Movie Thread

[nocera]

The quality definitely dipped with LD's departure but I appreciate the absurdity of those last two seasons

I'm sure I've said this before but seasons 3-6 are absolutely perfect. The characters feel real, the storylines are still grounded in reality (most of them). A lot of the writing is classic LD. Season 7 starts to get more outlandish but you have the amazing season long arc of George's wedding. 8 and 9 throws out all of the rules. The characters are caricatures of themselves by this point. The storylines have no sense of reality at all. But, some of the most classic "Seinfeldian" stuff happens in these two seasons. Those two seasons hold up really well if you just happen to flip on an episode. If you're binging and watching in order, they feel like outliers.

[tifosi77]

The Kellogg story is actually pretty interesting. I recommend watching The Foods That Built America.

Their cereal empire has an origin story that I confess was unexpected.

[Pavel Bure]

Took the kids to Godzilla x Kong at the drive in. It was great.

[NTP66]

Okay, now I want Cavill to play Magneto (based on this fan art).

[genoscoif]

Wife and I, who are still living under limited puppy house arrest, decided to have a few afternoon beverages and look for a movie to watch yesterday. Decided horror was the way to go, and landed on Sinister. It's one of those movies we've had queued forever but never end up picking for one reason or another.

The movie itself was pretty good. The opening is perfect for setting the mood. The building of tension was great, and the 8mm films (especially the girl with the yellow slicker) are beyond terrifying in the best way possible. It was a great concept, but both of us felt like something just missed the mark.

I'm all in on the suspension of disbelief when watching any movie, especially horror where the characters being dumb is part of the formula for building drama and tension, but when you legitimately think the family didn't have electricity in their house after just moving in because they refuse to turn a single light on until realizing the Super 8 projector is working......yeah.

Also

You just found snuff films where the previous owners of the house died while someone filmed them, and you're immediate reaction isn't 'that dude might still be around'...especially when that family had a missing little girl and...YOU have a little girl...is just mind-numbingly stupid. Like I get that they tried to explain this away with the whole 'I need this book' narrative, but c'mon man. I realize that they were doomed anyway as soon as they moved out, but he didn't know that and it just seemed like a super forced reason to stay.

The ending was sufficiently creepy, and it was pretty cool how it all tied together. It's a great premise that just kinda fell flat in certain areas, but man those 8mm films are so well done.

My wife actually came up with a storyline that may have helped. Instead of just having Zoom call Vincent D'onofrio, you have him

Come to the house to investigate or help or whatever. He basically offers the same dialogue, but while in the house realizes that Mr. Boogie is real. They burn the films, destroy the images, etc. The trapped children appear to be freed. His daughter stops looking creepy. Cut scene to their new home...no packing up and running. Everybody's happy. Zoom call with D'onofrio. Ethan thanks him again for everything and suggesting that moving out was the safest option for his family. D'onofrio closes saying maybe they could collaborate on a book and will talk soon. Then Ethan takes the call from Deputy so-and-so (cringe). Same dialogue but while they are talking, cut to D'onofrio sitting in his office staring at the wall smiling in only the way he can smile. Pan over to the wall he's staring at showing that occult symbol carved into a stone or something. Rest of the movie is the same, but at least you don't waste Pvt. Pyle.

[eddy]

Took the kids to Godzilla x Kong at the drive in. It was great.

We also saw this and they finally got it right with making the monsters the main characters. It was so much fun and I really don't know if I'll see a better movie this year. Probably should win the academy award. It was everything I was hoping for and more. Ridiculous fun.

[nocera]

Indiana Jones Whips Up $130 Million Loss For Disney
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinere ... ebc8853e13

The film, which was released in June last year, is famous for its dramatic train chase featuring a digitally de-aged Ford. It came at a cost as the filings reveal that $79 million (£62.6 million) was spent on post-production work in the year to the start of April 2023 bringing the movie's total budget to an eye-watering $387.2 million (£306.7 million).

Yikes. The post-production budget alone is more than the Raiders budget even when adjusted for inflation. Hopefully this means no more Indy movies but we all know it really means they'll just re-cast and cut back on post.

Also the total budget is double Dune 2's budget ($190 million).

[eddy]

That Indy movie was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. There's only a handful of movies I've ever turned off and that's one of them. The CGI was so distracting. Please stop deaging actors face on their 114 year old bodies, it's messed up.

[eddy]

Also, the budget for the new Kong x Zilla flick was the lowest of the new Kong/Zilla movies and I thought it was the best one they've made so far. CGI looked great

[NTP66]

Have you seen Godzilla Minus One yet? Highly, highly recommend you do if you have not.

