DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently 3 - The Final Insult

[Astro Hollywood]

On 8/26/2018 at 11:34 PM, Mr_Danger said:

Summer of 84'

Pretty standard 'kids on bikes' fare with a Rear Window/The Burbs premise. Enjoyable enough but then the ending really kicks you in the dick.

Christ, you're not kidding. I loved the film-makers' previous one. Turbo Kid, and thought this was great too, but when the credits rolled, I felt like hanging myself.

[Bellenda Carlisle]

The Happytime Murders was not terrible!

Thankfully my expectations were rock bottom because I found myself really enjoying it. Seeing a puppet fanny surpassed even my lofty expectations, the novelty of the puppets gave it a momentum that kept me going through the parts that weren't so great, the story was fun and simple enough and there were a couple of funny jokes and random character bits that were really funny despite not being essential to the story which I always enjoy. 

I feel sorry for the film that it's being shat on so much, I'm all for weird shit like this. Sausage Party was so much worse.

[Accident Prone]

On 9/1/2018 at 2:24 PM, Accident Prone said:

Started watching Rogue One last night. Fucking boring as all hell, turned it off about 45 minutes in and I can usually sit through a boring/shit film just to see the slog through. I'll probably pick it up again tonight. Oh, and all the shoe horned references are really embarrassing. "Look! This is like old Star Wars! You like that, don't you? Look! It's the man from the Cantina! Isn't this great?". Get fucked.

Finished this yesterday. The last 45 minutes picked up for a bit but I didn't care a single iota about any of the characters so it was lost on me. No backstory and chemistry means I won't invest in the protagonists and supporting cast. The fan-service got so much worse as well. People say that they loved this movie? 

[Hannibal Scorch]

36 minutes ago, Accident Prone said:

Finished this yesterday. The last 45 minutes picked up for a bit but I didn't care a single iota about any of the characters so it was lost on me. No backstory and chemistry means I won't invest in the protagonists and supporting cast. The fan-service got so much worse as well. People say that they loved this movie? 

if you don't care about the characters it's hard to care/invest in the film. I liked it a lot but you can feel the way you feel. I have grown to love The Last Jedi but I hated it on first watch and know many still do

[WyattSheepMask]

I wouldn’t say I loved it, but certainly enjoyed it more than you appeared to, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

For me, it was good to see some diffetent characters outside of the main films, it is a story about an entire universe after all. That’s not to say that everyone in that universe deserves their own film, but it can be fun to drop in on them every now & again. The drawback to Rogue One for me was that you knew the outcome so it was hard to get attached to the characters.

Solo, much like Rogue One and probably any other upcoming ‘A Star Wars Story’ films look very much like they’re for Star Wars completists or those that at least follow the extended universe. Neither are bad films, but they just might not be as accessible as the ‘main’ films. There’s a part in Solo that left me, and virtually everyone else in the cinema, scratching their heads as it involved a character previously thought to be dead returning. But if you don’t watch Star Wars Rebels or Clone Wars,?it left you asking all sorts of questions.

[Bellenda Carlisle]

Upgrade was brilliant, most fun I've had in the cinema for ages, I highly recommend it. 

Don't read this spoiler unless you've seen it because it really is very good. 

I loved the ending, I may have been stupid for not seeing it coming but I just assumed they wouldn't do anything more challenging than have him end up as himself with an able body so I was buzzing leaving the cinema at that last bit

[Accident Prone]

23 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

if you don't care about the characters it's hard to care/invest in the film. I liked it a lot but you can feel the way you feel. I have grown to love The Last Jedi but I hated it on first watch and know many still do

That's the thing, there was no reason to like or care about the characters. They're just faceless soldiers who you're stuck with for two hours. There was little to no attempt at building a backstory or character for anybody. And the "OH A STAR DESTROYER I KNOW THAT!" fan wanking really sent me into insanity. It's why I refuse to watch Ready Player One because it'll just be 3 hours of "I KNOW WHAT THAT IS I HAVE SEEN IT BEFORE". Well, that and I read an awful extract which was essentially my worst nightmare of being trapped in an elevator at Comic Con.

22 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

For me, it was good to see some diffetent characters outside of the main films, it is a story about an entire universe after all. That’s not to say that everyone in that universe deserves their own film, but it can be fun to drop in on them every now & again. The drawback to Rogue One for me was that you knew the outcome so it was hard to get attached to the characters.

See, knowing the outcome never stopped Titanic from being a decent (yet still majorly flawed) flick. Yeah, it was a paint-by-numbers film with some questionable arcs but you still invested in the story and the cast.

