TheMightyEthan Posted May 3, 2021 Report Share Posted May 3, 2021 Knives Out Holy shit this movie was good. The kind of mystery that really keeps you guessing, but that also feels solvable if you just pay enough attention. In fact, about 20 minutes before the end I paused and told my wife what was going to happen so she'd be impressed when I was right (turns out I was only about 75% right though ). I highly recommend it. Also, best line of the movie: Spoiler "The Nazi child masturbating in the bathroom..." 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted August 8, 2021 Report Share Posted August 8, 2021 The Suicide Squad This is by far the best movie in the entire DCEU right now. James Gunn seems to really excel at these films where he's given a cast of freaks and weirdos to write for, especially when he's allowed to go with a hard R rating. Make no mistake, this one is hard R, soaked from head to toe in gore and profanity and I wouldn't have it any other way. Not only are the action scenes a bloody good time, but the jokes frequently made me laugh out loud and the characters were written very well. Even though they're all murderous psychopaths, Gunn got me to actually care about most of them. King Shark in particular steals every scene he's in and I have no doubt he'll become the most popular member of the squad. The movie really lives up to the title, too. The squad starts out with around 20 or so members but this mission has one hell of a body count. I actually felt bad when certain characters died, but by the end I was quite attached to the survivors. I hope to see them all again in a sequel soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted August 9, 2021 Report Share Posted August 9, 2021 I've seen this called a standalone sequel. Does that seem accurate to you, or do you need to have seen the first one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted August 9, 2021 Report Share Posted August 9, 2021 It's technically a sequel but it only really references the first movie in that Harley is friendly with a few characters she met before. It's easy to not even notice unless you're paying attention. You should be completely fine if you didn't see the last film. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted August 10, 2021 Report Share Posted August 10, 2021 19 hours ago, Mister Jack said: You should be completely fine if you didn't see the last film. Like, I feel that this is just life advice. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorgiShinobi Posted August 11, 2021 Report Share Posted August 11, 2021 The first Suicide Squad is one of the few movies I actually hate. Not just dislike or simply think is awful, but hate. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted November 18, 2021 Report Share Posted November 18, 2021 (edited) Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Watched this on Disney+. To tell the truth, I would almost put this in the okay movies thread. It's fine. Shang-Chi is fine as a character. Not great but not terrible. The Mandarin is fine. The side characters are fine. They don't leave a strong impression but they're not really obnoxious either. The thing that pushed this movie over into this thread for me was the fight choreography. It's really good. In fact, in my opinion these are some of the best fight scenes in the entire MCU and there's plenty of them. As a Marvel movie, meaning a movie that's meant to push the MCU forward and get fans hyped for the future of the franchise, it's kind of meh. However, as a standalone kung fu movie it's great. If you watch it just for the stunts and action scenes it's pretty enjoyable but it loses some steam in the climax when it turns into a CGI fest like Black Panther did, although the effects here aren't as bad as they were in that movie. Edited November 18, 2021 by Mister Jack 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted November 18, 2021 Report Share Posted November 18, 2021 1 hour ago, Mister Jack said: The Mandarin is fine. I was about to reply with a joke like "Trevor is in this?!?" but after some quick googling it looks like he actually is lol. I really need to catch up on the MCU. I haven't seen any of the movies since Far From Home and only WandaVision for the tv shows. I saw a pic for the new slate of shows they just announced and I legit felt exhausted by the prospect of having to catch up on all of that. I should probably get on it before it all accumulates enough that I lose interest entirely... