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Last movie you watched

Jennywocky

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I got the shivers and teared up during at least one of the trailers. It was embarrassing. But hell yeah -- this is like tie-in to favorite memories from childhood.

Watching the trailers also makes me want to go play the computer games. (And Lucas' prequels are almost impossible for me to watch. I can only really handle the last one, and then I'm disappointed over all the places it could have been amazing but just wasn't.) So yeah...
 

Jennywocky

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However, as a movie and a story it was pretty awful in my opinion. I couldn't stand The Baker. All the various tragedies of the play seemed only to serve in driving The Baker's growth which at the end was paltry and disappointing. I found myself leaving the theater depressed. I wanted them to all die in a fire.

Don't even know if you're still around, but ran across this while skimming 2015 reviews.

I saw this movie later, with no experience with the stage play or the music. I wish I had invested in seeing it years back, alas.

Though The Witch was given a fantastic line, "You're not good. You're not bad. You're just nice. I'm not good. I'm not nice. I'm just RIGHT!". I loved that moment.

That is one of my favorite lines in the entire show/movie. It leaped out at me when I heard it, and I could not stop thinking about it for days.

They 'try' to look like good people by being 'nice' but meanwhile are not taking responsibility for their decisions, trying to cover it up with pretty behavior on the surface. The witch is hated by most of them because she's willing to say what she thinks and think what she says. This isn't something as merely banal as political correctness but she is willing to make decisions that sometimes leaves her alone, isolated, hated by others and then take RESPONSIBILITY for it because she embraces her decisions. I love that scene, after they all try to blame each other ("it's YOUR fault!"), where she tells them off with disgust in her voice, then gives back her beauty to become ugly again and banish herself with magic because she's sick of dealing with their shit.

As it is, especially in the show version I realized later, the witch actually is correct! They all see her as a bitch for locking up her daughter, yet as it turns out once her daughter gets her freedom, she dies! The witch was right all along in that regard.

Meryl Streep acted them all under the carpet of course. But then, you could put her in a dress made out of a paper sack and tell her to act Shakespeare on her head and she'd do well.

She's really talented. there have been embarrassments in theater conversions to film (like Russell Crowe in Les Miserables), but Meryl actually had the chops for this. And whereas most of the theater actors have to worry about projecting themselves from stage (so nuances can be lost), She's an actor, so she brings some more delicacy to her singing even if she's not quite at the technical level of some of the professional singers. I just saw her in Ricki and the Flash; the movie is ho-hum, but she's doing a lot of lead vocalist covers with a country flare and does just fine with them.

I grudgingly admit that the casting director did a wonderful job. I even think the singing was well done with none of the actors straining. Pine as Prince Charming was a stroke of genius. I generally don't care for Pine much but he fit the part well. Who knew he had good comedic timing?

I was just freaking shocked. I knew Kendrick had a great voice (hasn't she won a Tony? Or been nominated? But Emily Blunt? Wow. I love what she did with her song in the woods after Prince Charming left -- the way she keeps flipping back between "oh gush" and "WTF just happened???". And whassisname brings a certain sweetness and vulnerability to the Baker. And yes, Chris Pine -- he's more talented than it might seem. I guess I saw him in a bit of The Princess Diaries 2 -- not the greatest movie, but I had an idea he could do this. And yes, he really did a great job with the role, timing and singing and attitude and whatnot.

My own disappointment was with Jack. the kid actor is fine, I liked him in the Les Mis movie; but casting him so young made his "Giants in the Sky" song not seem right. (Because there are allusions to "carnal knowledge" in there, but he's like 12, and totally not a sexual performance; it's almost like molestation and/or the understory is lost. I guess in the actual show he's older?)

Perhaps it's just the basic plot and character development that I hated. As a movie it was well acted, well executed, and the special effects were interesting.

I'm glad I saw it. I'd like to see the show and/or video of the show at some point. After I saw it, I couldn't get it out of my head -- my brain kept trying to strip it bare and understand what I had seen. It's actually very profound.

I mean, most of the characters start as immature asshats. It's the point -- "into the woods" is the experience of life, and we go "into the woods" to be challenged and to grow, again and again, as we age. Most of the characters are just self-absorbed and irresponsible in the beginning, although some are better than others. But when push comes to shove, they typically try to shove responsibility for achieving their dreams on others -- they steal, and take, and lie, and whatever else. Dreams all have a price, and someone has to pay it.. and we owe it to ourselves to at least be honest about what we're doing, what we want to do, and who pays the price.

Like Jack stealing the harp, leading to the death of the giant. This seems good for Jack, but it turns out it hurts the giant's wife, and now Jack needs to take responsibility for what he did to her... whether it's apologizing and making amends, or stopping the giantess because she is now killing other people in turn. In any case, morality can be ambiguous in certain situations, but you have to take responsibility for the choices you have made in order to grow and mature.

Or the baker, whose dad abandoned him when he was young and he grew up fatherless. I know the backstory now, after reading about the play. But here, now, he is alone having to raise his own son due to the loss of his wife -- and so you do it. It's not easy, and it's not painless, and that's okay; you just do the best you can, versus making excuses because you 'don't know how.'
 

