Movies I've seen in 2016

BruceSmith78 · Post by **BruceSmith78** » Tue May 31, 2016 8:08 pm

I was underwhelmed by Civil War, and I think I liked X Men Apocalypse better, but that might be at least in part due to what I heard about them before going in.

Civil War was supposed to be crazy super awesome, and Apocalypse was supposed to be the worst X Men movie ever, and neither came close to living up to those expectations for me.

BruceSmith78 · Post by **BruceSmith78** » Tue May 31, 2016 8:18 pm

Unvoiced_Apollo wrote:
Gendo wrote:Captain America: Civil War - The only problem with hype is that it makes it hard to be impressed. It was great; which was exactly what I was expecting. If I had to say something negative, it's that the villain was pretty weak. Basically unnecessary. He had nothing to do with the primary reasons that the Avengers fought against each other.
After seeing it a couple more times, I don't know about that. While perhaps the fighting would have led to the same conclusion, I feel there's more emotional weight in how the conclusion came about.

Yeah, Tony wouldn't have tried to kill Bucky if it wasn't for the villain, and things wouldn't have gotten nearly as far out of hand as they did. In fact, the only reason anybody was after Bucky in the first place, which is what precipitated all the fighting, was because the villain set him up. My problem with the villain is he was just some average Joe Schmo who inexplicably was able to accomplish all kinds of crazy shit, like hacking into government systems, getting his hands on footage of Bucky killing Tony's parents, murder a highly ranking government interrogator without anybody noticing and then take said interrogator's place at work, again, without anybody noticing, etc.

Post by **Gendo** » Wed Jun 01, 2016 12:24 am

BruceSmith78 wrote:
Yeah, Tony wouldn't have tried to kill Bucky if it wasn't for the villain, and things wouldn't have gotten nearly as far out of hand as they did.

No, even including the ultimate reason that the last fight happened... The villain wasn't necessary for that. He didn't have anything to do with the fact that Bucky killed Tony's parents. All his amazingly played out plans all led to him basically just showing Tony he video of his parents' death. There were plenty of ways in which Toby could have found out without the villain's involvement. He could have just randomly stumbled upon it. Bucky could have confessed it in order to get forgiveness. Or the villain could have been an unknown figure who sent Tony the video. Etc. Blowing up the embassy; brainwashing the Winter Soldier; luring Cap and Bucky and Tony to that place; none of it was actually required.

Unvoiced_Apollo · Post by **Unvoiced_Apollo** » Wed Jun 01, 2016 12:37 am

Gendo wrote:
BruceSmith78 wrote:
Yeah, Tony wouldn't have tried to kill Bucky if it wasn't for the villain, and things wouldn't have gotten nearly as far out of hand as they did.
No, even including the ultimate reason that the last fight happened... The villain wasn't necessary for that. He didn't have anything to do with the fact that Bucky killed Tony's parents. All his amazingly played out plans all led to him basically just showing Tony he video of his parents' death. There were plenty of ways in which Toby could have found out without the villain's involvement. He could have just randomly stumbled upon it. Bucky could have confessed it in order to get forgiveness. Or the villain could have been an unknown figure who sent Tony the video. Etc. Blowing up the embassy; brainwashing the Winter Soldier; luring Cap and Bucky and Tony to that place; none of it was actually required.

I'm not so sure that's true because Tony was acting on his feelings of betrayal by Cap by keeping such a secret. Tony doing all those things without both Cap & Bucky present I don't see playing out the same way as it did in the movie.

BruceSmith78 · Post by **BruceSmith78** » Wed Jun 01, 2016 12:49 am

Yup, what Apollo said.

BruceSmith78 · Post by **BruceSmith78** » Wed Jun 01, 2016 2:31 am

Tony needed to go through all the trauma of trying to apprehend Bucky repeatedly and being repeatedly thwarted by CA, the big brawl at the airport where his close friend is crippled and nearly killed while battling Cap and Bucky, his other friends are imprisoned, then he must mentally prepare himself for a fight against nearly impossible odds, all within a short time frame, and then find out that Bucky killed his parents and CA kept this a secret from him, with both guilty parties standing next to him, while he's fully suited up and ready to fight, in order for him to have the homicidal reaction that he did.

Post by **Gendo** » Tue Jun 14, 2016 2:21 pm

I think I actually haven't seen a new movie in the 2 weeks since Civil War. That's not good. I have been watching Batman: The Animated Series; South Park; and some Futurama though.

