Movie Reviews 2.0

[Picao84]

Coming back to quality: I thought the characters, the writing and the genuine feeling emotions a dopey comic book movie like Guardians of The Galaxy brought to the screen were miles ahead of what was shown in critically overrated works of nothingness like Boyhood. Usually I do find them quite funny as well. Then there's the Cap movies which actually deal with some very intereting themes. They also feel completely different from the rest. The second one in particular reminded me of old-fashioned spy flicks. Not so much of your typically restless summer blockbuster. They aren't particularly quippy either. I also loved what Shane Black did with Iron Man 3.

Of the more recent ones, the one I enjoyed the most (even though I missed Sam Raimi's sense of style and epicness a bit) was probably Spider-man Homecoming.

I think it's the Assassins Creed problem: Most of these games were at the very least pretty damn decent, but if you consume one (or even more) of them in a year, the formula is gonna get stale unless you really switch things up.

I haven't seen Boyhood but I loved GoTG. While it had lots of humour, it was well inserted into the plot (Drax based jokes fit well into his rage and slight austism that the character was confirmed to have) and I really enjoyed the story about a bunch of random a-holes coming together to save a planet. The chemistry between all of them was also incredible.

On the other hand, I really disliked Spiderman Homecoming. I prefer the Sam Raimi movies by far and actually enjoyed The Amazing Spiderman reboot (after months of a mix of expectations and dread because its my favourite Marvel superhero). I found Homecoming a bit too childish for my taste and too long for what it was.

 

[Sigfried1977]

I thought Andrew Garfield was just a giant miscast. Or rather I thought Peter's characterization was totally off. By turning him from what should have been a likeable nerd who cannot get his shit together into a brooding, badass, too-cool-for-school kinda skater dude, the writers completely missed the point of the character.

 

[Picao84]

I thought Andrew Garfield was just a giant miscast. Or rather I thought Peter's characterization was totally off. By turning him from what should have been a likeable nerd who cannot get his shit together into a brooding, badass, too-cool-for-school kinda skater dude, the writers completely missed the point of the character.

Yes, I agree with you. However, Spiderman Homecoming, while keeping some of the "cannot get his shit together" was also a bit off character. I see it as mix of Tobey Maguire's (very nerdy and introverted) with Andrew Garfield's (not too nerdy but extroverted). I never felt like Tom Holland's character knew exactly what to go for, it was all over the place. Also the "I'm going to save the day!" was irritating and totally out of character. Peter Parker did not exactly dream of being a hero, it just happened and grew up on him. The perfect example is when he lets the robber escape for vengeance... Tom Holland's character would never do such thing, he would enjoy catching the guy. He is too much merry go lucky type to be Spiderman, IMO.

 

[Sigfried1977]

But isn't Spider-man supposed to be a merry go lucky guy who cannot stop wisecracking no matter the situation? I thought reducing his character to dude haunted by guilty conscience over dead uncle was mostly a movie thing. It was not nearly as important in the comics due to the fact that unlike in the movies, his adventures weren't all linked to his origin story. I certainly found it refreshing to have a character who's excited by his powers for once. I mean who wouldn't be?

Btw, I think the whole nerd aspect in Homecoming could've been handled a lot better regardless. Being a nerd isn't much of an issue when the school you're attending seems like it's almost exclusively populated by other nerds, including smoking hot nerd chicks of course.

 

[Picao84]

But isn't Spider-man supposed to be a merry go lucky guy who cannot stop wisecracking no matter the situation? I thought reducing his character to dude haunted by guilty conscience over dead uncle was mostly a movie thing. It was not nearly as important in the comics due to the fact that unlike in the movies, his adventures weren't all linked to his origin story. I certainly found it refreshing to have a character who's excited by his powers for once. I mean who wouldn't be?

Well I watched Spiderman cartoons on TV while I was a kid and that was not the take on it. Quite the contrary, it was very dramatic, with Mary Jane disappearing in the river and all. I guess it really depends on which iteration of the character you are more familiar with. I did not grow up with a Spider Man cracking 10 jokes a second, quite the contrary, so I do not appreciate that take as much. In parallel with Spider Man, I like Batman, precisely because it is dark and gritty. I'm not a big fan of comedian super heroes.. I was the one of my friends who was not completely amazed by Deadpool. I did enjoy the movie but it is far from being my favorite thing ever...