Jennywocky

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Watched Ant-Man the other night (3D version). It wasn't very deep, but everything held together and it was rather fun to watch. And the 3D was kind of cool in terms of the micro world. The train fight was rather inspired, especially the ending. And the whole Avengers complex thing. But... it was all just amusing.

Started watching Slow West; only half an hour in, and I'm boooooored. It's got great reviews from critics, and I think the landscapes and scene framing and the like it just beautiful; but so far the plot seems rather aimless. Hopefully it'll get better.
 

nanook

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The lobster. A kafkaesk story about dating. I might have made the same mistake: Going for the heartless woman, secretly thinking i have enough of a heart for two. Colin Farell get's much more lucky later ... Rachel Weisz! fun movie.

Pawn sacrifice. Intense movie. I don't care about chess and didn't know the story of Bobby Fisher, so it was a fun ride into the unknown for me ...


Inside Out.
Hm, i'll make a thread about that one
 

onesteptwostep

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The Beauty Inside (2015)

A Korean film about a man who wakes up into a different body each day, causing problems with his new found love. I found that I could relate to it as a tangent because of my schizophrenic fluxes. Very INFJ.

Currently waiting for the new Star Wars film to come out as well.
 

Jennywocky

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Picked up the Mission Impossible 5-bluray-pack today and rewatched Rogue Nation. It's very much an action movie, but I think it flows better than Ghost Protocol, and Rebecca Ferguson really is the female counterpoint to Ethan Hunt in this movie... it's up for grabs who would win in a fair fight. There's just a lot of nice set pieces, with the most intricate/interesting being the Opera House sequence. It's also got a few great times when there's a problem to solve, and you're left with "HTF is he going to deal with this?" and the solution seems obvious in hindsight but isn't really that obvious at the time.
 

Massiv0r

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I watched The Intern, kinda shows the ENFP-ISTP dynamic which you see being discussed all over the internet, very boring.
 

Jennywocky

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Trainwreck. I hated the first 30 minutes, which just seemed like one big Amy Schumer blase standup routine (I don't find her routine that funny), but suddenly it really became an ensemble piece of which she was merely a part and it helped immensely -- it became funnier, more alive and raw, and actually acquired a lot of depth (and a commentary on the difficulties of relationships when you've been emotionally mucked up). Hader was a good foil for her. And there are also some amusing cameos with LeBron, matthew Broderick, Maria Tomei, etc.

----

Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Stars Wars is BACK. It's not a perfect movie (the plot is fairly standard, some of the similarites to events in prior movies might come across as redundant, and at times it feels like a high-school reunion), but it's an honest-to-goodness movie.

Abrams' talent is assembling ensembles, making movies interesting to watch (rather than flat), and establishing a logical foundation for later scenes so at least it seems palatable; and he pulls through here. At times it seems like he's trying to "out-star wars" Lucas... what Lucas did, he can do better, AND improve on the model.

Where the plot might sometimes be content to just follow a somewhat-beaten path, the actors in general are excellent (and also were directed so as to create emotional arcs in the film). Ridley really nails this, despite her relative inexperience compared to other cast members. There's also a lot of the jovial familiar banter that Star Wars is famous for. Driver invests complexity in what could have been a one-note performance. Harrison Ford can own a screen just by appearing on it, but the other actors hold their own and step up the game.

There are lots of spoilers for this movie, some minor, others major. I might post some in my blog (still under the spoiler tag), just to avoid the possibility someone might Quote or copy them by accident visibly in this thread. And some interesting things to discuss for movie 2... there's at least one big mystery that fans will be arguing about until SW VIII releases.
 

QuickTwist

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Trainwreck. I hated the first 30 minutes, which just seemed like one big Amy Schumer blase standup routine (I don't find her routine that funny), but suddenly it really became an ensemble piece of which she was merely a part and it helped immensely -- it became funnier, more alive and raw, and actually acquired a lot of depth (and a commentary on the difficulties of relationships when you've been emotionally mucked up). Hader was a good foil for her. And there are also some amusing cameos with LeBron, matthew Broderick, Maria Tomei, etc.

----

Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Stars Wars is BACK. It's not a perfect movie (the plot is fairly standard, some of the similarites to events in prior movies might come across as redundant, and at times it feels like a high-school reunion), but it's an honest-to-goodness movie.

Abrams' talent is assembling ensembles, making movies interesting to watch (rather than flat), and establishing a logical foundation for later scenes so at least it seems palatable; and he pulls through here. At times it seems like he's trying to "out-star wars" Lucas... what Lucas did, he can do better, AND improve on the model.

Where the plot might sometimes be content to just follow a somewhat-beaten path, the actors in general are excellent (and also were directed so as to create emotional arcs in the film). Ridley really nails this, despite her relative inexperience compared to other cast members. There's also a lot of the jovial familiar banter that Star Wars is famous for. Driver invests complexity in what could have been a one-note performance. Harrison Ford can own a screen just by appearing on it, but the other actors hold their own and step up the game.

