[Kickaha]

Originally Posted by kscherer I got up this morning and asked myself if there was anything exciting coming out of Hollywood, so I popped over to iTunes Trailers and found this. Two minutes later I realized that Hollywood—all of Hollywood—is smoking something very, very bad. Seriously? I mean, the cute little placeholder looked like something Pixar would do. You know, sort of in a Cars way. Very deceiving. I think I'll sue for false advertising. The pain and suffering I just went through is enough to make me spend the rest of my day cowering under my desk. What are these people thinking, and why do they do this to me?

That is... weird. Here, have a more traditional Pixar-esque trailer.

[kscherer]

Yeah, I saw that one, too. I wonder, are these actual books/stories made into movies, or is Hollywood just out of ideas?

[Brad]

I had to do it. I just got back from Ghostbusters 2016.

It was... a lot better than I expected. It's not going to be a memorable cult classic, and it still was lacking in a lot of areas, but it wasn't the complete clusterfuck that the trailer made it out to be.

Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy weren't always awkwardly stepping over each other.
Leslie Jones wasn't a complete one-dimensional racial stereotype.
The movie wasn't just a thinly-veiled "girl power" anthem.
A good amount (though not all) of the jokes actually worked and had me and the people around me laughing.
The CG effects actually work well for the most part and don't fall into the uncanny valley that seems to be in the trailer.

However, in no particular order:

The fan service (cameos, music, logos, quotes) were way too forced. Almost every one took me out of the moment. Star Wars 7 did a better job with fan service, and it was stuffed to the gills with them. Major plot holes left unresolved. Like... did Famous Cameo (I don't even want to say this in the spoiler) just fucking die from your office, and there were no consequences beyond a questioning look from a cop? And did the governor not just take all your stuff away and compound your car? Too much unnecessary exposition and explanation. It's the classic problem that badly-written movies suffer from. Show it; don't say it! Too much meaningless technobabble. The occasional jibberish is fine and expected, but it felt like there were whole dialogs with nothing but this to try to explain/justify what was going on. Even though they weren't as bad as I expected, the main characters were all still very archetypical/tropes-y. The "girl power" vibe was shining its brightest in the completely worthless "Kevin" character played by Chris Hemsworth. His character embodied the worst traits people put into the "dumb blonde" but spun around and put on a handsome dude. Some of his bits were funny, but others were just as cringey or stupid. The villain was just hammy and terrible. Despite way too much screen time showing him scheming and talking to himself like a loon, there was no real sense of motivation or dread or any emotional connection to anything he was doing. Also, showing so much of him breaks any possible dramatic tension. I look forward to a fan edit that deletes 90% of his scenes; the movie would work just as well.

Overall, I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars. A fun enough romp, but not something I'll want to see again any time soon.

I think this movie would have worked much better if it was actually a Ghostbusters-inspired monster/paranormal action-comedy. I can understand why the studio would want to ride the coattails of the old GB franchise, though. With the GB branding on it, my expectations (and clearly the world's at large) are setting a much higher bar.

[Chinney]

I saw the latest Trek movie, "Beyond", last week. Meh. I am a big Trek fan and I thought the opening movie of the current reboot was quite good and showed a lot of promise for more movies to come. Unfortunately, installments 2 and 3 of the new movie series have only been so-so. The current Trek creative team has knuckled under to the requirement that any summer 'blockbuster' must supply a steady stream of explosions, crashes, lasers, and things zipping around the screen. While a good Trek movie can have a bit of that, it is really not at the core of the series. The bits and pieces of the real Trek that survive were pretty good, but can't make up for the sheer waste of time on the other stuff - other stuff that is pretty much interchangeable with the explosions and things zipping around the screen of any number of other blockbusters. A disappointment.

I saw the new Woody Allen movie today, "Café Society". Not perfect, but pretty damn good for late-period Woody Allen. Some thoughtful writing, good performances by the cast (kudos especially to Kristen Stewart, somewhat to my surprise), a nice mix of drama with a light sprinkling of comedy (but this is not a comedy overall, and not intended to be), and some lovely cinematography. I really enjoyed it.

