alfred is no longer the meek butler. Both the show and movies seem to imply Alfred may have some special forces background and is a legit badass.

Now, I can’t comment on whether this is going to be any good or not, but I will actually credit them for actually trying new material. For DC, everyone knows (and cares) about the main heroes; Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc. For Marvel, it was Spider-Man and the X-Men. Characters like Iron-Man, Thor and maybe to a lesser extent, Captain America were “B” characters. I will bet 90% of COMIC book fans had no idea who the Guardians of the Galaxy were when they announced it.

Now, a movie about a butler is about as far as I’d go. Credit for trying something new, but because of the close association with Batman, I am not sure how easy this will be to pull off.

I don't think the problem is nearly just about capturing the essence of the characters, but also has to do with their predominant motivation, which is profit. Because of this, they create bland stories more often than not, to get the widest audience as possible.

You can see this when they actually take risks with less profitable media, like the coming animated motion picture Into the Spider-Verse, which, IMO, will be the best portrayal of Spider-man in movies (although I really like the new Holland SM).

But let's face it. There's a huge difference in how Marvel handles its creations as opposed to DC.

 

[GoodKiwi]

As much as it pains me to admit, I confess to having to turn the last episode of Parts Unknown off only after 10 or so minutes into it. Perhaps that speaks to my own insecurities, I do not know. It also speaks to the point I brought up much earlier in here about "Parts Unknown" not catering to ones opinion or ideology and giving you the entire broad range instead.

I could not stomach the delirious rednecks, who have long outlived their purpose or place on this planet IMO, torturing and abusing animals for both their own entertainment and profit. Rest in Peace Anthony, but even you could not save that train wreck of an episode.

P.S. Although the segment when the camera zoomed in on a mouth-breather chugging a beer while the conversation went on about the some of the earliest presence of human life in the region (the presence that was then annihilated by the said mouth-breathers) was a nice touch. It's ironic that we, as a society, sometimes build pedestals to something we do not own, can relate to, or even connect with at any level.

"This. Is. CNN."

 

[Mario Lemieux fan 66]

first man: 7/10

 

[mitchmagic]

first man: 7/10

Great in depth analysis.

 

[Mrb1p]

They don't know what to do anymore in the comic character universe.

Now this: https://io9.gizmodo.com/batmans-butler-alfred-is-finally-getting-the-live-actio-1826075604

A movie about how Alfred became Batman's butler? Like, who cares.

Quipped Colbert:

"Move over Caped Crusader! There's a new hero in town. And he's almost done polishing the oyster spoons.
I'm glad Alfred is a story because I have so many questions about the years Alfred was trained to be a butler.
How did he learn to balance a tea tray? When did he decide to grow a mustache?
And that is all of my questions."

"But, here's a good thing. Hey, if Batman's butler is getting a show, then any minor character is getting a show.
What if Batman's butler needs a haircut, there's only one hero for the job.
This fall on CBS, Kevin James is ... Batman's Butler's Barber. Get ready for a little off the top ... of adventure."

The above perfectly captures how all of these comic book series and movies are running out of material.

Thats where your wrong, Runner .

Alfred is not a simple butler.

Hes a trained martial artist.
Hes a surgeon.
Hes a green beret.

It could be great, just like Gotham is pretty good, once you get over the cheesiness.