There are lots of spoilers for this movie, some minor, others major. I might post some in my blog (still under the spoiler tag), just to avoid the possibility someone might Quote or copy them by accident visibly in this thread. And some interesting things to discuss for movie 2... there's at least one big mystery that fans will be arguing about until SW VIII releases.

Thank you for NOT spoiling the movie in this post. I am excited to see it. I haven't been excited to see a movie since the first hobbit movie came out. I hope I can enjoy this new Star Wars film.
 

FlorisV

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The last 3 movies I've seen:

Star Wars, Episode VII, the Force Awakens
Star Wars, Episode VII, the Force Awakens
Star Wars, Episode VII, the Force Awakens

Seriously, watched it 3 times in the theatre now. Loved it, completely agree with Jennywocky's comments. Imperfect film but I can forgive the imperfections. I was very pleased with the performances (watching it the 3rd time I could see the nuances in their work) by the young cast members, all these guys were great, Ridley, Boyega, Driver, Isaac. The older cast members did great as well. And really loved that they combined real physical stuff with CGI, great details and designs. The real Star Wars is back. Can't wait for the sequel...what a Christmas present.
 
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Saw carol today...Everyone has been singing praises about it including my cinephile friends but i didn't like it at all
I just have this knee jerk dislike for films that are obviously trying to impress rather than deliver a story
And Carol belongs to this troop
But then again people have been comparing it to "in the mood for love" and i hate that film so i shouldn't have expected much
Tbh i hated cate blankets "sophisticated" binch character...and I didn't feel any connection between her and maroony mara
Their conversations were very 2d, their "attraction" not convincing..idk...i didn't feel it
It just feels like the film was tailored for critics' wank
 

Tannhauser

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"cate blanket" lol

Last one I saw was the James Bond one. My review: don't watch it if you are above the age of 15.
 

Jennywocky

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Yeah, I found Spectre a bit disappointing....
 

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Inside Out -

Downloaded it and watched it on my phone on the plane. Was surprisingly good; someone at work thought I'd like the movie, even though I had never heard of it.

The story shows what's happening inside the character's head; but instead of a scientific answer or neurology, you get the personification of each emotion influencing the memories and actions of the character they are in. The internal fighting between the emotions gets reflected in the person they reside in. I thought the movie as an interesting metaphor for what goes on inside someone's mind. It was fun to watch.
 
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Sir Eus Lee

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Tomorrowland. 3.1/10

A flash here and a random unexplained plot point here, add a little tangential existential and scientific discussion with no real place in the movie and then talk about a modern renaissance to fix the world and boom, you have whatever the heck this movie was. It created drama by leaving out information that was necessary to keep the watcher interested.
 
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TheManBeyond

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the hateful eight. i quite enjoyed it, 7,5/10 maybe 8

star wars the force awakens. i only saw episode iv before this but i could enjoy it anyway, 6,5/10?
 

Jennywocky

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The Danish Girl.

It's filmed beautifully, with an exquisite eye -- the framing, the landscapes, the play of color and shadow and shape and image. And both Vikander and Redmayne do a lovely job with what script they are given, which in spots has some beautiful understated dialogue and yet frustratingly in other places veers back towards the conventional and predictable. It's not great that it claims to be a 'true story' but takes some huge liberties with the historical narrative into order to pump out just another "stand by your 'man'" [genders aside] kind of tale, with the expected dramatic beats that never happened that way.

It's worth seeing for the visual craftsmanship and Vikander and Redmayne's performances, but sadly the story loses its way by the end.
 

Jennywocky

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The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015).

Pretty decent adaptation of the actual experiment in 1971, feels believable in how things unfold.

The experiment itself wasn't perfect. While they screened and selected the most stable 24 of the 75 applicants, Zimbardo mentioned what the experiment was in the advertisement (which means those who aren't adverse and/or who are interested in such things had more chance of applying) and gave a little too much info on intent. One of the guards decided to play into a persona to see if anyone would stop him, so he wasn't necessarily corrupted mainly by his role. Zimbardo was also involved/tacitly endorsed behavior during the simulation, which offered permission. And so on.

But typically prisons are not populated by random people -- you already have people who have self-selected for both the roles of guard and captive -- so there's already an individual slant that could easily play into this sort of role fulfillment. And we've had other examples of abuses within the prison system (abu dhabi, among other things). The movie did a great job in showing what guards might do in order to subdue rebellion, and then how all of that will feed into a growing cycle, strengthening and perpetuating attitudes, behavior, self-identity.

When you have a group of people who possess total authority over the world of strangers, even if their intent is neutral or good, and you charge them with maintaining order, then there is a temptation to over-control and/or abuse power... and especially if they already view the captives as bad or deficient in some way. You can even see this in family units, where the natural stabilizing factor of parents loving their kids and wanting to do right by them might be supplanted by parental indifference (and especially when children are isolated from outside influences and peers, so the parents are the child's world), leading to abuse by the parental figures.
 

nanook

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my favorite movies, seen in 2015, in retrospect

sci-fi: chappy, Interstellar, turbo kid, ..., ex machina, uncanny,
western: the dark valley, the revenant, bone tomahawk, ... ,the slow west,
history: child44, fury, exodus,
crime & pulp: the connection, kingsman
weirdo: partisan, lost river, ..., the lobster, borgman
world: beast of no nation, trash,
dokus: the look of silence, cowspiracy

latest decent movies: straight outta compton, diary of a teenage girl, the walk, steve jobs
 

onesteptwostep

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Just finished Gone Girl.

