37 replies to this topic

[Iyouboushi]

Bri and I have decided to watch all six live action Star Wars movies in anticipation of May the 4th.  Last night we watched Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menance. It was the first time I had seen the movie in around 10 years (excluding Red Letter Media's review of it, which is almost as long as the movie itself).  Rather than giving a one or two line description to describe the movie, I figured for these I'd post the opening crawl that starts at the beginning of the film.

 

"Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of
trade routes to outlaying star systems is in dispute.  Hoping
to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly battleships,
the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping to the
small planet of Naboo.

While the congress of the Republic endlessly debates this
alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly
dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace and
justice in the galaxy, to settle the conflict....."

 

 

As for how it holds up.... not that great.  The original trilogy is timeless and classic.  The new ones relied way too heavy on CGI which is looking a bit dated these days.  Also you can tell that the actors were mostly in green screen rooms rather than actually on set which hurts their performance.  This really goes for Eps 1 - 3, but I'll only state it here.

 

The plot in this one.. well, look at the opening crawl.  Taxation, trade routes, Trade Federation...  do these words seem like something a kid would be interested in?  I mean, let's be honest, Star Wars is basically made for children (or teens, at least).  Reading that opening crawl about puts me to sleep.  Where's the epicness?  Star Wars ep 4 started with words like civil war, stolen plans, victory against a Galactic Empire, stuff like that. lol

 

After all this I will say that the Darth Maul lightsaber fight is still pretty good though.  Too bad he has no character beyond "he's evil".  What a waste of an awesome-looking villain.

 

Rating: 5/10  -- Even a bad Star Wars movie is an average movie.

 

If you really want a list of everything wrong with SW EP 1 you can go google Red Letter Media's review of it.  While the review is as long as the movie itself, it does a great job of explaining why SW EP 1 isn't that great. They've also done one for eps 2 and 3 and I'd recommend those as well. 

 

Anyway, two more til I can get to the good movies.

[ItsNotTheEd]

[font="arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]I watched Unfriended the other day.  The trailers made it look a lot better than it really was.  Not saying it was a bad movie, though.[/font]

 

[font="arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]It's a jump-scare style movie that was slow in the beginning, but once it got started, it didn't let up.[/font]

 

[font="arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]For the plot, they tap into Cyber Bullying (ITG's anyone?).  The whole movie takes place on a highschool girl's (maybe college.  I can't remember) laptop screen as she's going through her normal every day Social Media, mainly Skype and Facebook.  [/font]

[font="arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]TLDR Version:  Some kids posted a video from a party about this girl, and it completely ruins the girls reputation to the point where she kills herself.  Exactly a year later, she comes back from the dead to get her revenge!  ....via skype..  [/font]

 

[font="arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]I know, I know.  That just sounds like such a compelling story.  It wasn't terrible, and it kind of hits home because cyber bullying is a real thing.  But one thing about the movie that I really liked was how intense it got once the story picked up.  It didn't follow the traditional scary movie timeline where it starts slow, picks up and gives you a scare, then slows down while they try to figure out why the ghost/spirit/serial killer/troll is after them, picks up again for a few more jump scares, then slows down while they try to figure out how to stop the ghost/spirit/serial killer/troll, only to pick up one last time right before the movie ends.  No, on this movie, you had your intro, the killer shows up, and the entirety of the movie is intense right up to the end credits.[/font]

 

[font="arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]Overall, I liked it.  I don't think I'd pay to see it again, but I would probably watch it again.  If you like a movie with jump scares and semi graphic death scenes, I think you'll like this one.[/font]

[font="arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]I give it a 6.75/10[/font]

[Iyouboushi]

The Star Wars marathon continues.  Last night we watched Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

 

"There is unrest in the Galactic Senate
Several hundred solar systems under
the leadership of the rebel leader, Count
Dooku, have declared their intentions to
secede from the Republic.

This separatist movement has made it
difficult for the limited number of
Jedi Kights to maintain peace and
order in the galaxy.

Senator Amidala, the former Queen of
Naboo, is returning to Coruscant
to vote on the critical issue
of creating an army to assist the
overwhelmed Jedi."

 

When this one came out in 2002 I remember liking it a lot more than Episode I.  At a glance it seemed to be a huge improvement: Anakin is older, there's a better plot (the threat of war and needing an army), heck even Boba Fett is in it (along with Jango). But of course the excitement and rose colored lenses have worn off in the last 13 years that the film has been out (good lord, has it really been that long?).  It's quite a shallow movie, like all of the prequels, and suffers from glaring problems.  There's so many plot holes and characters doing stupid things that seem out of character that it's laughable at times now.

