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I saw Guardians on Thursday and it owned bones. It didn’t need to be longer. Gamora in general was a pretty fuzzy character a lot of the time but it had more to do with uncertain writing than it did was a lack of space for development.
Obesity kills modern blockbusters, not anorexia.
Just imagine an entire prequel intro/build-up movie for each member of Ocean’s 11.
shudder You have made your point extremely effectively.
@sansa: My problem is more that the villains feel a bit under-developed. Hidden for spoilers:
My brother’s opinion was that Ronan would have been the greatest villain ever if Lee Pace had just played him as Thranduil. I haven’t seen the movie myself, but this seems Right to me.
I saw Guardians of the Galaxy and it was pretty fucking great.
I too rather enjoyed Guardians
Okay, I have to get this off my chest. Every time I see a trailer for The Giver, all I can think is “This looks like a PG-13 version of Equilibrium. Which probably means it will be lame, because it won’t have gun kata or Christian Bale. And probably some horrible forced romance, too.”
And probably some horrible forced romance, too.
God forbid.
Romance? In my Giver?
It’s more likely than you think.
The Giver was my favorite book for YEARS. Rarely do I decide to just not bother with an adaptation of a book I like, but I’m not seeing this one. I know it will just piss me off.
I saw Guardians of the Galaxy today.
it was a fun movie, but I really wasn’t invested in the characters or events. It just felt rushed in the wrong places and most of the characters were glossed over.
Also, we have access to CGI technology that would have been unimaginable to the original designers of the first Star trek series, so why are all the sentient aliens, aside from Groot and Rocket, literally just ‘human with different coloured skin’? They couldn’t even be bothered with some plasticine facial ridges and such like the Star Trek aliens got? There’s Humans With Blue Skin, a Human With Green Skin, some Humans With Red Skin, and aside from the two main characters that’s the limit of alien morphology in this movie.
edit: I am a bit excited about two of the previews, though, Things We Do In The Shadows (vampire mockumentary) and Big Hero 6 (animated sci-fi with an intellectually challenged balloon robot sidekick who becomes iron man). They both look like really cool movies. Especially the vampire mockumentary.
While I do see your point about the lack of diversity, I think at least some of that comes down to how a lot of aliens look in the Marvel-verse. And hey, at least it means a few more actors got to work.
They could have at least added some antennae or something to some of the alien races. Although I did like the many cybernetic implants, they were a cool touch.
I saw Guardians a few days ago. It was a pretty fantastic movie and right up my alley in terms of tone. The soundtrack felt a bit off to me, like it didn’t actually fit in with the scenes as well as the director was hoping it did. I know they were trying for the Tarantino style of music, but it just felt like someone was playing their favorite playlist instead of deliberately choosing the best song for the scene.
I also agree with Taku that it’s a bit disappointing the creatures were all so human but I can be a bit more forgiving here. While we do have the tech to make truly alien things, it’s still easier to put people in make up and have them act. The Marvel universe also tends to have the same sort of design for their aliens, despite the fact there is nothing that actually stops you from making fantastic creatures in comics (except for the artist’s ability to draw them). I know there’s a certain design philosophy that says people can’t relate to something unless it has humanoid features, but I really disagree with that view.
There Will Be Blood turned out to be very good and worth enduring some of the slower scenes in the middle. The ending twist toward the end is properly heartwrenching, and helps to make the main character feel more isolated and spiteful as intended. LOTS of tiny details to notice, like the way Eli clearly enjoyed slapping the shit out of him while he was baptized, and all the times when the bankers wearing nice silk suits (compared to Daniel’s worsted wools, tweeds, and rough cottons) make Daniel jealous in subtle and not-so-subtle ways.
Easily one of my favorite movies now.
I’ll agree on the details, but god that movie was not my cup of tea.
Finally got around to watching Iron Man 3. For all the complaints about it, it was a plenty enjoyable movie. But then again, I thought Iron Man 2 was great fun too, despite the complaints.
Making my way through The Hollow Crown movies. Just watched Henry IV: Part I. Gotta say, I kinda liked it more than Richard II – at least this one actually showed some of the fighting. Plus, it had Jeremy Irons and Tom Hiddleston in it.
The Wolf of Wall Street
It was alright… A whole lot of flashiness without much substance. I know it being a “biopic” partially dictated the structure, but in retrospect is felt unnecessarily long and filled with fluff. And fuck. Lots of fuck.