Unvoiced_Apollo · Post by **Unvoiced_Apollo** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 2:14 pm

Gendo wrote:I think I actually haven't seen a new movie in the 2 weeks since Civil War. That's not good. I have been watching Batman: The Animated Series; South Park; and some Futurama though.

I don't generally go for horror, but I thought Conjuring 2 was pretty goid

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Jun 20, 2016 12:59 am

Following - A Christopher Nolan film that I feel like even DA would like. Sure there's parts that make it obvious that it was a first effort; but the style and writing were both captivating. Looking forward to watching it again now that I know what's going on.

A bunch of other Nolan movies - Not listing them all because I'd seen them all before. But still great.

Hitchcock - Anthony Hopkins is amazing. So is Helen Mirren. The story wasn't all that interesting. Basically the story of the making of Psycho. But not a lot of stuff happened of interest during the making of Pyscho.

Faustus5 · Post by **Faustus5** » Mon Jun 20, 2016 4:54 pm

"Julie and Julia" was very charming, saw it on Sunday. All the reviews fall over themselves praising Streep, but for me the most compelling performance was that of Amy Adams. They made the Julia Childs character into a larger than life cartoon, which is fine, and Streep was great, but the Julie character had a lot more nuance and range, and Adams stepped up to the plate perfectly. Also, the movie made me very hungry.

Post by **Gendo** » Sat Jun 25, 2016 3:17 am

Cold Comfort Farm - British movies suck; I have no idea what I just watched.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Jun 27, 2016 2:47 am

Animal Crackers - My first Marx Brothers movie. Definitely funny; but it should have been shorter.

Post by **Gendo** » Tue Jun 28, 2016 1:52 pm

Duck Soup - Pretty much the same; though it had trouble keeping my attention.

Post by **Gendo** » Tue Jul 05, 2016 6:00 pm

The Dark Knight Returns (Parts 1 and 2) - Pretty good. It was a really neat vision of a near-future Gotham. And it showed how Batman v Superman could have been good. The only thing I was disappointed by was that it seems to have missed something in regards Bruce deciding to become Batman again... in one scene, he says he's remembering his "never again" promise to Jason; then suddenly in the next, Batman shows up. You don't see him actually deciding to become Batman again.

The Justice League: Gods and Monsters - Also pretty good. I'm not sure that the whole "alternative universe" thing added all that much, though; these could have just been completely new characters instead of alternate versions of the other ones. The only exception really was Lex; seeing him be a different character was neat.

Post by **Gendo** » Wed Jul 06, 2016 2:30 pm

The Last of the Mohicans - Michael Mann is great. I was a bit disappointed by the story itself; as it wasn't actually all that interesting; but it was a beautiful film and well done.

Post by **Gendo** » Sat Jul 09, 2016 5:18 pm

High Fidelity - Great movie. I think I couldn't appreciate it quite as much as someone who's really into the music scene. And, Rob wasn't supposed to be likable, was he? I hope not. Kind of like JGL in 500 Days of Summer; he's not a character to be looked up to at all.

Post by **thesalmonofdoubt** » Mon Jul 11, 2016 3:31 am

Gendo wrote:High Fidelity - Great movie. I think I couldn't appreciate it quite as much as someone who's really into the music scene. And, Rob wasn't supposed to be likable, was he? I hope not. Kind of like JGL in 500 Days of Summer; he's not a character to be looked up to at all.

I really enjoyed High Fidelity, read the book first which was a far better way to tell the story but, the movie also didn't disappoint.

Recently I've seen:

Crimson Peak - which was ok - a Triumph of style over substance, the CGI Ghosts were pretty 80's Ghostbusters and so, not all that scary. Everything was a little too over the top, nothing terrible but nothing great.. I was expecting better].

Superman vs Batman - Surprisingly better than I was expecting but still not brilliant. It all felt a little to much same same given the slew of superhero movies we are being bombarded with these days and just did very little to separate itself from the masses.

10 Cloverfield Lane I really enjoyed this, John Goodman was exceptional playing the "is he a good guy/bad guy, bit of both" thing .. Not sure if I liked the ending or if it was all a little too over the top and not in keeping with the feel of the rest of the movie .. Over all - enjoyable flick and worth a watch.

The Gift .. I just fucking loved this movie, moreso given I went in with no real expectations. Good suspense flick that also deals with ambiguous characters cleverly.

