Movie Reviews 2.0

Watched Eye In The Sky the other night. Not quite sure what to make of it - the plot is a bit button-pressing, but Helen Mirren was good and it was Alan Rickmans' last film.

I sat down with the missus to watch it and for the first however many minutes (when the dilemma isn't a dilemma) she was banging on "why don't they strike?". Then the moral dilemma happens and she said "....shit. Now what?". So in that sense I guess it worked.
 
Saw batman v superman last night.

First 1/2 of the movie, was un-engaging, confusing, and I felt absolutely no empathy for any of the characters, nearly gave up.

Last hour or so, where something of substance actually happened, was a lot better, felt much more comfortable.

As someone who knows zip about the rest of DCs characters, the entirely weird dream that batman has that gives him some sort of future vision, just landed out of nowhere, and made no sense whatsoever. I see some reference to darkseid upthread that is relevant to this apparently, I'm sorry but if you need to know a lot of back story to make sense out of otherwise confusing scenes, don't include the scenes.

Also I'm guessing the badass guy at the end is something called doomsday...who knew ? And yes how he came into existence made no sense whatsoever. I'm aware this is after all, a fantasy movie, but it can't be too diffiult to have crucial story points make some sense.

Overall it wasn't great, terribly dark, even depressing. I hope the others that it sets-up are better.

2.5hr Theatrical Cut or 3hr Ultimate Cut? If the former, then you need to watch the latter when you can. Get it digital now or wait for the Bluray(regular, 3D or 4k) in a couple of weeks. Would like to see your comments after watching that.

Tommy McClain
 
Inside Out was brilliant.

Nah. I thought it was a decent film, but certainly not worthy of the gushing praise it received in the media. My wife thought the same and she's a big fan of anything Disney/Pixar. I perhaps felt a little let down by the hype - the concept was excellent, but not enough was made of it for me. I think the likes of Up and The Incredibles were much better in comparison.
 
2.5hr Theatrical Cut or 3hr Ultimate Cut? If the former, then you need to watch the latter when you can. Get it digital now or wait for the Bluray(regular, 3D or 4k) in a couple of weeks. Would like to see your comments after watching that.

Tommy McClain
This film was 3 hrs long, so must be the ultimate cut, I didn't realise that this was the extended version. It's possible therefore that that coloured my opinion that it was REALLY slow to get going.
 
This film was 3 hrs long, so must be the ultimate cut, I didn't realise that this was the extended version. It's possible therefore that that coloured my opinion that it was REALLY slow to get going.

The Ultimate/3hr version only had a limited theatrical release on June 27 to coincide with the digital release of the movie. You didn't say if you watched it in a theater or the digital release. From your review it really sounds like you watched the original 2.5hr version because the 3hr version has been praised for clearing up some of the points you had with the movie. I have only watched the original twice. I'm waiting to buy the Ultimate Edition on Bluray/DVD/Digital coming out on July 19 here in the US. I could see people who only have had a limited experience with Batman & Superman to be somewhat confused about of the plot points. It will make more sense as Wonder Woman & Justice League movies are released next year. DC has a lot of history & storytelling to get people up to speed on their multiverse.

Tommy McClain
 
Inside Out was brilliant.
I thought so too, but it was a fair bit outside the Pixar vein. In other words, it was a childhood nostalgia film (or more so a daughter/son nostalgia film) more than it was a kids film. Dory goes for the same emotional vein but isn't up to it. Still a good flick though.
 
It wasn't a childhood nostalgia film so much as it was a film about emotional development. And as such it was one of the most entertaining child development lectures I've ever attended. ;)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
The Ultimate/3hr version only had a limited theatrical release on June 27 to coincide with the digital release of the movie. You didn't say if you watched it in a theater or the digital release. From your review it really sounds like you watched the original 2.5hr version because the 3hr version has been praised for clearing up some of the points you had with the movie. I have only watched the original twice. I'm waiting to buy the Ultimate Edition on Bluray/DVD/Digital coming out on July 19 here in the US. I could see people who only have had a limited experience with Batman & Superman to be somewhat confused about of the plot points. It will make more sense as Wonder Woman & Justice League movies are released next year. DC has a lot of history & storytelling to get people up to speed on their multiverse.

Tommy McClain

The film lost me completely when one of the two leads basically turned his opponent from a homicidal psycho into a gentle soul by uttering the words "Your Mom". I also didn't think the film was so much confusing as it was just plain stupid. Wonder how much the longer cut will change all that, but I have a feeling it's only gonna make for an experience that's even more drawn out.
 
Every time someone mentions BvS I get Wonderwoman's amazing intro music playing in my head. It was the only bit of the film that stood out for me.
 
Watched Star Trek Beyond tonight; was good I thought, although perhaps not spectacularly so. A more character-driven piece than previous installments, and has a bit more Star Trek flavor as well than the two previous NuTreks. That said, it is a bit ridiculous to see the main characters espouse Federation ideals of cooperation and non-violence, only to see the movie immediately throw itself headlong into another orgie of wholesale death and destruction! :LOL: (I'm not complaining. I love a good action romp as much as the next guy.)

It was both heartwarming and saddening to see Anton Yelchin's Chekov get to do quite a bit more in this movie than the previous two. He's quite the hero, actually. Sulu on the other hand doesn't see as much action, but such is life with an ensemble cast, and especially where the lead trio gets the most screen time. Maybe John Cho can go on and play the Babylon 5 reboot version of Alfred Bester...? :p (In another 30 years he'll hit the right age for the character, unless we invent time travel and grab a future version of Cho to bring back here...)