[Ryan]

So I finally got my hands on a copy of one of my favorite movies of all time, Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three staring James Cagney.

Cagney plays a Coca-Cola executive in Berlin shortly before the wall goes up. He's been climbing the corporate ladder and this is his springboard to the top job he wants in London. Then the boss calls and asks him to look after his dumb-as-rocks Southern Belle daughter while she's in Berlin during her Europe tour. She was sent off because she kept getting herself into so many "unacceptable" relationships.

Naturally she meets an East Berlin beatnik communist and decides to move to Moscow with him—and daddy is coming to pick her up the next day. Hilarity ensues.

Unfortunately the only place I was able to find a reasonably-priced copy was a seller on eBay in Greece. Amazon only has used copies for >$60. The menu is in Greek but the audio is still English and I can disable the subtitles. Worth it!

It's fast-paced (half to movie is set to Sabre Dance) and doesn't relent until the credits roll. Cagney doesn't steal the screen—the supporting cast more than hold their own, especially Buchholz (the commie kid) and his wife, played by Arlene Francis. A nonstop comedy of errors.

Put yer pants on, Spartacus

[psmith2.0]

I'll have to check that out. I'm the same way about Key Largo.

[Chinney]

I have never even heard of that Wilder movie. Looks like my sort of thing. We have a video rental store very near us - one of only two left in the city - that specializes in old movies. They may just have a copy of that. I will see if they do.

[psmith2.0]

That's something I haven't thought of in quite some time...a video rental store. I can't think of any here. The big ones - Blockbuster, Hollywood, etc. - are long gone, and I can't even think of any smaller, mom-and-pop stores around (theyve all become check-cashing/auto loan places or fireworks stores).

Going to a dedicated store and scanning the shelves for a movie to watch with a store full of other people doing the same seems as funny/antiquated as stopping to use a pay phone (and hoping there was a phone book attached).

How things have changed in just 10-15 years.

[Matsu]

I get to drive around and visit a lot of smaller rural/sub-rural/cottage places. They still have video stores, but I never go in. I just notice them and remember when my childhood neighborhood had independent mom and pop video stores. They got displaced by Blockbuster and the like, and then Blockbuster got displaced by technology. Downtown Toronto has at least one vintage/classic store that runs regular ads on the radio, but I've never visited.

[Chinney]

I have been a bit insulated by the decline in video rental stores since our neighbourhood store is the vintage rental place I talked about - one of the two stores that survive in the city. We never had a big chain store in our immediate area, so we were not affected by their disappearance. We have continued to rent from the local store even in recent years - we don't have Netflix and only just recently got an Apple TV. That said, I get the feeling that it is only a matter of time before even our local store bites the dust.

I don't know if there are any digital online options for vintage and other hard-to-find films. Probably there are, but I have never checked it out. A future of just watching Batman vs. Superman vs Captain Mavel vs Jason Bourne does not exactly turn my crank.

[psmith2.0]

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 I'll have to check that out. I'm the same way about Key Largo.

Originally Posted by Chinney I have never even heard of that Wilder movie. Looks like my sort of thing. We have a video rental store very near us - one of only two left in the city - that specializes in old movies. They may just have a copy of that. I will see if they do.

This scene gives a good taste: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIlRh6IH3aU

(Spoilers though)

[Ryan]

I am drunk and will therefore watch The Big Lebowski until I fall asleep.

[Chinney]

As we all do...

I love that movie. But my wife just can't get into it. Something about it passes her by, even though she is otherwise a big Coen brothers fan. I would say that it is a 'guy' thing except that one of my daughters also really likes it, but my son, and other daughter, do not. We have tried watching it as a family a couple of times and two of us are falling off the sofa laughing and the others just sit there wondering why.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by Chinney As we all do... I love that movie. But my wife just can't get into it. Something about it passes her by, even though she is otherwise a big Coen brothers fan. I would say that it is a 'guy' thing except that one of my daughters also really likes it, but my son, and other daughter, do not. We have tried watching it as a family a couple of times and two of us are falling off the sofa laughing and the others just sit there wondering why.