Post by **Gendo** » Sat Aug 20, 2016 9:22 pm

After a month of no movies because of Lost...

Batman: The Killing Joke - Beautiful and provoking. Quite different from the other recent animated Batman things I've seen; more about story than action. The only part I didn't get was the first half hour... it was just fine, but it had nothing at all to do with the movie. It was like they decided to show an episode of the batman TV show before moving on to the movie. No idea why it was in there.

Lost - Still good. Even the ending doesn't bother me like it does most people. It switched from being less about mystery and more about emotion, but the emotion was done well.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Sat Aug 20, 2016 10:02 pm

Lost started sucking before the first season ended and it never stopped.

Post by **Gendo** » Sat Aug 20, 2016 11:32 pm

Derived Absurdity wrote:Lost started sucking before the first season ended and it never stopped.

I feel validated now.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Sun Aug 21, 2016 12:17 am

You're welcome.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Aug 29, 2016 1:11 am

A busy weekend...

The Bodyguard - Good mix of suspense, drama, and romance.

Boyhood - Awesome. I really found myself invested in the lives of the characters. Even though nothing actually happens in the film, that was ok.

The Wolverine - Meh. Not bad, but the whole last part was just super weird and confusing. Sounds like I may have understood it if I knew the comics. I also re-watched Origins: Wolverine beforehand. Not great either, but I think I actually liked it better.

Swept Away (2002 remake) - Awesome director Guy Richie directs a movie with 5% on RT and 3.6 on IMDB... what could go wrong? I actually really liked the first half. Some good dark humor, and the roll-reversal thing was great. But then the whole thing fell apart when the guy rapes the girl and then she falls in love with him. The second half was absolutely terrible.

Dances with Wolves - Finally saw this. Beautiful film. Very well done.

Chef - Great movie. Made me hungry.

The Butler - Powerful, awesome, great. Forest Whitaker is always amazing, no exception here.

Post by **Gendo** » Wed Aug 31, 2016 2:30 pm

Moon - Just Sam Rockwell talking to himself the whole time; I loved it. Great atmosphere; neat twists, etc.

It Follows - For a modern-day horror movie, not bad. Even a little scary.

Post by **Gendo** » Thu Sep 01, 2016 2:13 pm

Machete - Amazingly awesome. I was expecting it to be stupid. And it was, but just the right amount of stupid. Most violent/gory action I've seen since Riki-Oh. I want to see more Rodriguez now. And apparently Machete is a spin-off of Spy Kids, which is just hilarious.

Monk · Post by **Monk** » Thu Sep 01, 2016 4:00 pm

Gendo wrote:High Fidelity - Great movie. I think I couldn't appreciate it quite as much as someone who's really into the music scene. And, Rob wasn't supposed to be likable, was he? I hope not. Kind of like JGL in 500 Days of Summer; he's not a character to be looked up to at all.

I collected records but was never really into the music scene. I feel like anyone who has a very serious hobby should be able to relate, though. I'm kinda surprised you didn't, given your extensive DVD collection.

As for Rob, nah - he's supposed to be unlikable.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 4:06 am

The Producers (1967) - Not bad. Not what I was expecting; because the Mel Brooks I've seen are History of the World, Spaceballs, Dracula, Robin Hood, Blazing Saddles... all over-the-top parody-style comedy. Producers wasn't that. Gene Wilder was fantastic though.

The Italian Job (1969) - Also not what I was expecting; turns out that the remake is barely a remake; the stories are completely different. They just took the main characters name, and the basic idea of stealing cold using Mini Coopers. Still good though. Not sure how I feel about the end...

Gettysburg - Epic. Over 4 hours long, so it did drag on at parts. But the music was so wonderful; and the whole thing was immersive.

Enemy - Huh. Funny story, I only bought and watched this because I remembered Robin telling me how good it was. Turns out I misremembered; he hasn't even seen it; he just asked me if I had because he'd heard it was good. Anyway, I didn't think I liked it at first, but after reading an analysis of it; I think I may have just not understood the movie; and if the analysis is correct, then it's actually brilliant. Need to rewatch.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - This one, Robin really did tell me to watch. Another one that I had a lot of trouble following. Hard to keep up with who's who and why people were doing the things they did. Another one that I think I might like more on a second viewing; simply because I now know the names and roles of each character.

Bridget Jones's Diary - A pretty good rom com, as far as rom coms go.