 

Still, I can't sit here and just completely bash it.  I STILL found myself enjoying a few things even now.  I liked Palpatine playing both sides to get what he wants--I still think that's done extremely well and makes him a far more interesting villain beyond "I'M THE BAD GUY HYUK HYUK" that most Star Wars villains seem to be in the prequels. I liked that Padme eventually takes charge and fights alongside everyone (she did that in the first one too but it's more evident in this one).  As short as it was, I still enjoyed seeing Obi-Wan vs Jango.  And as ridiculous as it was, Yoda fighting Dooku still makes me laugh, though Anakin fighting Dooku with the two lightsabers is still the highlight of that whole fight, as short lived as it was.  Oh and the whole "you don't want to sell me deathsticks" part was still entertaining.

 

Then there's the bad.  The love story.  It's forced and just awful.  Even Bri, who had never seen Ep II before, was groaning at some of the scenes between Anakin and Padme.  "I don't know how she fell in love with him," she told me after the movie, "he's sooooo creepy and whiny."  It just doesn't feel like the two have any chemistry at all so how can we, as an audience, believe that these two are deeply in love and are willing to sacrifice everything by getting married in secret?  It's also bad writing that Anakin and Obi-Wan talk a lot about their past adventures together rather than actually showing them do stuff together.  In fact, they hardly spend any time together in the film at all beyond the first opening bit and the closing bit.  The way Obi-Wan talks about him in the original trilogy made them sound like they were brothers but here it doesn't feel like that at all.  Yes, I know the Clone Wars cartoon kind of helps fix this problem a little bit but not everyone is going to watch a cartoon.

 

Then you have stupid characters being stupid.  You have an assassin who has a long range riffle but would rather send a droid with venomous centipede things to Padme's room instead of driving by in her speeder and just shooting her through THE GIANT BAY WINDOWS of the room she's sound asleep in.  Likewise, you have Obi-Wan telling Anakin to be patient and to think, to use the force, yet jumping out a window in a rushed decision not even knowing that the droid would return to its master.  There's lots of little moments like this sprinkled throughout the film that make you just go "wait, what?" or "why didn't he/she/it just.." 

 

Overall, it's better than Phantom Menace but it's still a pretty mediocre Star Wars film. 

 

Rating: 6/10

 

 

[Iyouboushi]

Star Wars Episode III: REVENGE OF THE SITH

 

"War! The Republic is crumbling under attacks by the ruthless Sith Lord, Count Dooku. There are heroes on both sides. Evil is everywhere.

In a stunning move, the fiendish droid leader, General Grievous, has swept into the Republic capital and kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine, leader of the Galactic Senate.

As the Separatist Droid Army attempts to flee the besieged capital with their valuable hostage, two Jedi Knights lead a desperate mission to rescue the captive Chancellor. . . ."

 

 

Out of the three prequel films this one is the strongest.  It has the most exciting opening crawl, indeed it has the most exciting opening scenes.  The plot itself is fairly strong but the execution probably could have been a little better.  Again, the CGI is overused here but at this point I'm used to it.

 

Oddly the Clone Wars tv show retcons stuff that Episode III establishes.  For example, in Episode III it seems like Grevious never fought Anakin previously but of course in the show they fight all the time.  Things like that. 

 

Anakin's switch to the Dark Side just seems so sudden in this movie too.  And Padme's death is really lame (and retcons stuff established in the original trilogy).  But overall it's the best of the prequel trilogy.

 

I will say that the novel version is better and doesn't feel as clunky.  If you like Star Wars I would recommend reading it sometime.

 

Rating: 6.5/10

[Iyouboushi]

We did finish our Star Wars marathon.  I still need to write up some thoughts on the original trilogy, but for now.. I'll be posting something about..

 

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

When Tony Stark and Bruce Banner try to jump-start a dormant peacekeeping program called Ultron, things go horribly wrong and it's up to Earth's Mightiest Heroes to stop the villainous Ultron from enacting his terrible plans.

 

The movie actually starts with trying to wrap up some loose ends from the first Avengers film--Loki's staff, which was left on Earth and taken by Hydra to be used to try and further their evil plans.  But after the opening events, which was pretty cool, it shifts to Stark and Banner creating Ultron which then leads to a near 2 hour roller coaster ride crammed pack with action, drama and tons of references to other Marvel events/movies.

 

First off, I hope you saw Captain America 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy.  Otherwise, welp, you're going to be a bit lost at some points.  For example, SHIELD is gone which is explained in Captain America 2.  And the infinity stone found in Guardians is referenced at least once, possible twice (though not by a name or anything, but they still point it out).  Even having seen CA2, I still had a hard time following everything at some points.  There's just so much stuff going on in this film.  Honestly, I'd like to see it again just to catch things I might have missed the first time around.

 

But yeah, it's an Avengers movie.  It's awesome.  Ultron makes a pretty good villain, and all the characters have their uses.  I really like that they kind of poke fun with how certain things just don't really make sense in the Marvel world (Hawkeye does this towards the end).  And there's one awesome fight that lasted, what, 20 minutes?, about mid-way that was just.. a treat for fans. lol

 

Overall, if you like Marvel and are caught up on the Marvel Universe, go see it.  It's probably going to be one of the best films of the year (Star Wars might give it a run for its money, maybe).