It struck me several times throughout the movie how much Chris Pine's aging into a fair likeness of a middle-aged Bill Shatner as we saw him in Star Trek: The Motion Picture...or maybe it's just me wanting to see things, I dunno. Still, this is how I feel, and I'm sticking to it! ;)

Idris Elba - whom I was unsure if it was actually him - was ultimately a great badguy. His motivation was a mystery for most of the movie which made him seem largely incoherent and just some random anarcho-terrorist madcap who wants to see the world burn, but without spoiling anything, in the final act that bit too came together, and overall perhaps it is more satisfying they made it this way.

Didn't get to see the Enterprise kicking ass and taking names like she was born to in this movie either... Damn, that ship's a glutton for punishment in these movies! lol... Oh well. Fourth time's the charm, eh?

Score:
7/10


I loved the bit at the end where Spock found the photo of the whole oldskool Enterprise cast in Ambassador Spock's effects.
 
Sadly JL is still a Synder film so place your expectations appropriately (its going to suck like BvS).
 
The film lost me completely when one of the two leads basically turned his opponent from a homicidal psycho into a gentle soul by uttering the words "Your Mom". I also didn't think the film was so much confusing as it was just plain stupid. Wonder how much the longer cut will change all that, but I have a feeling it's only gonna make for an experience that's even more drawn out.

Me too. I watched it on the weekend and there were various points (happening more frequently as the movie went on...) when I caught myself wondering.... is this movie for real? Not only did they make the movie very confusing, they also completely managed to destroy what happened to be a very decent relaunch of Man of Steel (which I thought was quite good). By the end of it, I kept thinking why on earth would they make a movie like this. And no, by the time they actually introduced Wonder Woman, I was close to turning off the TV as it all just felt so ridiculous. Then when the credits finally started rolling, I got on to Wikipedia in attempt to convince myself I wasn't the only person who felt this way about this movie, only to then read they are actually making a sequel to this. Please god no.

I can live with the fact that they had to use someone else to continue the Batman story in Ben Affleck, but I actually liked Man of Steel. It was a somewhat good relaunch and pilot of a franchise that I felt made some sense, had actors with charisma and a setting that was somewhat convincing. But then to mix everything they've built up in a movie that also stars Batman? Seriously? And then Wonder Woman too? It beggars belief.

I'll admit, I'm not too enthusiastic about the whole Avengers thingy either, mixing all the Marvels characters into one big giant movie, but for all the criticism I could throw at it, it wasn't that bad and it didn't manage to destroy what the stand-alones had built up. The way Nolan relaunched Batman as this realistic, believable trilogy and Man of Steel pursuing a similar theme (that didnt felel like your everyday superhero flick), it just feels wrong to then make another movie staring both and filming it like the last Spiderman movie.

I'm utterly disgusted, my sincerest apology to whoever liked it.
 
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I loved it. Apology accepted. Now get ready for the rest of DC Universe! :)

justiceleague_photo.jpg



Tommy McClain
 
The shocker of the day: I actually think that Aquaman looks interesting and cool and I am looking forward to the Aquaman movie!!! :oops:

In the comics he was so....Arielle!
 
Me too. I watched it on the weekend and there were various points (happening more frequently as the movie went on...) when I caught myself wondering.... is this movie for real? Not only did they make the movie very confusing, they also completely managed to destroy what happened to be a very decent relaunch of Man of Steel (which I thought was quite good). By the end of it, I kept thinking why on earth would they make a movie like this. And no, by the time they actually introduced Wonder Woman, I was close to turning off the TV as it all just felt so ridiculous. Then when the credits finally started rolling, I got on to Wikipedia in attempt to convince myself I wasn't the only person who felt this way about this movie, only to then read they are actually making a sequel to this. Please god no.

I can live with the fact that they had to use someone else to continue the Batman story in Ben Affleck, but I actually liked Man of Steel. It was a somewhat good relaunch and pilot of a franchise that I felt made some sense, had actors with charisma and a setting that was somewhat convincing. But then to mix everything they've built up in a movie that also stars Batman? Seriously? And then Wonder Woman too? It beggars belief.

I'll admit, I'm not too enthusiastic about the whole Avengers thingy either, mixing all the Marvels characters into one big giant movie, but for all the criticism I could throw at it, it wasn't that bad and it didn't manage to destroy what the stand-alones had built up. The way Nolan relaunched Batman as this realistic, believable trilogy and Man of Steel pursuing a similar theme (that felt like your everyday superhero flick), it just feels wrong to then make another movie staring both and filming it like the last Spiderman movie.

I'm utterly disgusted, my sincerest apology to whoever liked it.

I quite enjoyed Man of Steel as well. It was a little too long for my taste, but that seems to be a staple of the superhero movie genre now. Unlike BvS, it was reasonably well paced though. I'm also wondering where BvS's supposed 400 million dollar budget went. It was a really dark and rather ugly film, and most of the set pieces took place in abandoned warehouses. It all looked very cheap compared to Man of Steel's, or rather Zack Snyder's, usual visual opulence. Hate on the guy all you want - I'm not. As a matter of fact, BvS was the first film of his I did not enjoy. That's right, Sucker Punch included - , but his films tend to look very pretty.
Still, as a Snyder fan and also someone who was always on board with Affleck as Batman, I'm still hopeful for the Justice league movie.

I think the comparison to the last Spider-man film is rather apt, by the way. That was an equally confused mess, and if memory serves me right, it also looked similarly dark, garish and ugly.
 
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So! Trailers from Comic-con!
Wonder Woman (amazing?)

Justice League (Thanks Flash for saving the day?)

Comments welcome.

Both look good but Justice league looks more interesting to me. WW had a very "The First Avenger" feel about it which isn't at the top of my superhero movie list. Nevertheless, both will be 100% cinema visits for me. There's nothing like a superhero film at the cinema with a few beers followed by a night on the town.... I'm getting twitchy already!
 
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