Also rewatched The Italian Job remake; and Dead End. Dead End is awesome.

Post by **Gendo** » Sun Sep 11, 2016 2:21 am

All Die Hard Movies - Only the last one was new for me. It was ok I guess. Decent enough story, but really lacked the charm of the original. I think part 2 is way better than most people say. Fun fact about part 3... it makes a joke about Donald Trump in one part, and Hillary Clinton in another part.

Jackie Brown - Tarantino being Tarantino. Samuel L. Jackson was great. The story was pretty straight forward for a Tarantino film, but it was well done.

The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas - Could have been a lot worse. There were a couple different clever references hidden throughout. Not saying it was good or anything, but I wasn't expecting good. Also rewatched the original. I like Goodman in just about anything.

Crazy, Stupid, Love - Great movie. Wonderful. One of those "everyone is in love with everyone else" type things. Same point as Love Actually, but told as one solid story with multiple characters, rather than the "many different stories connected mostly by theme" type things.

BruceSmith78 · Post by **BruceSmith78** » Sun Sep 11, 2016 3:39 am

Crazy Stupid Love really is great. One of those rarities in the rom com genre where they actually do something that works.

Cassius Clay · Post by **Cassius Clay** » Sun Sep 11, 2016 4:10 am

I was recently having a funny argument with a friend of mine about how I don't really dislike any particular genre. She asked, incredulously, "Even rom coms?". I said yes...but felt foolish because I couldn't think of any rom coms I liked at the moment. 'Crazy Stupid Love' is one.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Sep 12, 2016 3:14 pm

To Kill a Mockingbird - A movie about racism in which there's about 5 lines of dialog spoken by non-white people. Not sure how I feel about that. Of course, this was the early 60s. It was really well done though. Who names their kids Scout and Jem?

Monk · Post by **Monk** » Mon Sep 12, 2016 4:17 pm

Gendo wrote:To Kill a Mockingbird - A movie about racism in which there's about 5 lines of dialog spoken by non-white people. Not sure how I feel about that. Of course, this was the early 60s. It was really well done though. Who names their kids Scout and Jem?

Those were nicknames. Jem is Jeremy, Scout was Jean Louise

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Sep 12, 2016 5:09 pm

Monk wrote:
Gendo wrote:To Kill a Mockingbird - A movie about racism in which there's about 5 lines of dialog spoken by non-white people. Not sure how I feel about that. Of course, this was the early 60s. It was really well done though. Who names their kids Scout and Jem?

Those were nicknames. Jem is Jeremy, Scout was Jean Louise

Quit Gendoing.

Really though; until I looked up the names online, I was having real trouble figuring out what the nicknames were, given the southern accents of the characters. I thought that "Scout" was a slurred "Scarlett", and "Jem" was just "Jim".

Post by **Gendo** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 2:03 am

Glengarry Glen Ross - Good stuff. Jack Lemmon was great; and it was cool to see where Gill came from.

The Producers (2005) - Basically as good as the original. Broderick seemed like he was trying to hard to do a Gene Wilder impression instead of just making his own character.

Saturday Night Fever - Good music and dancing, but too much rape for my tastes.

Post by **Gendo** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 4:29 pm

Salt - Decent spy thriller with some interesting twists.

Monk · Post by **Monk** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 11:51 pm

Yeah, the rape scene(s) in Saturday Night Fever is really hard for me to watch now.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 3:36 pm

Scarface (1983) - I include the date because apparently this is a remake of a Howard Hughes film from the 30s. It was great. Surprised to see that it wasn't nominated for any academy awards.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 2:42 am

Phantom of the Opera (2004) - Not bad; I liked it. I think a couple of the songs are great but several aren't. Gerard Butler was unimpressive though.

Post by **Gendo** » Tue Oct 11, 2016 4:13 pm

The Imitation Game - Excellent. As a computer programmer, I was hoping for more of the history of computer science stuff that Turing was involved in; but that's not a flaw of the movie. It was brilliantly acted and directed.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Oct 24, 2016 4:59 pm

The Jane Austin Book Club - I think you have to be a fan of Jane Austin books to get this movie.

Deadpool - Great fun, very well done. Except Colossus... why would you make 1 character with terrible CGI instead of just some makeup? There was nothing in his look that required it, and it looked really fake.

God is Not Dead 2 - Actually saw this last month but forgot to write it up. Watched it as part of a Bible study group. Surprisingly decent for a Christian feel-good film.