Huge spoilers:

The wife, Amy, is a perfect example of slave morality at play. It goes to show how morality needs to have a guiding emotional aspect, or else it becomes a weapon- something which is oblivious to itself. I actually sided with Amy before realizing it was actually her that was the one at err. I think the director did well in ending the movie at that; if a child actually did come into play things would have gone a little out of control or a bit unrealistic.

As a film, the movie was great.
 

Brontosaurie

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Sorcerer

Excellent photo. Vague plot but i don't mind. Drags toward the end. Still good.

The Hateful Eight

A satisfyingly rich exploration of morality.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The best Star Wars in my opinion. It was thoroughly enjoyable, though Han Solo and Leia shit was lame and detracted from the rejuvenation. Stupid, older, stiff, linear acting paradigm. Wonky utterances. They just don't cut it. New female lead was an appealing character, Dark Lord Misunderstood also. I may be going robosexual on BB8.
 

Jennywocky

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You just to want to lick their big Sandy ball(s)? Do you like fish sticks? :D

Anyway, what I've expected (and heard) so far is that Rian Johnson has built off Abrams ' "bridge movie" and taken the trilogy in new unexpected directions. I'm excited to see where that goes. Even if that means someone licking bb8, lol. But srsly....
 

Jennywocky

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Unfriended (2015).

Basically a vengeful ghost / teen slasher pic but innovatively all approached via social media. All you ever really see are electronic interfaces (chrome, skype, facebook, etc.) as a number of the teens interact and the villain starts its deadly business. The writers and director really make the most of this kind of interface approach, in creative ways. No, it'll never be Shakespeare, but i found it rather effective... especially the makeshift game of "Never have I ever" which reinforces how awful the teens are rather than forcing us to assume it...
 

Alias

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Just saw the new Star Wars. I liked it, but didn't love it as much as I do other movies. I'm a sucker for the soundtrack: big fan of John Williams. I had it spoiled beforehand, but I predicted the spoiler before hearing the spoiler. It's kind of easy to see coming. Just because it's been spoiled, it doesn't mean you can't watch it again. It was extremely similar to A New Hope in plot. It's a sufficient apology for the prequels (which I try to forget about). I don't like BB-8 though. I know that he helped advance the plot, but I just didn't fall for him. The fact that they sold the bot before the movie came out is silly to me. I would almost never buy something for a movie I haven't deemed good. R2D2 will always be better.

I really really really want to see Hateful Eight.
 

Pizzabeak

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I found nothing appealing about BB-8, almost didn't even realize it was there.
 

Jennywocky

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BB8 was okay. I really never got into the SW droids.

... well, except for maybe the HK-47 ("Hello, Meatbag.") from SWKOTOR.
 

Sinny91

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The lobster. A kafkaesk story about dating. I might have made the same mistake: Going for the heartless woman, secretly thinking i have enough of a heart for two. Colin Farell get's much more lucky later ... Rachel Weisz! fun movie.

This sounds cool, I'll check it out.
Does anyone have any dystopian or neo noir movie recommendations?
 

Kuu

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Star Wars TFA.

It was definitely an enjoyable show, in spite of its flaws. Leagues beyond the Eps 1-3 which give me seizures just to think about (I wonder if the fan edits are any decent). It pulls off that space opera visual style and adventure feel of Star Wars. The vast shots, the dramatic lighting, music on cue. I particularly loved the opening scenes with the ruined ships in the sand.

I concurr with Bronto about the Han and Leia. That totally fell flat. Particularly all the Leia scenes felt terribly bland. That was perhaps the most annoying aspect of the movie to me. That and that plot device recycling. You know which one. I know they needed to "remake" the experience for the young people, but surely they could have thought of something at least a bit different?

Finn's character also seems really unbelievable to me, considering his background. I can't take him seriously at all. And is it racist of me to think they deliberately chose to make the black guy the comic relief man? On the other hand Rey is great.

I hope the next one is a tighter act without Abrams directing and having gotten over the "please-old-fanbase-while-introducing-to-noobs" thing.



Tideland.

Wistful and bizarre fantasy/horror for adults with a truly impressive child actress. Terry Gilliam sadistically twists his camera and your guts putting you on the edge, playing rough with your expectations with great mastery. If it weren't for imagination, could we tolerate the nightmarish aspects of reality?
 

Jennywocky

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Rewatched The Maze Runner (2014), then watched The Scorch Trials (2015).

I again thought the first one was a decent little movie -- it has a mystery, it has inherent conflict, it makes you curious about what is going on, it has a unique setting, the monsters are a bit scary, and of course at the end there's a few twists that are satisfying and make you wonder what's going to happen next. It's not an Oscar-winning script, but the acting is solid especially considering most are teen unknowns.

