What Did You Watch Today?

[Benjamin]

Moonlight (2016). Goddamn. Fucking Moonlight. Wow.

I felt kind of how I felt at the end of Whiplash. Just gobsmack stunned. It's been a day and I spent the entire workday just thinking about this film.

[Monkey D. Lars]

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) is as fun as I think Errol Flynn had playing Robin Hood in it! Fun classic!

[Benji]

Kung Fu Panda 3 is fun. Nothing new, but they have a formula that works and do it well, and I'm fine with that.

[Benji]

10 Cloverfield Lane was mostly good...

Spoiler

... except for the ending. It sort of felt like they had a script planned out up to her escape, then said "y'know, if we tack on some weird looking aliens, we can pretend it's somehow tied to Cloverfield and make more money from people wanting to see a sequel to that".

Extremely jarring how different the last twenty minutes were and how it absolutely ruined the natural story telling. Didn't ruin the rest of the film, but it was just a horrid way to close it out, easily among the weirdest negative creative decisions I have ever seen.

EDIT : Fuck, the original intended ending is better, they literally did just tack on the Cloverfield stuff.

Quote

In the original script, Michelle escapes the shelter and is chased through the farmhouse by Howard, who still wants to "protect" her. She blinds him with bathroom cleaner, he tells her about his tragic life (dead wife, missing daughter, treacherous Nate, etc.), and then she shoots him in the kneecap and runs away. He ends the movie alive, entreating Michelle to "be careful." Later, after traveling down empty roads and finding no one around to help her, she crests a hill and sees the Chicago skyline, smoldering and destroyed. No explanation is given. We don’t even know what she will do next; only that she now knows that Howard, for all his oddity, was correct. The final line in the script is, "She slowly pulls down the mask on the hazmat suit before taking a breath.

 

 

[Benji]

Zootropolis was nice, but it depressed me for reasons not the fault of the film...

Spoiler

... the real-world comparisons were obvious, but unfortunately ours won't be solved in 20 minutes by a pair of hustling animals

 

[Josh]

4 minutes ago, Benji said:

Zootropolis was nice, but it depressed me for reasons not the fault of the film...

  Reveal hidden contents

... the real-world comparisons were obvious, but unfortunately ours won't be solved in 20 minutes by a pair of hustling animals

 

Spoiler

Yup. The moment in her childhood when she's held down and attacked, then the attacker says something like, "You'll always remember this," was just too goddamn real.

 

[Baddar]

Split

Just got back from the cinema. So glad we stuck around to watch this. Very good film.

[DavidMarrio]

17 hours ago, Benji said:

10 Cloverfield Lane was mostly good...

  Hide contents

... except for the ending. It sort of felt like they had a script planned out up to her escape, then said "y'know, if we tack on some weird looking aliens, we can pretend it's somehow tied to Cloverfield and make more money from people wanting to see a sequel to that".

Extremely jarring how different the last twenty minutes were and how it absolutely ruined the natural story telling. Didn't ruin the rest of the film, but it was just a horrid way to close it out, easily among the weirdest negative creative decisions I have ever seen.

EDIT : Fuck, the original intended ending is better, they literally did just tack on the Cloverfield stuff.

 

 

That was the problem I had with the film and it really spoilt it for me. Without the original ending it was a fantastic film but it just left a bitter taste in my mouth at the end. 

Watched Hacksaw Ridge with Jen last weekend and I really enjoyed the film. It was the right mix of action and emotion and it didn't feel like I had been sat there for 2 hours and 20 minutes watching a film which is a good sign. Was interested and captivated throughout the whole thing. You can tell that Mel Gibson really got behind and invested in the story of Desmond Doss and it comes across within the film. Well worth a watch imo. 

[DavidMarrio]

Just finished La La Land and whilst i'm not on board the "this is the best movie ever" hype, it is a solidly good and enjoyable film...maybe hyped up a just a little too much.

