It’s the best of 1-3 for sure.
Thats so fucking annoying, i actually hate going to the cinema because of the people who can’t shut the fuck up, yell or laugh during the movie. There’s always at least one person who thinks they need to “entertain” the rest of the audience with their shitty quips.
4 Likes
To add to this.
And this….
Prequel Trilogy Specifically… I don’t mind saying Iconic Lines because Prequel Dialogue in itself is part of its D.N.A for the trilogy. The difference between Episode lll and the other two is simply we know how this one is gonna end and we’re here for the ride. It’s been like this since 2005. Just so happens during this ride George Lucas inadvertently created dialogue that’s part of the experience especially after the prequels got re-evaluated once the supplemental Clone Wars series released and sequel trilogy released.
Fair reminder Prequel hate was rampant for awhile, and as someone who has defended these movies through and through. I’m okay with the quotable lines, cause that’s where part of the love is.
I didn’t talk about my theater experience with Episode lll cause I romanticized this idea that I’d be seeing it with my father like how I did back when it released, but that never happened so I went alone. My experience went from I’m excited to see this, to I’m here I feel the rush of emotions during the fan fare before opening crawl, to oh shit I’m sitting next to someone who can’t shut the fuck up and will laugh at literally the smallest thing like R2D2 beeping and booping or General Grievous coughing or breaking down a plastic water bottle mid Mustafar Lightsaber Dual or just busting out your phone to take a picture of said iconic moment to post on your socials.
That was my 20th Anniversary experience. I’m half tempted to go see it again this upcoming Friday during a matinee alone in a theater, but I don’t know yet.
3 Likes
My advice: do it.
It’s worth it, at least you can try and make things br better this time.
Thunderbolts*
While I haven’t necessarily though all recent Marvel flicks were that bad (I enjoyed both Captain America: Brave New World and Ant-Man: Quantumania well enough, for instance), I’ll sort of agree with the assessment of this film as Marvel being “back”.
I really liked it.
For one it doesn’t end with an insane amount of face-less CGI soldiers for the heroes to fight and the ending in general doesn’t feel as exhaustingly bloated as some other Marvel movies (even the better ones) do.
People have said that this is about mental health… and they’re right, it is, but on a super hero movie level of course. Don’t go in expecting something amazingly deep, but do go in expecting something a bit different from the normal fare.
Mental health is the theme, and it permeates the movie.
This is definitely the Florence Pugh / Lewis Pullman show. And that’s OK. They bring the kind of performances a movie like this needs. That being said it also made me appreciate US Agent more.
The action serves the movie and works. Maybe I could’ve done with one set piece that brought in an original idea. It’s mostly just well choreographed fighting.
All in all I really liked this, and it brings me hope for Fantastic Four: First Steps.
4 Likes
Sinners. Wicked music, fun genre mashup. Spoilers, basic premise outline Two brothers return to their hometown to set up a barn juke club, and on opening night a group of vampires invade. I was surprised to find out that the movie was over two hours in length, I felt like it flew by. Will be seeing it again when I can.
4 Likes
Yeah, so,
Thunderbolts*
with specific emphasis on the Asterisk, too!..
(Though in some parts of the USA you might find that changing soon, for some reason) 
Yes, while a whole lot of the marketing, trailers, and even the posters themselves make a point to show off the asterisk, it in and of itself doesn’t really play a part in the film. Like, no one writes down Thunderbolts and puts an asterisk over it. They kind of just disagree on forming a team with that name. But yes I liked the mystery behind why and its weird Marvel is seemingly abandoning it with a new marketing push not even a week after it’s out.
The film itself was great!
I thought it was really fun to see all these side-characters from different films and movies come together in their own starring ensemble film.
The humour is great, awkward at times, and the fun comes from seeing how they bicker or bounce off each others’ wild personalities.
Boy, US Agent/Walker is still such a jerk with a hair-pin trigger finger.
It also has a nice central theme of mental health and depression, even finding an interesting way to show off some of the characters’ internal struggles and pasts (though I wish we got more from the whole group than we did)
It was very touching, and I also appreciated the father-daughter moments between Yelena and Alexei when they occured. It’s only been a year since they last saw each other, but for us it’s been like… 4 years if you’re just counting the movies? 7 for Ghost. My god…
The action was fun. It was great not to have even someone with a super flying jetpack or magic high-tech that can stop or do anything.