(Well, except for the girl. She's kind of like Kristen Stewart Lite, but more like "Twilight" KS and not "Adventureland" or "Clouds Sils Maria" KS unfortunately. Meh.)

Anyway, then The Scorch Trials picks up and ... it's just a long string of random action set pieces. They're okay, but the connections are disjointed, the plot is very linear and very boring, and all these sequences also feel like they've been lifted from other movies but not as well-done or interesting at the originals. What acting is present is decent enough, and they've got a few high-profile/caliber stars (Giancarlo Esposito, Patricia Clarkson, Barry Pepper, Lili Taylor), but underused because they're all just supporting the teen cast.

IOW, it was all rather predictable and boring in the big picture.

And then you realize that they totally changed the movie from the book it's based on, and when you look at the book plot, you realize the book was SO horrible plot-wise (insignificant, confusing, contrived, and thus unfilmable as-is) that you see why they changed the movie and the movie might actually be an improvement. Sad.
 

Jennywocky

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Sicario (2015). Great movie, superb acting, it's just depressing overall.

The whole opening scene was crazy, and I knew exactly what was gonna happen with the shed. remarkably, that was probably the most optimistic scene in the movie.

The music does a great job in providing a steady pulse of dread, I found myself on edge an awful lot. And so many lies, within lies, within lies...

Blunt is a female actor great at evoking strength, yet there were lots of analogies throughout the movie suggesting her strength just might not be enough. She's also good at evoking vulnerable emotions even in the midst of her strength. She's such a damned fighter -- will that carry her through to the end? I won't spoil it.

Benecio del Toro is wonderful -- he manages to be unsettling even as he seems in some ways reassuring. He is the large enigma lurking around the edges of the movie until late in the game, and very much in control of any scene he's a part of.

Some of the ways they shoot the movie are pretty cool too, especially with the aerial views of the black suburbans whipping through Juarez or the crack squad with night gear -- not just what they can see via nightvision, but that initial scene when their black silhouettes slowly drop down (as they move away from the camera) into the darkness of the ground and vanish from the camera's eye. It's a great analogy for what's going on in the movie -- all these characters slowly sinking from murk into the very black they claim to be fighting.
 

QuickTwist

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I liked star wars and can't say anything new except one thing: I hated how everyone started clapping and shit as new old members of the previous star wars were introduced. It made it such a buzzkill. Other than that I liked it. I give it a 4.2.
 

Alias

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And then you realize that they totally changed the movie from the book it's based on, and when you look at the book plot, you realize the book was SO horrible plot-wise (insignificant, confusing, contrived, and thus unfilmable as-is) that you see why they changed the movie and the movie might actually be an improvement. Sad.

Yeah, I managed to get through the first book without a problem, it was good enough. I tried reading Scorch Trials, but I just found myself lost and bored.

First movie was fine enough for me.
 

Jennywocky

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... for a second there, I thought you said "cool hand luke" and got all excited.

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Seven Psychopaths.

Amusing, and rather recursive (involving the writing of a movie that reflects on the movie that is unfolding), with psychopaths behaving like psychopaths while calling others psychopaths... and all over this damn shih tzu.
 

FlorisV

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BB8 was okay. I really never got into the SW droids.

... well, except for maybe the HK-47 ("Hello, Meatbag.") from SWKOTOR.

Good choice, I also liked EV9-D9( ("Yes or no will do") besides the protocol droids.


Crazy film I watched today, Turbo Kid, mentioned before here (thanks for the tip!). Too gory but I loved the 80s synth score. Unpretentiously entertaining otherwise, paying hommage to 80s sci fi pulp movies though I couldn't think of a specific one.
 

Cherry Cola

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TFA:
It kinda bothered me that Kylo Ren wasn't able to instantly dispatch lightsaber wielding Finn who couldnt even beat a fucking stormtrooper. His performance in the last battle was awful. I suppose he is more of a force guy? But then why wouldn't he use the force? The fight was stupid anyway. Even if Kylo is someone who would rather juggle underage girls with the force than practice his swordsmanship he shoulda killed Finn instantly. The power levels need to make sense ffs.

I don't understand how one is supposed to feel towards Kylo Ren. He's pathetic and weak, so much so than even if he turns into a real Darth Vader 2.0 he still wont inspire respect. I'll never forget his failures. No mask can hide them now, and no amount of character development is gonna make me not think that at the heart of whatever badass he turns into is still the same ol' Kylo who despite his training couldn't beat people with no lightsaber experience.

Sure he was distraught, but come on. Even that was wrong. If you go from sorta noob who isnt really real deal evil yet to someone who is all that by killing your father shouldn't you feel kinda exalted?

Fucking Kylo Ren

In any case the film has plenty of other flaws as well, but for some reason this one bothered me. Why would they make another cringe inducing character like that after Anakin? :S Granted Kylo's not on the same level at all when it comes to being pathetic, but he's still pathetic.
 