A movie can be about an extended universe, that's gravy. But just dropping us in with no connection to the characters was so lazy. They'd rather shoe horn in references and CGI renderings of dead actors than actually make the audience care

Rogue One just felt like one of those "Remember 1985?" shows that Channel 4 and Five used to throw together on a daily basis.

More power to you lads if you can enjoy it though. I'm the one who's felt like they wasted part of an evening, at least you're left with smiles on your faces.

[Hannibal Scorch]

Just now, Accident Prone said:

 It's why I refuse to watch Ready Player One because it'll just be 3 hours of "I KNOW WHAT THAT IS I HAVE SEEN IT BEFORE". Well, that and I read an awful extract which was essentially my worst nightmare of being trapped in an elevator at Comic Con.

 

to me Ready Player One was Spielberg at his 80's best. Sure, there are lots of easter eggs and cameo's but it's much more then that. I am yet to speak to someone who has seen it that didn't at least enjoy it.

Deadpool 2 and Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom are both dog shit. So that is the barometer  to base my opinions on of this years movies. 

[Accident Prone]

The only people who have told me they enjoyed Ready Player One also wore BAZINGA! t-shirts whilst doing so. I will never see it.

[HarmonicGenerator]

30 minutes ago, Accident Prone said:

The only people who have told me they enjoyed Ready Player One also wore BAZINGA! t-shirts whilst doing so. I will never see it.

I bloody loved Ready Player One. Not for the crammed-with-references aspect but because it just somehow managed to capture this intangible sense of vintage Spielberg-y-ness. Watching it, for me, felt like watching a classic Spielberg when you're 8 or 9. I can't quite describe it but it was a lovely 'cinema' feeling that few films this decade have managed.

I also really really like Rogue One but I'm beginning to feel that should belong in Unpopular Opinions! 

Edited September 3, 2018 by HarmonicGenerator

[Chest Rockwell]

I don't really that much care about Star Wars as a franchise. I like the original trilogy, but I've only seen them a couple times each. I thought Rogue One was really good. I didn't need loads of backstory. I got to know enough about the characters and their motivation through their actions in the film. I think it's actually something a lot of modern films do too much of and why they are often overlong.

I thought Rogue One stood alone well.

[DEF]

The Howling 2 - I've wanted to see this for years. It's pretty notorious for being astonishingly bad bordering on unwatchable. But I couldn't possibly pass up Werewolves, Christopher Lee and Sybil Danning.

Here's the thing, I really enjoyed it. It is absolutely an utter mess but it is at the very least never dull. I think probably if it was never called Howling 2 it would be much more well liked. The first film is top 5 Werewolf film material and as a sequel it's bloody awful.

I'd love to know what they were thinking in the making of this. Apparently they were sent Planet of the Apes costumes by the executive producers and told 'just make it work'. Bless them they tried.

The editting choices are hilarious. There's at least 8 different cheesetastic scene transition wipes. Everything from spirals, stars to corner to corner. If your the kind of person (me) that finds that kind of thing hilarious then this is a riot. I would not be shocked if they were making the script up as they went along.

[ColinBollocks]

I watched Cold War on Saturday. It's beautifully made and the two lead actors are excellent.

My only gripe is I wasn't a big fan of the way they jumped forward scene to scene, story to story. It's a minor complaint, however, because I found it a very rewarding cinematic experience, overall.

Again, I emphasise how gorgeous some scenes are in black and white. Some making me internally scream "wow".

Edited September 3, 2018 by ColinBollocks

[Scott Malbranque]

Rogue One was my favourite Star Wars film, to be honest. I'm not really a fan of that franchise, but I thought Rogue One was tremendous.

As I'm on a Sci-Fi horror kick at the moment, I rewatched The Cloverfield Paradox and I really like it now. It could have done with much less Chris O'Dowd, but on the whole, there's some really nice nods and easter eggs in there. Plus, I love the ending...

 

[Dead Mike]

1 hour ago, Bellenda Carlisle said:

Upgrade was brilliant, most fun I've had in the cinema for ages, I highly recommend it. 

Don't read this spoiler unless you've seen it because it really is very good. 

 

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I loved the ending, I may have been stupid for not seeing it coming but I just assumed they wouldn't do anything more challenging than have him end up as himself with an able body so I was buzzing leaving the cinema at that last bit

 

I really enjoyed Upgrade. It was much nastier than I was expecting & it had a 90's throwback feel to it. The only gripe was the lead actor looked so much like a skinnier Tom Hardy it was almost distracting.

Another decent find was American Animals. True story about a bunch of college students who decided to rob some valuable art from their college library. It's a well trodden genre but they put a different spin on it with voice overs/cut away scenes involving the actual wannabe criminals. Highly recommended.