[eddy]

Have you seen Godzilla Minus One yet? Highly, highly recommend you do if you have not.

I'm very excited. I believe it's physical release is in May

[nocera]

That Indy movie was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. There's only a handful of movies I've ever turned off and that's one of them. The CGI was so distracting. Please stop deaging actors face on their 114 year old bodies, it's messed up.

It's very bad and the CGI is just one of many reasons. Since I've ***** about it a few times in this thread, I'll just repost my old rant.

Indy is… not great. I’ve never felt bored watching an Indiana Jones movie before. This movie is boring.

I have more to say about this damnit.

This movie is too damn long. Every single action set piece goes on way longer than it should. The cold open is stupidly long. On top of that, it looks bad. The CG young Indy looks good until he talks and the old man Harrison Ford voice comes out of his mouth. The train CGI is rough, and the CGI young Indy running on the CGI train during CGI rain looks especially bad. This whole opening action scene felt like a video game cut scene that you can't skip. It reminded me of the Last Crusade open and how much better that was than this. Each segment of the Dial of Destiny feels repetitive and boring. Literally the same thing happens in every single segment of the film. The heroes go here, the villains "secretly" follow them, and then there's an overly long action scene. That's the whole movie.

Spielberg's absence is felt throughout but especially in the action scenes. Mangold completely lacks the feeling of adventure, amazement, humor, awe, and fun of Spielberg's action scenes. The action in Dial of Destiny is flat and feels obligatory. And the storytelling through action is basically nonexistent.

I'm not sure what to say about the climax. You'll either go with it or completely hate it. It's better than aliens, that's for sure, but not by much. Side note: new Shortround is completely useless.

Overall, I did not have a great time in the theater. There were a few times where I forgot I was watching an Indiana Jones movie because other than the score, it rarely feels like an Indiana Jones movie. Speaking of the score, there's not a lot of it. There are long sequences of just sound effects without any backing score, which felt weird. I enjoyed the first half of Crystal Skull more than anything in Dial of Destiny. I'm still not sure where if I'd rank Dial of Destiny over Crystal Skull, but neither should exist.

I decided revisit Dial of Destiny. I thought maybe it would be one of those movies that improve on repeat viewings. I thought wrong. It's even worse the second time. I'll watch Crystal Skull before I watch Dial of Destiny again. At least Crystal Skull isn't boring.

[tifosi77]

Who did all of the de-aging work? ILM

Who owns ILM? Lucasfilm

Who owns Lucasfilm? Disney

It's basically an elaborate R&D exercise (akin to the 'live action' remake of "The Lion King", but for people). Not small reason why SAG was fighting against virtual 'performers' so much; they've already done digital crowd extras in D+ shows (badly). And not in the massed armies sense of the word, but like the bleachers of a high school basketball game that's really obvious to see. Wave of the future. First, 'young' Indy, next, reduce your front-of-camera budgets by 50% in 8 years.

[nocera]

I have very high hopes for this. The audiobook is fantastic.

[Kane]

Ohhhhhh nice. I just finished reading that book and thoroughly enjoyed it.

[DigitalGypsy66]

I think that's going to my next read. I liked Weir's other two(?) books and this has been on my to read list forever.

[NTP66]

I’m in the theater now seeing Godzilla x Kong in Regal’s RDX. Similar to IMAX, everything is too loud. The previews are on right now, and they must have shakers or subs in the floor, because the bass is hitting from everywhere (in a good way).

[nocera]

I’m in the theater now seeing Godzilla x Kong in Regal’s RDX. Similar to IMAX, everything is too loud. The previews are on right now, and they must have shakers or subs in the floor, because the bass is hitting from everywhere (in a good way).

[NTP66]

I think I have to stick to normal 2D. This is obscenely loud, and these are just commercials.

[Kane]

[NTP66]

Tinnitus and hearing loss are nothing to **** with, trust me.

[NTP66]

Oddly enough, the movie wasn’t as loud as the previews or commercials. Still too loud, though. I liked the rumblers/bass, which was perfect for this kind of movie.

The movie was good, too.

[eddy]

Did you like how sad and lonely they made Kong? Dan Stevens is so good in those.kind of rolls.

[NTP66]

Did you like how sad and lonely they made Kong? Dan Stevens is so good in those.kind of rolls.

I did, yeah. It wasn’t just a straight up KONG SMASH movie. I did kinda laugh at:

His toothache, lol

[eddy]

Yes, that was great. Hopefully they go the next step and have no humans in the next one and humanize the monsters even more. Zilla taking a gato siesta was awesome.