I've never actually made it to the end of the movie. I'm always so drunk or stoned that I can't remember the ending.

[Ryan]

So we're three weeks out from the next Marvel film and it seems like nobody cares. Admittedly, Doctor Strange isn't one of their bigger titles (nobody knows who he is) but is this a sign that people are getting tired of the MCU?

[turtle]

I don't know that people are tired as much as complacent. Even the most awesome thing become ho hum after a while. It doesn't help that Dr Strange is a lesser known character. I'll watch it when it comes out on DVD/BR.

[Chinney]

A movie that my wife and I really enjoyed over the last few months was Brooklyn. it is a fairly unassuming movie about familiar themes - coming of age and romantic choices - all in the context of a story about a 1950s-era young woman who immigrates to the U.S. from Ireland. But it is portrayed in a way that does not sugar-coat either Ireland or NYC, or the historical era in which it occurs. Nor does the movie look at romance through a rose-coloured lens. It is occasionally gritty, sometimes sad, sometimes humorous, sometimes sexy, and always quite interesting. The movie does not flinch from real life. While, by some movie standards, not a lot happens, that is part of the realism and the events that do happen are clearly momentous to the characters involved. Good acting, great cinematography. This movie has really stayed with me. Well worth seeing.

[Jason]

I'm looking forward to it but I don't think many people care. The scenes shown so far feature effects that just look so lame now - Inception, with its folding cities etc.

[Ryan]

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a terrible movie.

[709]

The Girl with All the Gifts – 6 of 10

Would've been a solid 7.5 up until the last act. Still worth a watch.

[Brave Ulysses]

Originally Posted by Ryan Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a terrible movie.

Bullshit

[Luca]

Originally Posted by Brave Ulysses Bullshit

It's not bad but it's not that good either. Easily the weakest of the original trilogy. It skates by on camp appeal and the fact that Crystal Skull was such an abomination that anything looks good by comparison.

I wouldn't call it terrible though.

[Luca]

Went with my wife to see Beauty and the Beast. The animated movie is her favorite Disney movie of all time, perhaps her favorite movie overall. Since I had kids I've grown to appreciate and enjoy kids' movies far more.

She absolutely loved it. Grinning ear to ear the whole time. I really liked it too. Was happy to see basically a straight up remake of the animated movie instead of the "darker and edgier fairy tale" thing that has been done to death the past decade. The acting wasn't great, but the whole thing was just a fun musical production so it didn't detract from it much IMO.

Not the least bit surprised to see it breaking box office records. It rides high on millennial nostalgia and it's still kid-friendly enough to bring your young ones (maybe not your really young ones; we left our 3- and 4-year-olds with my sister in law). Disney is going to make insane amounts of money from their upcoming remakes of their 90s animated movies - apparently they have Aladdin and Mulan in the works already, with others further down the pipeline.

[Frank777]

The Transformers franchise has always bordered on the nonsensical, but this is still a devastating (and probably very accurate) review.

Whoever reboots/reworks this thing after Bay leaves should bring back Megan Fox, just out of spite.

[turtle]

I'm looking forward to seeing it. You have to watch movies like this with your brain unplugged. It is Sci-Fi/Fantasy any way.

[Eugene]

The Wonder Woman theme/motif recreated in GarageBand by iPhonedo...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQzBAowvwUk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDFopDPLw2s

[Ryan]

Watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 last night. Possibly *the* most boring movie of the entire MCU.

[kieran]

I watched that the other day as well.

Didn’t really know what I thought about it until you just wrote that. That’s exactly what it was.

[curiousuburb]

Originally Posted by Ryan Watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 last night. Possibly *the* most boring movie of the entire MCU.

Groovy soundtrack though... some LOL moments... and colour saturation up to 11

Plus, Kurt Russell.

Plot may have been dodgy, as was script arguably, but Snake Plisken /Jack Burton FTW