Like, this movie’s action is literally just fitsicuffs and guns. Which feels fresh for Marvel!
I also really enjoyed the 3rd act confrontation, it does some weird camera stuff and cool scene changes that I always eat up. Not specifying due to spoilers.
Great performances all around, though some characters get the spotlight a whole lot more. Plus I was surprised by the “main villain” they have to stop in the film. I’m glad I didn’t watch any press material for this since that really would have given it away.
This film at the least feels like the MCU is back. It has nice connections to other properties that it doesn’t need to explain too hard or just leave viewers confused (at least from my parents’ reactions)
(Like, this connects to Cap 4 by mentioning the Red Hulk incident at the start, and at the very end, we see it connect to Fantastic 4 with their ship! Good bookends.
Meanwhile something like Cap 4 has major plot beats connects to Incredible Hulk from over 15 years earlier, and Eternals from 4 years ago… if ya havent seen a recap, catch up.)
So anyway, really enjoyable film. Good change of pace in the MCU, its as grounded a squad as you can get, it’s fun and it’s touching.
Ending thoughts
Spoilers spoilers for the final scene of the movie!
Yeah, this team will alwaya be known as Thunderbolts to me.
Like, they all still only punch and shoot and lift heavy things. Sure, the one guy can fly and do extra superhuman things, so long as he doesn’t let depression take over, but damn, they do not hold a candle to the original Avg squad… or whatever that other new squad FalCap is making…
Keep the name, and the movie title dangit!! It’s got a cute meaning behind it rather than corporate nostalgia…
5 Likes
Thunderbolts was cool, I related maybe a bit too much to Bob. It was a good blending of an Avengers/Suicide Squad-esque formula with something a little more thoughtful and complicated. I know that we’re getting more Avengers™ in the near future, but I’d be perfectly fine if they just stuck with this. The team is likeable and they have good chemistry, I could easily see this being the new Guardians trilogy of the MCU. Though they need to build a bit on Ghost because I didn’t feel like they spent as much time getting the audience to connect with her, most of the other central cast had a good sense of tragic humanity to them that really enriched the story.
Good film, probably one of the better in the MCU.
4 Likes
The Promised Land (2023), Stars Mads Mikkelsen in the role of an improvised Danish officer in the mid 1700. Who sets out to cultivate the barren moorland of Jutland, with the presmission of the Royal Danish court.
The film was wonderful, gripping, tense and full of hardship. The one thing that I had a hard time with was that it was in Danish, not due to me not speaking Danish. I do, I’m Danish after all. However in certain movies (many) it’s hard to hear what a Dane is saying, we mumble a lot. There was no options for Danish subtitles nor English, there was also a lot of Norwegian and German. It didn’t help.
I plan to watch it again, but hopefully I can find a place where I can view it with Danish subtitles.
4 Likes
Just watched Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning; splurged so much on snacks I gave an extra popcorn bucket to a kid next to me. Surprisingly small death count: two henchmen, Luther, not-Thomas Matthew Crooks, the General, Gabriel. Oh, and Hayley Atwell would make a great Diana, she’s got the look down.
5 Likes
I rewatched The Pianist at home with my parents, and man, it was a completely different experience from school. Felt like I watched a new movie.
Pros of watching it home: No girls trying to get attention, no people dying for several reasons in the back of the class, one-time watch (no breaks), comfort of your own home, bigger screen.
Pros of watching it at school: First time watch (a better experience), no commentaries from your political enthusiast father, watching it with friends.
Regardless of where you watch, it’s definitely worth it. I know I already posted about it, but watching it several times brings different reflections.
I wonder what a WWII survivor thinks when they look at the world today. We have failed as a society in mamy aspects. While in the past people stole food from the floor, now people throw away tons of food. Most people spend more time in the illusions of social media than actually enjoying life. And let’s not forget about the ones who are endorsing authoritarians when we have all these history examples! I’m sorry if there’s anyone in the forum who sympathizes with this, but I can’t get over the fact that the are people who think dolls are their childs. In Brazil they’re making it a crime because there have been some cases of these people going to hospitals with these dolls. Survivors like Wladek (The Pianist) would go insane if he was still alive over these things of the modern world. It was an extremely random example, but you get the idea.
Sorry for that little rant up there. Watching/Reading about war makes you value life more.