 

Rating: 8/10

[ItsNotTheEd]

I just watched Avengers on monday, myself.  I'm inclined to agree with you, Iyou.

 

Other than too much going on, my only gripe about the movie is that the ending felt rushed.

 

(For anyone else that hasn't seen it, be sure to stay for the credits.  It is a Marvel movie, after all.)

[Iyouboushi]

Holy crap, I'm way behind on posting anything in this topic.

 

Since the last post.. I ended up seeing Age of Ultron again with my dad, It Follows, Poltergeist (2015 remake), Insidious Chapter 3 and Cinderella (2015, live action version).

 

I'll just try sum up some thoughts on these.  Obviously I already said my thoughts on Avengers, so scroll up on that.

 

It Follows

It's a strange movie that takes a while to get into but once it does, then it starts to get interesting.  Unfortunately they never really explain what "It" is or why it's doing what "it" does.  On one hand that kind of works but the unexplained is scarier than the explained, but on the other... for something like this an origin would probably be pretty interesting (assuming they don't screw that origin up).  The main character never even really attempts to backtrack to discover the origin of it either, she just kind of accepts her fate and tries various ways to get rid of it/kill it.  I think in that situation someone would try to backtrack as much as possible to learn more about it.  Anyhoo, the movie was different and at least a somewhat unique idea though it does sort of remind me of a Terminator (with It just following, can't really kill/stop it and it never really gives up). I'd like to see it again though. 

 

Poltergeist

Ultimately this movie didn't really need to be made.  I'm not saying it's bad, but that it's essentially the same story (it is a remake, after all).  The graphics are better this time around, of course as we're not in the 80's any more, and they did change a few things around but ultimately... what's the point?  I liked it, again, don't get me wrong, I did like it and would watch it again, but I just don't really see the point in it.

 

Insidious Chapter 3

I LOVE the Insidious saga.  The first Insidious movie is still amazing to me, even though I've seen it a dozen times since it came out, and while Insidious 2 isn't as good as the first I still enjoy watching it (and it completes the story that Insidious 1 sort of left a cliff hanger on).  The third one, however, is a prequel to both the first and second movies and explains a bit more about Elise.  I really liked this one.  There were lots of jumps in it (jump scares, which I normally hate, but they worked pretty good here) and I liked seeing how Elise went from being a recluse to opening up and getting to where she is in Insidious 1. 

 

Cinderella

Bri wanted to see this one and I agreed because we were bored and had nothing better to do.  And I was impressed!  We had watched the animated Cinderella last year (I think?) during that short time when we were watching a bunch of Disney movies, so it was still somewhat fresh on my mind.  The live action version did a good job of sticking to the same story but changing enough so that they weren't just copying themselves.  The acting was well done and, well, yeah.  I'm shocked.  This makes a second Disney live action film (the first being Maleficent) that I actually enjoyed.  It kind of gives me hope for the Beauty and the Beast live adaptation coming out soon. lol.

 

 

 

So yeah.. there's the brief thoughts on them.  Nothing too detailed here, no ratings either.  Maybe later.

 

 

I will say that Sinister 2 looks good but they've shown way too much in the trailer, and a movie called Crimson Peak looks amazing (comes out in October).  We'll definitely be seeing those at some point.

[KuroMa]

Poltergeist

What's the point?  I just don't really see the point in it.

 

The pointergeist, if you will.

 

[KuroMa]

Accidental double post!

[Iyouboushi]

 
 
Last night we watched a horror movie that has a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes (almost unheard of for a horror film, by comparison Poltergeist 2015 is 31%): The Babadook (2014).

 

Amelia, who lost her husband in a car crash on the way to give birth to Samuel, their only child. She struggles to cope with her fate as a single mom. Samuel's constant fear of monsters and violent reaction to overcome the fear doesn't help her cause either, which makes her friends become distant. When things can not get any worse, they read a strange book in their house about the 'Babadook' monster that hides in the dark areas of their house. Even Amelia seems to feel the effect of Babadook and desperately tries in vain to destroy the book. The nightmarish experiences the two encounter form the rest of the story.

 

This probably the first (and perhaps last) Australian horror movie I will ever see. 

 

...So what can I say about this film?  Well, first off.. it's very slow building up.  That in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as there's a decent payoff at the end.  Which it didn't. At least to me the payoff wasn't worth it.  And the very ending?  We both looked at each other and went "WHAT?" after it.  "What did we just watch!?"

 

But to me... it was just an OK movie.  I heard it's an allegory for depression and that the Babadook was supposed to represent the mom's inner feelings.  I could see that working..to a point. 

 

Anyway, I don't know.  It kind of reminds me of the movie Boogeyman (2005).  That movie also had a slow build up with some decent tension but ended up not having a good payoff for it.  I honestly have no idea how this movie is 98% on RT.

 

The Babadook is on Netflix if you want to check it out yourself.