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted November 19, 2021 Report Share Posted November 19, 2021 I'm in exactly the same position, down to having last seen Far From Home and Wandavision. Once Endgame put the cap on the story I'd gotten invested in I just haven't had the energy to keep going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted November 19, 2021 Report Share Posted November 19, 2021 1 hour ago, toxicitizen said: I was about to reply with a joke like "Trevor is in this?!?" but after some quick googling it looks like he actually is lol. Dude was legit one of the best things about it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorgiShinobi Posted November 19, 2021 Report Share Posted November 19, 2021 Agreed on Trevor. Loki is definitely worth watching and I can't really say more without spoiling anything. Falcon and the Winter Solider was... massively meh. It sparked a lot of debate, but the show itself didn't get good until crap hit the fan. In my opinion of course, but I couldn't care for the antagonists and the conflict Sam goes through might as well be nonexistent since, going from Endgame, nothing changed really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted November 21, 2021 Report Share Posted November 21, 2021 I guess we don't have a "Last INCREDIBLE Movie You Saw" thread so this will have to do. Finally went to see Dune yesterday. My god, it was perfect! Well, almost. The movie rushes through some parts that could've used more breathing room and then stretches some things that could've gone faster but I think that mostly came down to where they decided to end it. But overall this was shockingly faithful and every bit as good as I expected/hoped it to be. Can't wait for Part 2! As a side-note, I'm currently halfway through Dune Messiah and I already really hope that Denis Villeneuve will get his way and do a trilogy with Messiah as the third one, if only to see how audiences will react to it lol. Frank Herbert sure had balls to follow-up his hit book with a sequel that basically deconstructs everything he built in the first one. So far it's convinced me to just ignore anyone that recommends reading only the first book and stopping there. I'll read all the Frank Herbert books for sure. Beyond that, we'll see. I usually have an aversion to any kind of "expanded universe" stuff not written by the original author but I know Frank Herbert never finished Dune 7 and the conclusion his son wrote uses elements set up in the prequels he wrote so I'll probably at least read those so I can read the end of the main series. Although I'm already bracing myself for the worst... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted November 21, 2021 Report Share Posted November 21, 2021 I also saw Dune and really liked it, though I wouldn't say it was perfect. For one, Jessica was freaking out too much most of the time. I get that shit is going down, but she should be composed, she's a Bene Gesserit ffs! And there are ways to portray someone having to work to stay composed while still managing to do it. It lacked subtlety and I thought really detracted from the movie. As my wife said, "Do they really just think people are that stupid? Dune should be better than that." The other thing was the last line of the movie be Spoiler "This is only the beginning." Like come the fuck on, you might as well have a character shout, "There's going to be a sequel!" Especially since that character shouldn't even know anything special is happening. I hate shit like that, and it being the very last thing left a bad taste in my mouth (though thankfully the rest of the movie was good enough that it didn't ruin the experience). But overall the movie was fantastic, it's up there with the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies in terms of how good an adaptation it is. The fact that my wife, who usually rolls her eyes at me making her watch sci fi, thought it was really good should tell you how good it is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted November 21, 2021 Report Share Posted November 21, 2021 1 hour ago, toxicitizen said: As a side-note, I'm currently halfway through Dune Messiah and I already really hope that Denis Villeneuve will get his way and do a trilogy with Messiah as the third one, if only to see how audiences will react to it lol. Frank Herbert sure had balls to follow-up his hit book with a sequel that basically deconstructs everything he built in the first one. So far it's convinced me to just ignore anyone that recommends reading only the first book and stopping there. I'll read all the Frank Herbert books for sure. Beyond that, we'll see. Yeah, I think all the Frank ones are worth reading, even if (as is inevitable), some are better than others. I did not like the prequels his son wrote though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted November 21, 2021 Report Share Posted November 21, 2021 8 minutes ago, TheMightyEthan said: For one, Jessica was freaking out too much most of the time. I get that shit is going down, but she should be composed, she's a Bene Gesserit ffs! And there are ways to portray someone having to work to stay composed while still managing to do it. It lacked subtlety and I thought really detracted from the movie. As my wife said, "Do they really just think people are that stupid? Dune should be better than that." That's a fair complaint but tbh how do you even convey an internal conflict like that visually? The movie had to cram so much in its limited runtime that I don't blame him for cutting this particular corner. It could've been toned down I suppose but I was so happy with everything else that it never really bothered me. I especially loved how they represented the voice. That could've been super goofy but the way it was done was low-key creepy. 