Finally got to watch Thor.
... am I the only one getting really annoyed with how many hero characters just HAVE to have a Jesus Symbolism moment, with the noble self-sacrifice, the “is he dead?” moment, and the “resurrection”. Especially with Marvel movie heroes, it’s just getting so repetitive.
am I the only one getting really annoyed with how many hero characters just HAVE to have a Jesus Symbolism moment, with the noble self-sacrifice, the “is he dead?” moment, and the “resurrection”. Especially with Marvel movie heroes, it’s just getting so repetitive.
It’s getting to the point where it’s not much of a shock that he comes back either. And it was a huge bit of Jesus Symbolism as well, since he comes back as a god.
Then again, if you read some of the comics, Odin is technically God, so by extension…
While I see your point, Taku, I think it kinda fits in Thor. It’s the end of his character arc. He demonstrates that he knows what being a hero is really about – protecting innocent people, not just beating up the bad guys.
And the only other example of that kind of thing I can think of in a Marvel movie is Iron Man in Avengers, and Iron Man 3 used that to give Tony Stark a case of PTSD.
I disliked the “Heroic Sacrifice + Death + Surprise Resurrection” Jesus-ism in Guardians Of the Galaxy as well. Can no “good guy” rest in peace these days?
@ Apep: It’s also in the above, and in Elysium, and in The Matrix, and in Frozen, and in The Dark Knight, and even in Captain America. There’s probably a bunch of older ones that I haven’t thought of.
What made the Dark Knight ending work for me was that I genuinely believed for a minute that he had died. I figured they were going to do the whole “Robin takes up the mantle and becomes Batman” thing.
Which, they did, but the point is that it actually made me believe it for a little while, so it worked as long as you didn’t think about it very hard.
Lol yes, sorry, don’t know why I made that mistake.
Also something less similar to The Dark Knight Returns.
I thought the similarity was the point. A kind of continuity marker to indicate that they are part of the same series.
I saw If I Stay ‘cause a friend had free tickets. It was extremely mediocre.
Show of hands – does that surprise anyone?
In my typical fashion, I only now have watched Captain America 2, and really, I only have one question.
@swenson
In Bruges is incredible.
Sort of weird how Belgium doesn’t seem to have any cops, though.
No one thinks to call the cops a single time in the film.
Jin Roh the Wolf Brigade is fucking amazing.
It had potential, but it was poorly executed. Still, it was entertaining enough to be worth the money
I would have liked to see how Vlad Tepes went from a local lord protecting his territory by impaling his enemies as a warning, to a bloodsucking creature who cannot abide sunlight or crosses. Some sort of antiheroic Faustian story watching his decent into evil would have been grand.
That would be fucking delightful.
Characters need to be sympathetic, they need to draw in audiences with their morally justified back stories and the ultimate knowledge that good will over come evil even if the rest of the world doesn’t think the main character is good. It may be a sacrifice in quality but it’s a necessity for sales and appeal to the lowest common denominator.
... Oh, wait, Gone Girl is top in the box office right now? Huh.
I just saw Dracula Untold. On one hand, it was pretty low quality all around. On the other hand, it has a depiction of vampires I like.
On the other hand, it has a depiction of vampires I like.
but did they sparkle
I’d also like it more if it wasn’t about Dracula and was about… I dunno, Drake Ula.
How about Alucard?
So how ‘bout that Avengers trailer?
So, I saw Dracula Untold.
edited to hide spoilers.
Finally saw Boxtrolls and thought it was adorable. Not mind blowingly awesome, but still worth seeing if you like claymation and fun movies. Also had one of my favorite after the credit scenes ever. Like, it’s one of the only ones that isn’t a teaser trailer for the next movie in the next few years.
@Rocky
Saw Book of Life yesterday and loved it. The designs were so gorgeous and some of those crowd scenes probably took ages to render. My only real complaint would be the musical numbers. When I see a movie with musical numbers, I’m looking for new music and not pop songs sung in a cartoon voice.
I heard some people complain it was a bit 2 dimensional, but I don’t see how. Each of the characters had their own motivations, their moments of weakness and their own redeeming qualities, barring a character later in the movie. Am I supposed to think it’s 2 dimensional because no one learned a brutal lesson about the cruelty of the world after the movie was over?
MARVEL PHASE 3 OH MY FUCKING GOD.