3 Likes
Just got back from watching The Phoenician Scheme. Pretty good, not my favourite Wes Anderson film, but entertaining enough. Found all the comedy pretty funny but it did feel a little, I don’t know, hollow perhaps - there’s not an awful lot to it, and it is kind of steady. But I liked it on the whole.
2 Likes
Fountain of Youth
Uninspired. Unoriginal. Somewhat entertaining if you’re of the right mindset.
John Krasinski plays archeologist (I think) Luke Purdue who is chasing the titular Fountain of Youth. Natalie Portman plays his sister who he tries to drag along.
Maybe it’s the way the dialog is written, but Krasinski and Portman has weird chemistry in this. It could’ve easily been edited to where she plays his ex-wife with no bigger changes and the chemistry would feel more right.
The action is servicable, but nothing amazing. There’s a well choreographed and thought out fight at one point I guess.
It seems like Guy Ritchie is trying to avoid any recognizable markers that he is the director, which makes the direction feel kind of flat.
The ending is. Meh. I don’t see why they needed the key-thing for the villain to get his, it just seems like unneccessary runtime and adds an insulting explanation of the ending when it would’ve been enough for Luke to say something like. “He didn’t understand. The fountain of youth takes life from those you love… and he only loved himself.” Or somesuch.
If you have AppleTV+ and nothing better to do it could be worth a watch.
4 Likes
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
Saw this yesterday. It’s oddly paced. In the beginning it jumps between locations wildly, later almost every sequence feels like its staying out its welcome. One particular sequence in the Sevastapol submarine felt like it ran for 30-40 minutes but probably should’ve been 10.
Likewise thev exciting finale just feels tiresome before its over. As usual it contains what I assume is very impressive stunts by Tom Cruise, but it too just continued to the point where I didn’t feel like I cared anymore. I feel like I could’ve edited a good 1 hour (the movie is 2 hours 5 minutes) out of this movie without problems and made it a tighter more effectively told story.
These last two movies, this one in particular, have not really felt like Mission Impossible movies to me. The classic M:I spy stuff just isn’t there or is quickly brushed aside from massive action, scifi, and so on.
I just didn’t enjoy this very much.
3 Likes
Broken Arrow (1996)
Starring John Travolta and Christian Slater. Directed by John Woo (his first american action flick?).
I believe this is the first movie from the action movie revival of sorts from '96-'97 (this, The Rock, Con Air, Face/Off). I remember it being seen as pretty average by most.
I gotta say, after sitting through the 2h50m slog of overwrought sequences two days ago, this 1h50m movie with simple straight forward action is quite refreshing.
John Travolta does an early version of what he’d do in Face/Off, and Christian Slater works as the 90’s action hero (that is, the hero that isn’t a musclebound martial artist or whatever).
If you pay attention to music in movies you’ll recognize Dewey’s “theme” from Scream 2, as that movie apparently used a piece from this for its temp score and then never switched it out.
You’ll also notice hints of Face/Off in there. Not surprising, since both movies are scored by Hans Zimmer, but it is a case of composers “ripping off themselves” (James Horner frequently did this as well).
Not fantastic or anything, but enjoyable enough. Glad I rewatched it.
3 Likes
I watched The Substance, really liked it. I will never watch it again.
There was some clear nods towards Kubrick‘s The Shining. One negative, was I found the ending a bit silly.
4 Likes
Misson Impossible: Final Reckoning
I watched it on Friday at the movies. I agree with @Kent about the beginning, way to many jumps and flashbacks of scenes from the movie itself. I liked the subtlety of showcasing Luther’s disease, no expositive dialogues or anything. Gabriel couldn’t stop laughing and that was midly annoying, but the characters were nice. The usual Mission Impossible script convenience but definitly not as bad as some previous titles. I actually enjoyed it, it brought up a lot from Ethan’s past, I didn’t feel like it was longer than it should.
Also this was the first time I teared up since 21 of October of 2024, because of Luther’s death, obviously.
1 Like
Captain America: Brave New World
This one I watched yesterday. Felt different from the current Marvel works which made it better, just like Thunderbolts*. Harrison Ford makes a good Ross, and the plot is satisfying. Surprisingly better than I expected.