The final scene was really well shot and probably the best scene in the movie...I thought the final hour was better than the first as it took me a little while to get into the film.
The casting of Stone and Gosling was spot on and they have a good chemistry together, the film is really colourful and it's a nice homage to Hollywood.

Is it best film of the Oscar calendar year though.....I don't think it is. I thought Hacksaw Ridge was a better film and I'm yet to watch Arrival, Moonlight, Manchester by the sea and Hell or high water. 

[Kyle]

Watched Moana yesterday. Good film. That's all I got.  

[Benji]

Fast and Furious 7 was just the usual set pieces strung together with a weak plot. Probably the weakest of the series so far.

Sweet send off for Paul Walker though.

[MDK]

6 minutes ago, Benji said:

Fast and Furious 7 was just the usual set pieces strung together with a weak plot. Probably the weakest of the series so far.

How did you manage to watch all of them? I saw the first one in the cinema and thought it was alright, but I tried to watch the second one, gave up and just completely bailed on it all.

[Benji]

They're decent enough popcorn flicks.

[GhostMachine]

I've seen them all, but 7 is the only one I saw in a theater. And I will be going to the theater to see 8 when it comes out. 

[Monkey D. Lars]

The Devil's Rejects (2005), a good film! But hey, sometimes I am just soooo stupid. IT'S A DAMN SEQUEL. Haven't seen House of 1000 Corpses  

[Arjen Robben]

Nocturnal Animals - This was good. Parts of it, particularly a key scene towards the beginning are incredible tense and tough to watch, and pretty affecting. Michael Shannon is just amazing isn't he? Aaron Taylor-Johnson was almost unrecognizable to me for a while too, and he was excellent too. Gyllenhaal and Adams are great. One of those films that are good but you can't really say you "enjoyed" it. 

[Josh]

Over the weekend I watched all of the Indiana Jones films again. I'm not sure if I'd ever seen the first two in full before. I'd rank them like this:

1. Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade - Fantastic action, heroes that are easy to get behind, villains that are easy to hate, a ton of great character work all around, and Sean Connery is a fucking TREASURE.
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark - A super close second. Sets a great tone for what would become a franchise. A lot of fun "Old Hollywood" action and interplay, really showing how much Lucas and Spielberg loved the old adventure serials that inspired them to make it. It does feel a touch dated in how it handles non-white cultures. Karen Allen should have been a much bigger deal after this movie.
3. Temple of Doom - Holy shit, what a drop off. Ya'll, bless the people in this movie and their talent, but it's just feels so racist and sexist. Plus, Indy feels like a slightly different character here than he does in the first and third films. The only reason it's not my pick for dirt worst is some of the action and comedy bits feel slightly more inspired than the stuff in number four.
4. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - I actually don't hate this one for all the reasons that usually get brought up. If treating Old Testament religion as literal truth is okay in the former films, then so are a lot of the central plot points here. The problem is the movie is just kinda dull, huh? Bless John Hurt, Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Jim Broadbent, Cate Blanchett, and - hell - even Shia Lebouf for trying, but it just ain't the same. While I think it was a fine choice to move from Nazis to Russian Communists, they're tonally handled strangely. The movie can't decide whether to go all in on Cold War propaganda or call it out. And even if they were handled well (they totally should have called it out at every turn), I'd just never get the same "GET THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS" feeling that I got when Indy was punching Nazis. Plus, a lot of the stuff with Shia's character just feels so forced in the way it was written and presented.

But people should totally watch Raiders and Last Crusade, in that order. You can skip the other two entirely and everything's fine.

[Monkey D. Lars]

I enjoyed Raiders more than the Last Crusade and Temple of Doom is a good film but by far not on the level of the Last Crusade and Raiders. 

Crystal Skull is disappointing. 

[GhostMachine]

Crystal Skull would be improved immensely if it had 100% less Shia The Beef.

[IDOL]

Started binge watching Rick & Morty, shit is out there ?