I KNOW RIGHT
Saw Big Hero 6 and loved it as well. My only complaint would be the textures, but it’s kind of understandable considering how many really good 3D movies have been a bust considering the cost of creation VS the returns. I’m not sure if this is just a really good year for animated moves or if it’s a sign that I’m getting more relaxed on my standards.
Saw Fury, I rather liked it. I mean the whole “Savagery of War™ makes people Savage” kinda started to wear thin (I thought that got old when Oliver Stoned did it) but overall it wasn’t bad. If you’re looking for some kind of point or message you’ll be dissapointed. There really isn’t one, except maybe “stuff like this actually happened, come and see.”
I really want to see big hero 6. It looks like a really fun movie.
Is it Oscar-bait season yet? What are people watching?
Snowpiercer was really good but damn, I did not anticipate how incredibly depressing it would be. And I’m in the house all alone for the whole weekend and it’s Thanksgiving and I have a mountain of work to do…
I probably shouldn’t have watched Snowpiercer. :P
Guardians of the Galaxy
Most overrated movie of the year.
Most overrated movie of the year.
fight me
fight me
come at me bro
Saw Catching Fire last night on Netflix. It was a good movie, as far as movies go, but the story is obviously limited to the books so it wasn’t bad but I don’t really love the plot.
I am conflicted on the new Star Wars trailer.
@sansa – I will help you fight him. And it looks like we might have to fight Rocky too. Hmm. I’ll see about getting us some backup.
Did someone say backup?
The hilarious lightsaber design and the token black character would have put me off to the film, if I’d ever gotten excited for it at all.
TRIGGER WARNING: MS Paint penises.
I thought it looked kind of cool, until tiny lightsaber blades came out of the sides. Just… why? Why would you do that?
Also, I’m jumping in on the pro-_Guardians_ side.
Yeah, those little blades were kind of weird. I know that they want to do new designs, but honestly, I can’t really take it seriously. It’s not a guard. It will take your hand off.
Your loss. Biggest movie of 2015.
I hope Avengers: Age of Ultron stomps this into the dirt.
Seriously? Did you think before posting that, or did I somehow miss the throngs of incompetent characters throughout the saga that wielded lightsabers and cut off their own hands? An entire lightsaber by itself will take off your hand if you haven’t been trained to wield it. We’ve seen characters effortlessly deflecting incoming laser fire from multiple aggressors attacking from multiple angles, and two tiny little crossguard blades are suddenly one character’s complete downfall?
No, I just happen to be aware that those blades are in the place of something that you’re supposed to be able to touch if you’re going to use that kind of style. Otherwise there’s no real point to them other than to look cool. It’s not creative. It’s stupid.
I’m sure that the movie will somehow manage to ignore that, but the fact of the matter is that a crossguard has a purpose, and honestly the whole design of having them there does more to hurt the fighting style then to help it. At least the ones before, including the double bladed one, worked at some level, since no jedi was ever supposed to be able to accidentally touch it if they so much as twitched their hand wrong. It’s a bad design for a weapon like a lightsaber.
Ultron is guaranteed to be a solid movie at the very least. But, no.
I think you’re underestimating that movie. Personally, if I had to choose, I’d go with Ultron.
“Your loss. Biggest movie of 2015.”
I know. What a terrible year for film.
“TRIGGER WARNING: MS Paint penises.”
No trigger-warnings for the A. Wyatt Mann Jew caricatures, eh, tumblr?
MS Paint penises is an art genre all on its own.
I almost guarantee there will be a movie with that title, somewhere in the distant Idiocracy -style future.
MS Paint Penises 2: More Paint, More Penises. Coming soon to a theater near you.
Honestly, nothing about the new trailer gives me any hope that we’re going for a new story instead of just drooling over the old one.
That’s like saying Captain America’s shield is a bigger pop culture icon than the lightsaber. There’s no underestimation taking place. Ultron will be a solid movie and will do solid numbers—take that to the bank. But the MCU is an entity barely over five years old and not exactly blowing away audiences on the small screen. Next year it’s going up against a franchise nearing its fortieth anniversary, a franchise that has a history filled with record-setting, industry-redefining films, critically-lauded music, an animated series launched this year, classic video game entries, a long-standing comic book legacy of its own, a library of highly-regarded fiction, and just the sheer volume of names, locations, vehicles, weapons, phrases, moments, and characters that have since been seared into the consciousness of at least two generations. And now, ten years after the close of the prequel trilogy, the franchise is set to explore uncharted territory.