1 minute ago, TheMightyEthan said: Yeah, I think all the Frank ones are worth reading, even if (as is inevitable), some are better than others. I did not like the prequels his son wrote though. Good to know! Out of curiosity, which ones did you think were the better/weaker ones? I imagine none of them will quite reach the heights of the first one but that still leaves a lot of room for the others to be great in their own right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted November 21, 2021 Report Share Posted November 21, 2021 It's been too long since I read them for me to remember which ones were the good ones. Sorry. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ As far as how to show her struggling to keep calm, in the scene with the box you have her standing extremely rigid, maybe show her deliberately taking long, slow breaths, in close up you can show that her jaw is clenched, that kind of stuff, so she's obviously tense, and have a voice-over of her saying the fear mantra so you know she's doing that in her head. Then my wife pointed out if you did that at that scene then mantra would become code for her being worried, and later you could show her being really upset/scared by actually whispering it out loud instead of just thinking it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted November 21, 2021 Report Share Posted November 21, 2021 Sure but the thing with that is that in a book you can have as much inner monologue as you want to clearly show her state of mind. What you're describing would work but I don't think it would convey it to quite the right degree. In a movie, you need to externalize a character's internal conflict in one way or another and the whole "being a Bene Gesserit vs being a mother" thing is pretty abstract and subtle to begin with. Spoiler There is a moment in the Gom Jabbar scene where she almost slips and hugs Paul in front of the Reverend Mother but catches herself at the last second. Showing her barely holding it together when she's alone is a decent tradeoff, I think. There's also the way the Gom Jabbar scene creates a rift between her and Paul that's only going to grow by the end of the movie and continue to do so in part 2. Denis Villeneuve's a pretty sharp filmmaker, so I'm sure this was a deliberate choice rather than something he screwed up. He may have felt like he needed to really sell her inner conflict and make it as clear as possible as part of the setup for stuff that will payoff in part 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted November 21, 2021 Report Share Posted November 21, 2021 I'm sure it was a deliberate choice, I just think it was a bad one, it made her seem like a nervous wreck (not just that one scene, it happens more than once) which I didn't think fit the character. There are tons of scenes in tons of shows where characters play inner turmoil without breaking down sobbing. I just wish they'd been more subtle about it. The really weird thing to me is that once shit really starts to hit the fan she does start playing it that way, inner freaking out covered by outer calm, I just wish she'd been that way the whole time. Still, considering that's one of only two serious complaints I have about the movie, they're doing pretty great. No movie is going to be entirely devoid of problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted November 26, 2021 Report Share Posted November 26, 2021 On 11/21/2021 at 10:10 PM, TheMightyEthan said: It's been too long since I read them for me to remember which ones were the good ones. Sorry. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It starts to jump the shark when the sex-nuns turn up imho, but there's enough good in the series to read through to the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted November 26, 2021 Report Share Posted November 26, 2021 1 hour ago, Thursday Next said: It starts to jump the shark when the sex-nuns turn up 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted November 26, 2021 Report Share Posted November 26, 2021 Oh gods, I forgot about the sex-nuns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted November 26, 2021 Report Share Posted November 26, 2021 1 hour ago, Mister Jack said: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted November 29, 2021 Report Share Posted November 29, 2021 On 11/26/2021 at 5:17 PM, TheMightyEthan said: Oh gods, I forgot about the sex-nuns. Yeah, book 5, "Heretics of Dune" and the next like 4 or 5 books up to the end of the Atreides arc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted November 29, 2021 Report Share Posted November 29, 2021 (edited) 5 hours ago, Thursday Next said: Yeah, book 5, "Heretics of Dune" and the next like 4 or 5 books up to the end of the Atreides arc. Since you mention that many books beyond book 5, I take it you've read the Brian Herbert sequels/prequels? If so, give it to me straight, what am I getting myself into here? I originally only had the main books but I pre-ordered some fancy Sandworms bookends and figured "Might as well complete the set!" and fell into an eBay rabbit hole. I have more on the way... Edited November 29, 2021 by toxicitizen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted November 30, 2021 Report Share Posted November 30, 2021 RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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