Jennywocky

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TFA:
It kinda bothered me that Kylo Ren wasn't able to instantly dispatch lightsaber wielding Finn who couldnt even beat a fucking stormtrooper. His performance in the last battle was awful. I suppose he is more of a force guy? But then why wouldn't he use the force? The fight was stupid anyway. Even if Kylo is someone who would rather juggle underage girls with the force than practice his swordsmanship he shoulda killed Finn instantly. The power levels need to make sense ffs.

I don't understand how one is supposed to feel towards Kylo Ren. He's pathetic and weak, so much so than even if he turns into a real Darth Vader 2.0 he still wont inspire respect. I'll never forget his failures. No mask can hide them now, and no amount of character development is gonna make me not think that at the heart of whatever badass he turns into is still the same ol' Kylo who despite his training couldn't beat people with no lightsaber experience.

Sure he was distraught, but come on. Even that was wrong. If you go from sorta noob who isnt really real deal evil yet to someone who is all that by killing your father shouldn't you feel kinda exalted?

Fucking Kylo Ren

In any case the film has plenty of other flaws as well, but for some reason this one bothered me. Why would they make another cringe inducing character like that after Anakin? :S Granted Kylo's not on the same level at all when it comes to being pathetic, but he's still pathetic.

I don't have an issue with it, and I don't bother to compare him to Anakin because the prequels suck so bad from a characterization POV and Hayden's shitty acting that they don't even count as stories IMO. I would just forget everything about the prequels and see this as the first real attempt to have a character pinned between Dark and Light.


So:

He's struggling between the Dark and the Light, it's draining him / distracting him. He thought killing his dad would free him from the struggle; instead, it made him struggle worse. Ren is also not fully trained.

He also got shot in the side by a freaking bowcaster; anyone else would have died, I suspect he deflected it mentally at the last second, just as he did Poe's blaster bolt in the beginning of the movie. That's one reason why he kept pounding his side during that fight -- he was badly hurt and it helped him focus through the pain.

if you bother to read the novel adaptation, you'll learn a lot more about what's going on internally in the characters. For example, there was a barrier in Rey's mind that Ren broke when he tried to probe her -- someone specifically was blocking her access to Force sensitivity. Which is why suddenly once the wall went down she started to get stronger and quickly have access to some degree of power. In the book, Rey is actually struggling with the Dark Side -- I think that short bit where Ren offers to train her, and she closes her eyes... she is warring internally between Dark and Light, and rejects the Dark.

Finn is also highly trained with various weapons. it's the only reason he could go head-to-head as long as he did. And Rey also is pretty good with her staff, which we see earlier in the movie... plus her Force Sensitivity that got unleashed. But if Ren wouldn't have been badly hurt and if the death of his father hadn't left him even MORE conflicted, he would have wiped the floor with them. If you watch the swordplay, despite Rey not being bad, she's really got no sense yet of various styles -- her style is rather hackneyed and with a lot of thrusting movements. It's believable, it's how she fought with her staff. But it's very rough and unperfected.

Anyway... lots of stuff I intuited was there when I was watching, and the book fleshes stuff out more.
 

paradoxparadigm7

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Somerset Maugham's The Painted Veil. Fairly well done period piece with some meat in the storyline as you'd expect with Maugham. Ed Norton does a solid portrayal of Walter but for some reason, wasn't thrilled with Naomi Watts as Kitty the wife, who can come across as immature and self indulgent. I don't know if I'm reacting to her acting or character in which case she did a brilliant job. The strategy, betrayal and how they came to see themselves as flawed human beings paving the way to compassion and respect are done with subtlety and finesse.
 

Jennywocky

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Minions.

It was pretty much what you'd expect if you've seen Despicable Me 1 & 2.
Pretty WYSIWYG.
 

Alias

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I would never bring myself to watch that. See "I HATE MINIONS" YouTube video for a similar opinion to mine.

I agree with Cherry Cola, I didn't like Kylo Ren at all. He still fulfilled his spot as bad guy, and I still really like the movie either way. Not as cringy as Anakin.
 

Reluctantly

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I don't have an issue with it, and I don't bother to compare him to Anakin because the prequels suck so bad from a characterization POV and Hayden's shitty acting that they don't even count as stories IMO. I would just forget everything about the prequels and see this as the first real attempt to have a character pinned between Dark and Light.


So:

He's struggling between the Dark and the Light, it's draining him / distracting him. He thought killing his dad would free him from the struggle; instead, it made him struggle worse. Ren is also not fully trained.

He also got shot in the side by a freaking bowcaster; anyone else would have died, I suspect he deflected it mentally at the last second, just as he did Poe's blaster bolt in the beginning of the movie. That's one reason why he kept pounding his side during that fight -- he was badly hurt and it helped him focus through the pain.

if you bother to read the novel adaptation, you'll learn a lot more about what's going on internally in the characters. For example, there was a barrier in Rey's mind that Ren broke when he tried to probe her -- someone specifically was blocking her access to Force sensitivity. Which is why suddenly once the wall went down she started to get stronger and quickly have access to some degree of power. In the book, Rey is actually struggling with the Dark Side -- I think that short bit where Ren offers to train her, and she closes her eyes... she is warring internally between Dark and Light, and rejects the Dark.