It’s also dealing with a legacy of prequel films that nearly everyone only watched because they were Star Wars and hated, and an audience that is nervous about the fact that Disney is doing it rather than Lucas and thus likely to be hyper critical of everything that they think is wrong and isn’t in the books or the comics. Ultron isn’t going to have that kind of baggage. A large group of movie goers didn’t even know who Ultron was before the series was announced, and thus breaks will work and are already occurring.
And you’re ignoring the fact that the MU actually has a pretty large group of animated series (not to the level of the DCU, but that’s to be expected) which are actually pretty good, quite a hyped up fanbase at the moment, and, honesty, a history of way better dialog that the Star Wars movies could ever boast of, or the fact that a lot of movie goers will only know about the cartoon series out of the EU. And, at the moment, the reactions to the trailer are either cautious interest like me, organiclead’s wariness about the story and a general snort at the design of the crossgaurd lightsaber.
I’m sure that the new series is going to do extremely well, and several people will see it just because it’s Star Wars, but I can’t necessarily say that it will be the top seller in 2015.
As long as it’s not FSoG.
Oh no, it’s going to sell no matter what and is probably going to be the biggest grossing movie of the year. Like Transformers, everyone’s going to keep going to see those movies juuuust in case they turn out good and can capture their childhood nostalgia even if it’s terrible, even if it goes against everything that was already set up, because that’s just what fans DO in our current consumer climate. I have had people tell me to my face that they knew a movie was going to be terrible but they some how felt an obligation to see it anyway because they were a fan of the thing ti was rebooting.
I’m sure that the movie will somehow manage to ignore that, but the fact of the matter is that a crossguard has a purpose, and honestly the whole design of having them there does more to hurt the fighting style then to help it. At least the ones before, including the double bladed one, worked at some level, since no jedi was ever supposed to be able to accidentally touch it if they so much as twitched their hand wrong. It’s a bad design for a weapon like a lightsaber.
It’s a movie you dork, who cares if it makes sense in practical combat. The only pertinent function it has is the function the filmmakers included it for, which in this case is to look cool. Evaluate it based on that.
(note that I think it looks dumb)
(this whole Star Wars/Marvel argument is also dumb)
“It’s a movie you dork, who cares if it makes sense in practical combat.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_of_disbelief
There’s a difference between choosing style over function, and going out of your way to make the damn thing as impractical and absurd as possible.
If adding a dopey little crossguard to an already incredibly impractical weapon is what takes you out of a story I don’t know how you have ever finished a Star Wars movie.
What I don’t get is why they changed it to a Western style crossguard from the original angled-fork design which looked much cooler and more practical in the EU.
Why did they feel compelled to whitewash it (Brit-wash?) into yet another generic Medieval European Longsword, when the entire extended series is inspired by Japanese aesthetics and weapons?
...different creative team being shepherded by a creative overseer…. which happens to be exactly what you have with Episode 7.
The problem with that, is that even that has brought on criticism since it’s Disney. (Which is frankly stupid since Disney seems to be more or less just willing to pump its limitless funds into groups and make high quality stuff and thus make millions..)
A good movie is a good movie, but as a creative outlet for motion pictures, there’s a deficiency in the foundation.
I disagree. A movie isn’t just the work of the screenwriters, just like most genre fiction isn’t just the work of the writer alone. It’s not a deficiency, it’s a reality. They took dialog that worked in the comics and got to work in the movies, but I wouldn’t call it a creative deficiency, merely a way to bring the mediums together so that one doesn’t completely invalidate the others. Since Marvel still has its comic universes as well as cinematic universe.
Watch the trailer more closely: the primary blade crackles with a sort of electrical energy, while the smaller “blades” flicker like the end of a blow torch. It’s possible those exhausts are venting energy from an overly powerful or unstable version of a lightsaber
I don’t see how that helps the design even slightly. It’s still the same problem: in that view it’s a source of heat that close to the hand. The whole design, regardless of what it is, or what it’s doing there is a bad idea. You don’t want something that powerful close to your hands when a simple mistake can lead to losing something. At least the one from the actual books had a more practical design, the wielder’s hand didn’t have to necessarily be near it.
And yes, something that petty can really bother me though a movie.
There is nothing remotely practical about a laser sword of any design.