1 Like
So, saw Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning yesterday… Gonna chime in with @Kent - it was not the most enjoyable experience. But then again, I fully expected that after the last movie. The pacing is all over the place, the first 30+ minutes especially, where it obsesses with flashbacks from previous movies, trying to force connections all over the place (and continues to do so throughout the whole movie, so we´re suddenly getting stuff like conveniently turning the McGuffin that was the Rabbit´s Foot in MI3 into the beginning of what the Entity is, Phelps Jr., or the return of that one CIA computer guy from the first movie, though I admit he was enjoyable). Picking up on what Dead Reckoning started, the story about the all-knowing Entity AI, global nuclear armageddon, doomsday cults, and talks about destiny and blah blah blah is bonkers garbage riddled with the worst of cliches. It´s all trying to be super serious, but just makes you grin half the time (and makes those few sections where it tries to be more on the lighter side feel out of place).
There are some good parts. I think the whole section on the aircraft carrier, island, and both submarines is great (the implausability of Ethan surviving the whole thing aside), and occasionally feels like it would´ve fit right into one of the older Jack Ryan movies. Both the Sevastopol and biplane sequences are impressive and give you the proper “How the hell did they shoot this?” feeling, but at the same time feel nowhere near as exhilarating and fun to watch as the Langley infiltration in the first movie, the Burj Khalifa bit from Ghost Protocol, or the opera sequence from Rogue Nation.
Indeed. Though I think the problem started with Fallout. M:I as a series benefited from changing directors every movie, so each one felt very distinct and worked as a standalone experience, moreover so because there was very little continuity between them aside from Ethan, Luther, and later Benji. De Palma made a classy old-school espionage flick with a Cold War-esque plot; Woo turned it into his typical action schlock that was all about style (possibly his worst American production and I only ever watched it once); Abrams made the action more sober, focused on the cool infiltration stuff, and tried to make it all more personal for Ethan with the killed protege and kidnapped wife stuff; Bird dropped the personal stuff, adopted a lighter tone and made it all about the cool infiltration stuff and team action; then came McQuarrie and blended the cool stuff, the fun stuff, the slightly personal stuff, and the classic espionage stuff into one highly cinematic experience. And it worked so well that he went on to make the following three movies.
Unfortunately, in Fallout, he decided to double down on the personal stuff (bringing back the ex), started forcing connections to previous movies where it wasn´t necessary (e.g. Max), and introduced blabbering about fate and destiny and whatnot. But at least Fallout was a well-paced film with some great action (and Henry Cavill). Dead Reckoning still kept the good action, but doubled down on the idiotic stuff about fate/destiny, global threats, and everything being somehow connected to and more personal for Ethan (Gabriel, Ilsa, etc.). Which brings us to the mess that is The Final Reckoning.
It kinda felt like when Sam Mendes did Skyfall. Suddenly you had a Bond movie that was not just a fun spy-action flick, but also a pretty damn good piece of cinema, so they had him do the next one. But instead of being more of the same, Spectre was an overtly long slog which was trying to make it all more personal for Bond (granted, that was a thing with pretty much all the Craig movies, but Spectre just felt forced) and force connections all over the place (No Time to Die had the same issues, even though it wasn´t directed by Mendes anymore).
Then you have the lore and character decisions. I hated how Dead Reckoning turned the IMF from what seemed like a highly secretive but still properly official organisation which recruits the best of the best in the intelligence community into a “we recruit skilled people who face prison and force them to work for us” type of outfit (correct me if I´m wrong, but I believe that was never the case, and effectively contradicts previous movies, which is funny given how it tries to make everything connected). I hated what a pulled-out-of-the-arse villain and supposed ultimate nemesis Gabriel was/is (made worse by the fact that in Final Reckoning, his role is even smaller and he´s more ridiculous than sinister; not to mention it doesn´t work, because all we know about him is that he killed some chick Ethan liked and had him framed for it), and the dumb backstory it suddenly added to Ethan. And I found it annoying how since Fallout they turned Luther from a cool and chill character into the blabbermouth for all the supposedly deep dialogues along the “Ethan, it´s your/our destiny” stuff. And of course how they tried to make the whole plot even more “impactful” because global cyberspace, economy, nuclear annihilation, blah blah blah. The last two/three movies just steered the franchise into waters where it never needed to go / should´ve gone.
Sorry for the long rant, lol.
2 Likes
Too artsy and good for one blind viewing? Too intense, too scary?
I feel that way about Hereditary.
Yes it’s a damn good Horror movie but DAAAAYUM it is too freaky, jumpy and by the end gets really supernatural body horror which I’m like NOPE