Blade Azaezel · Post by **Blade Azaezel** » Mon Oct 24, 2016 5:21 pm

For a sequel they should've called it 'God is Still Not Dead'

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Oct 24, 2016 5:46 pm

Blade Azaezel wrote:For a sequel they should've called it 'God is Still Not Dead'

God is Not Dead 2: God is Not Deader.

Post by **Gendo** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 5:41 pm

Man on a Ledge - Good movie. Great to see a heist movie that actually brings something new.

Ninja Quest - Finding Vow - Separate thread for this one.

Post by **Gendo** » Tue Nov 01, 2016 3:35 pm

Sweeny Todd - Dude, so dark. I really liked it. It's biggest fault was just that it was so similar to other Tim Burton movies, so nothing really new.

Wall Street - Great stuff. I think I'm now an Oliver Stone fan.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Tue Nov 01, 2016 7:20 pm

Gendo wrote:Sweeny Todd - Dude, so dark. I really liked it. It's biggest fault was just that it was so similar to other Tim Burton movies, so nothing really new.

Well, one significant difference between Sweeney Todd and the rest of Tim Burton's work is that Sweeney Todd was actually sort of good.

Post by **Gendo** » Tue Nov 01, 2016 10:06 pm

Derived Absurdity wrote:
Gendo wrote:Sweeny Todd - Dude, so dark. I really liked it. It's biggest fault was just that it was so similar to other Tim Burton movies, so nothing really new.
Well, one significant difference between Sweeney Todd and the rest of Tim Burton's work is that Sweeney Todd was actually sort of good.

Ha, I was curious what your take on Burton was.

Unvoiced_Apollo · Post by **Unvoiced_Apollo** » Tue Nov 01, 2016 11:00 pm

Ouja: Origin of Evil - Never saw the first, but I heard it was a terrible paint by numbers horror movie. This was actually pretty entertaiming and I really bought they were in the 1960s. And the attention to detail was pretty impressive, to the point of making it look like it was made in that time as well, from the title card to the random black spots that appear on old films. The movie depended more on imagery to creep you out rather than loud noises to stadtle you. But climax just ruined the rest of it. They tried to lampshade a horror trope, but that doesn't work when you commit another one at the same time!

The mother, sister, & priest are in the house and finally realize what's going on (why they initially decided to stay to discuss the priest's discoveries I don't know). The mother decides the sister needs to leave, to which she replies "no. I'm staying" and suggests splitting up is the the worst idea. And the movie lost me in that moment because lampshading a trope doesn't work when you're committing another one! They later show that the demon has locked them in, so they could have tried to escape and then I would deem it forgivable. But no, they decided to stay. Who the hell does that

Anyway, as I understand it, it's a better sequel than what the original deserved, and I can believe it. I just wish the climax had been better.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Wed Nov 02, 2016 2:06 am

Gendo wrote:
Derived Absurdity wrote:
Gendo wrote:Sweeny Todd - Dude, so dark. I really liked it. It's biggest fault was just that it was so similar to other Tim Burton movies, so nothing really new.
Well, one significant difference between Sweeney Todd and the rest of Tim Burton's work is that Sweeney Todd was actually sort of good.
Ha, I was curious what your take on Burton was.

He did some good work in the 80s and 90s, but I mean, it's pretty irrefutable that nowadays all he does is pump out the same mediocre movie over and over and over again.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Wed Nov 02, 2016 2:08 am

Unvoiced_Apollo wrote:And the attention to detail was pretty impressive, to the point of making it look like it was made in that time as well, from the title card to the random black spots that appear on old films.

Wait a minute... that random black oval that kept showing up in the upper left corner during the movie was on purpose???

BruceSmith78 · Post by **BruceSmith78** » Wed Nov 02, 2016 5:28 am

Tim Burton's list of good movies:

1) Batman

That is all. And it wasn't even that good.

Unvoiced_Apollo · Post by **Unvoiced_Apollo** » Wed Nov 02, 2016 9:11 am

Derived Absurdity wrote:
Unvoiced_Apollo wrote:And the attention to detail was pretty impressive, to the point of making it look like it was made in that time as well, from the title card to the random black spots that appear on old films.
Wait a minute... that random black oval that kept showing up in the upper left corner during the movie was on purpose???

I only saw grainy flickering black spots on the upper right side. Back in the day, they were used to cue the projectionist to change reels.