EDIT - this is the cartoon series I remember and I don't remember laughing at all...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man_(1994_TV_series)

EDIT2 - It seems this series was really bad on humour, so that is probably why I never saw Spideman as a "sarcastic quip machine"..

https://www.cbr.com/7-reasons-the-90s-spider-man-cartoon-ruled-and-8-reasons-it-sucked/

One of Peter Parker’s most defining characteristics is that he’s is a sarcastic quip machine while in costume. Unfortunately, in this show, Peter’s humor falls flat. Everything he says is a poor approximation of what humor should actually be. In the pilot episode he sees an out of control truck zipping down the street. Spider-Man says, “Another satisfied graduate of the New York City cab driving academy?”

That’s the first joke in the entire series and a foreshadowing of what was going to be in the rest of the series. It’s too long to be a quip. It’s such a wordy sentence that Peter’s voice actor can barely say the line. It’s a lame joke about crazy cab drivers in New York. This series is absolutely littered with these bad jokes and it makes it tough to watch the episodes.

 

[Sigfried1977]

Wasn't a big fan of Deadpool either. Not because he was jokey, but because I don't find the fourth wall breaking, wink-wink-nudge-nudge type of humor very funny. And unlike Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Homecoming was smart enough to cut the humor when it would've gotten in the way. If Homecoming was more like GotG2, Peter would have continued quipping during one rather menacing car ride, and probably while being buried under a ton of rubble as well.

 

[Grall]

But isn't Spider-man supposed to be a merry go lucky guy who cannot stop wisecracking no matter the situation?

Comics spidey has traditionally been a wisecracking, irreverent jokester by and large. Surely the character has had darker moments every now and then, but that's still pretty core to the character. New movie-Spidey seen in Civil War was good in that way I felt; it was sufficiently playful you might say. Haven't seen Homecoming yet, so I can't judge that one.

 

[Grall]

Just finished watching Thor: Ragnarok, and like people have been saying, it was fking GREAT!

Best Thor by a significant margain, despite the silly humor and slapstick comedy which I'm usually not at all a great fan of, but in this case wasn't bothered at all by. (Ok, an itty bitty little bit bothered.) It really was quite well executed, and I did laugh a lot many times. Damn cough tho, laughing really doesn't help with that...

Good story, by and large, good, scary badguy. Err, badgal...? Badwoman? Uh, that doesn't really work out so well...

Loved Hulk, loved Miss Valkyrie, whatshername, loved Loki. Loki is always an interesting character. Also loved Dr. Strange, that segment, although brief, was fun and interesting. Wasn't totally super enamored by Jeff Goldblum tho, whom I felt seemed to...well, basically just be Jeff Goldblum in weird makeup and an oddly shaped bathrobe parodizing Jeff Goldblum and generally goofing off in a not very serious or believable manner. Luckily the movie didn't center around him though or it would have been really annoying.

So yeah, great action movie. Definitely one of my favorite Marvel movies, this one. But damn, iTunes fucking sucks for streaming movies. This fucking Apple TV thing has gobs of RAM, but it can't buffer even 10 seconds of video so that I can rewind a great moment and watch it again without that fucking spinning little circle spinning for half an eternity. God, that's so pathetic.

Why do they have to make their iThings so bad when they could be making them GOOD instead? It's not as if they don't have the money, or even smart enough people. It's just so disappointing. Oh well... *grumble grumble*

Btw, now I'm REALLY looking forward to Infinity War! Except, it's gonna be two movies, yeah? (It wasn't three I hope.) So wait ANOTHER year for the conclusion? Man, that burns!

 

[Picao84]

Wasn't totally super enamored by Jeff Goldblum tho, whom I felt seemed to...well, basically just be Jeff Goldblum in weird makeup and an oddly shaped bathrobe parodizing Jeff Goldblum and generally goofing off in a not very serious or believable manner. Luckily the movie didn't center around him though or it would have been really annoying.