Finn is also highly trained with various weapons. it's the only reason he could go head-to-head as long as he did. And Rey also is pretty good with her staff, which we see earlier in the movie... plus her Force Sensitivity that got unleashed. But if Ren wouldn't have been badly hurt and if the death of his father hadn't left him even MORE conflicted, he would have wiped the floor with them. If you watch the swordplay, despite Rey not being bad, she's really got no sense yet of various styles -- her style is rather hackneyed and with a lot of thrusting movements. It's believable, it's how she fought with her staff. But it's very rough and unperfected.

Anyway... lots of stuff I intuited was there when I was watching, and the book fleshes stuff out more.

What is the point of Kylo killing his parents anyway? Why can't you be a badass Sith user and still love your parents? Seriously, lol. I just don't understand. It's like Star Wars equates emotions and passion with being an evil sociopath. It's just weird. It's as if Kylo got mad about something and was unable to let it go or something. That's not the Dark Side, that's holding on to anger and hate or more specifically negative emotions.

Yoda's whole quote is bogus
“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

I mean I'm sure that can happen, but passionate, emotional people don't experience just negative emotions, and nor does having negative emotions mean that's all the person can have.

The whole good vs evil dynamic is the only thing I hate about Star Wars. Add some grey and they could have some very interesting stories, ala a more Watchmenesque and more realistic and intriguing storytelling. Episode 2 and 3 sucked because of this. Anakin got annoying when he hit puberty. Force Awakens was alright because it brought back a lot of what people like about Star Wars, but the Sith are still shallow sociopaths. The old Star Wars was at least okay because Vader was stoic and mysterious as a villain, though again he didn't have much depth as to why he was so sociopathic. I mean yeah, he was 'afraid' and thought having power meant having control of reality, but that doesn't mean you have to be a sociopath. It doesn't follow at all.
 

nanook

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Diablo. Scott Eastwood looks cool as a 'cowboy' (i identify with his features and he is a good cast for a cowboy who has a sensitive soul, like Franco Nero's Django, not kidding) but this movie is truly horrible, every key idea of the plot is so poorly manifested that it's completely broken. No acting skills in the world could have saved this script.
 

Jennywocky

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The Revenant.

I have a feeling DiCaprio might pull in an Oscar this year, although more along the lines of Scorsese picking one up for "The Departed" since he had been robbed so many times in the past. He's good here, it's just that he might have been more deserving elsewhere.

Much of his work now is done without words -- either inarticulate noise or the sheer physicality of dragging himself back from the edge of death over and over in order to see his final goal through. And visually he is reborn a number of times (from the ground, from a carcass, and other places that either imprisoned him or provided a momentary refuge). There's a lot of death in this movie, whether at the hands of weather, predator, or other men, but Hugh Glass is the only one who comes back repeatedly. The shot of him walking down a frozen snow-covered river, a black speck approaching the camera, embodies how much the odds are stacked against him.

With this overall being a visual (rather than audial) and visceral story, the pain and emotion is captured by the physicality of the actors and the abstracted echoes pinging around in Glass' head about a lost love and personal crux points as well as a growing awareness of the death that European man has imposed upon a wilderness and tribal setup that had previously been in balance. Inarritu uses nature as a frame to capture those echoes of the relationship between son and father, and those painful reverberations eventually evoke more agony than any claw, bullet, or knife could match.

For interesting bits from the tailer, the bear attack sequence was actually handled pretty well, I thought. That whole sequence (even right before it starts) was just one "oh shit" moment after another.
 

Jennywocky

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@Reluctantly: A lot of your gripes about the Jedi and Sith are accurate and are part of discussions I've participated in elsewhere. In this case, I think the issue is more with Kylo, not necessarily a description of Sith in general; he personally has issues and was thinking he could resolve them a certain way, but it doesn't work that way for him.

I think Jedi and Sith make more sense views as Order vs Chaos, or Principles vs Personal [Individuality]. This actually gets handled far better in the franchise work (like the games) than Lucas handled it over the years. in SWTOR, for example, as an initiate Jedi, you're supposed to turn in two classmates who have fallen in love because they have given themselves over to passion -- those Jedi practice detachment as a virtue and don't want to be ruled by emotion. The Sith embrace it. I like how the Jedi are not necessarily the 'good guys' -- their detachment is actually presented as a negative in situations like this one, in the game.

The reality is that people integrate principles + passion to become whole, much like utilizing Jung's concept of Shadow to merge one's positive and negative impulses together into a working psyche.

(actually, I'm being a little sloppy, since the Sith is a race/culture, and not necessarily all Force users....)

Anyway, the Jedi code:
There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force.


And the Sith code:
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force will free me.


Anyway, I think Yoda is wrong, as do you. I can see value in both sides. It always made me laugh when Obiwan told Anakin that only the Sith deal in extremes -- what the hell have the Jedi been doing all these years? But yeah, it's kind of unclear in the movie -- Light = Jedi, Dark = Sith, but... does it have to be that way?