Ye, I didn't get it either. Everyone was oozing about Jeff Goldblum and I did not get why. Glad I'm not the only one

 

[Sigfried1977]

I like Jeff Goldblum, but hasn't he always been a little one-note? I feel like the twitchy, manic scientist from The Fly comes through in just about all the parts he plays. It's what the audience likes about him, so that's the personality quirks he's exaggerating. All the older stars like De Niro, Malcovich, Hopkins and Nicholson do it as well.

 

[Mariner]

Don't believe the hype, I say.

Watched Thor Ragnarok last Friday and, though it was fine, I was ultimately a little disappointed after everyone else had hyped it up so much! The quips/jokes got a little bit too silly at times as in GOTG2 (less can be more) and the storyline was all over the place, but I thought it was still reasonably enjoyable. I think I actually preferred the first Thor movie to this one.

I felt much the same way about this one as the Wonder Woman film which underwhelmed me considering the amount of praise I'd read online.

That said, I enjoyed Spiderman Homecoming so perhaps it's not so much me being influenced by the hype generated by others, but instead I just like some movie types more than others?

I think Antman remains one of the most enjoyable Marvel movies I've seen in recent years. No doubt the sequel will be hopeless!

 

[Picao84]

Watching "Game Night" tonight, I have a feeling it will be a blast! I enjoyed Horrible Bosses and this is from the same guys.

 

[WhiningKhan]

Don't believe the hype, I say.

Watched Thor Ragnarok last Friday and, though it was fine, I was ultimately a little disappointed after everyone else had hyped it up so much! The quips/jokes got a little bit too silly at times as in GOTG2 (less can be more) and the storyline was all over the place, but I thought it was still reasonably enjoyable. I think I actually preferred the first Thor movie to this one.

I felt much the same way about this one as the Wonder Woman film which underwhelmed me considering the amount of praise I'd read online.

That said, I enjoyed Spiderman Homecoming so perhaps it's not so much me being influenced by the hype generated by others, but instead I just like some movie types more than others?

I think Antman remains one of the most enjoyable Marvel movies I've seen in recent years. No doubt the sequel will be hopeless!

Sir, you have impeccable taste in movies.
In all the other later Marvels, the scale has just gotten out of hands. Pun mostly intended.

 

[eloic]

Blade Runner 2049. Equal parts wonderful and meh.

BTW, isn't science-fiction supposed to be credible? Because that virtual girl seemed way to fantastic to me. For instance, she couldn't feel nor touch things, yet she did touch things and even sit/lean on things. I'm open to the idea of virtual characters in sci-fi movies, but I didn't like the way it was done.

Spoiler

Rachel is absolutely believable! I didn't think it was CG

 

[Sigfried1977]

Being a hologram, she can sit or lean on just about anything wants. It's not like she "really" leans on things. It's all just make believe. This is a future with artificial humans, flying cars and offworld colonies. Juxtaposed with oddly archaic looking monitors, but still. Drawing the line at a convincing hologram seems rather peculiar.

 

[Picao84]

Game Night is soooo fun. It has quite a few scenes where I and the rest of the audience couldn't stop laughing all the way through incredibly levels of silliness.

 

[eloic]

Being a hologram, she can sit or lean on just about anything wants. It's not like she "really" leans on things. It's all just make believe. In a world with artificial humans, flying cars and offworld colonies, a convincing hologram is hardly a stretch.

I know, but the way it's done it's not convincing to me. I can see a flying car and it looks convincing to me. Maybe I don't know how to express it.

 

[Malo]

I would expect a hologram to interact with the environment to further the notion that she's actually they there, would increase the realism for me if such things existed. It's irrelevant that it can't get tactile feedback, it should be programmed to act as if they do.

 

[eloic]

It just seems so weird to me... and not weird as in "wow, such an advance tech", but I don't know why, since I'm very open minded about tech and sci-fi (I'm an avid sci-fi reader, too). :-S

Could that be some kind of uncanny valley?

 

[Sigfried1977]

Nah. It's just you

The one weird thing about the hologram was how she'd advertize herself to possible costumers with black devil eyes.