My character on SWTOR right now is a Sith Sage (lightning force user), but I've played her as a Light Side instead of Dark Side. It doesn't mean she's necessarily being "kind and gentle" but she does live by a code of honor and doesn't destroy when a lesser reprimand will do.
 

Cherry Cola

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I don't have an issue with it, and I don't bother to compare him to Anakin because the prequels suck so bad from a characterization POV and Hayden's shitty acting that they don't even count as stories IMO. I would just forget everything about the prequels and see this as the first real attempt to have a character pinned between Dark and Light.


So:

He's struggling between the Dark and the Light, it's draining him / distracting him. He thought killing his dad would free him from the struggle; instead, it made him struggle worse. Ren is also not fully trained.

He also got shot in the side by a freaking bowcaster; anyone else would have died, I suspect he deflected it mentally at the last second, just as he did Poe's blaster bolt in the beginning of the movie. That's one reason why he kept pounding his side during that fight -- he was badly hurt and it helped him focus through the pain.

if you bother to read the novel adaptation, you'll learn a lot more about what's going on internally in the characters. For example, there was a barrier in Rey's mind that Ren broke when he tried to probe her -- someone specifically was blocking her access to Force sensitivity. Which is why suddenly once the wall went down she started to get stronger and quickly have access to some degree of power. In the book, Rey is actually struggling with the Dark Side -- I think that short bit where Ren offers to train her, and she closes her eyes... she is warring internally between Dark and Light, and rejects the Dark.

Finn is also highly trained with various weapons. it's the only reason he could go head-to-head as long as he did. And Rey also is pretty good with her staff, which we see earlier in the movie... plus her Force Sensitivity that got unleashed. But if Ren wouldn't have been badly hurt and if the death of his father hadn't left him even MORE conflicted, he would have wiped the floor with them. If you watch the swordplay, despite Rey not being bad, she's really got no sense yet of various styles -- her style is rather hackneyed and with a lot of thrusting movements. It's believable, it's how she fought with her staff. But it's very rough and unperfected.

Anyway... lots of stuff I intuited was there when I was watching, and the book fleshes stuff out more.

Vader was trapped between good and evil, and that portrayal was highly successful imo.

Forgot it was the hyped Bowcaster, not just some regular blaster. Still, Kylo failed and failed thoughout the film, it wasnt just the fight, the character got so shat on in general. And he was a miserable arrogant sod quite comparable to Anakin (except not mentally retarded) despite the superior acting. that doesn't really make for a very menacing antagonist. Didn't help that Andy's character looked and acted really boring too. I mean Palpatine was a lot of fun, even in the prequels.

Novel might flesh things out, doesn't effect the film.

There were also a bunch of other stuff which was bad about the movie. But most of it can be attributed to the fan-service JJ had to provide as well as the fact that his is the first film in a series. I think it was great that he really got all of that crap done in this film. Bodes well for the upcoming movies. But the Villains.. ain't no excuse for that.
 

Cherry Cola

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What is the point of Kylo killing his parents anyway? Why can't you be a badass Sith user and still love your parents? Seriously, lol. I just don't understand. It's like Star Wars equates emotions and passion with being an evil sociopath. It's just weird. It's as if Kylo got mad about something and was unable to let it go or something. That's not the Dark Side, that's holding on to anger and hate or more specifically negative emotions.

Yoda's whole quote is bogus


I mean I'm sure that can happen, but passionate, emotional people don't experience just negative emotions, and nor does having negative emotions mean that's all the person can have.

The whole good vs evil dynamic is the only thing I hate about Star Wars. Add some grey and they could have some very interesting stories, ala a more Watchmenesque and more realistic and intriguing storytelling. Episode 2 and 3 sucked because of this. Anakin got annoying when he hit puberty. Force Awakens was alright because it brought back a lot of what people like about Star Wars, but the Sith are still shallow sociopaths. The old Star Wars was at least okay because Vader was stoic and mysterious as a villain, though again he didn't have much depth as to why he was so sociopathic. I mean yeah, he was 'afraid' and thought having power meant having control of reality, but that doesn't mean you have to be a sociopath. It doesn't follow at all.

The point should be obvious :storks: Its to allow him to sever ties with his past, as well as overcome his regrets by having no way to go back. He needs to kill his father precisely because he isn't a 100% evil psychopath. You also don't turn evil psycho by having emotions, you do so by lacking emotional control and being force sensitive. I don't see what's weird about power requiring discipline when wielded in order for it not to corrupt the wielder.

Han Solo has lots of grey to him, the Jedi's of the prequels are actually often portayed as rather grey as well. Sure it's still good vs evil, but that IS star wars lol. Can't expect too much grey from this big a budget film from such a franchise. Look to KOTOR or books if you want that.
 

Kuu

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LOL @ people expecting great ethical depth to Star Wars. Star Wars was conceived as an aesop-like coming of age story with pulpy elements IN SPACE; aimed at young people. Thus it's simple black and white morality.

I decided to go over the originals (the despecialized editions) and man, I didn't remember Luke was such a whiny bitch.

Also Jenny, don't you think that a film has serious problems if it needs a book for people to fully grasp its characters?
 
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