Let's talk about movies (and TV shows)... Part XVIII

[Kriss E]

I read comics as a kid, so I generally enjoy these movies but understand these are pure popcorn flicks. In rare cases, we will see movies reach the realm of excellent film making (read: snob flicks). Logan was a great movie in that regard, and to a lessor extent, the Nolan Dark Knight movies.

My issue, which I alluded to in my prior post, with comic book movies is the villains are generally treated as such --- comic characters. You know, generic bad guys wanting power and basically destroying everything. Marvel is notorious for this, I think we can all admit that, but Loki previously and more recently Killmonger have introduced sympathetic villains with motivations that make sense. Even Thanos to a degree is a villain audiences can relate to.

In terms of good and bad movies, Wonder Woman was great. I liked the first 20 minutes of Suicide Squad but the rest was trash. All the other DC movies are just loud and incoherent messes. I enjoyed them all to an extent though, simply because of the original source material, but yeah, they aren't great movies.

The MCU movies have generally been good, but they had stinkers. IM2, IM3 weren't great. Thor 2 I hated. Thor 1, GOTG2 and Captain America 1 was underwhelming for me.

But Ragnorok, GOTG1, Winter Soldier and Civil War were amazing. Infinity war makes my top-5.

I agree with Loki, but not Killmonger. I mean, yes, he wasn't fighting to destroy the whole planet, but I didn't think they developed his character well at all. It really made no sense.
A young boy's father gets shot and killed in the ghetto...not sure how he grows up to be fueled by rage and revenge, especially when he doesn't know much of anything about what happened really. Finds a book that tells him who he is and where from...and makes it his life mission to go back there and become the king?..Without knowing jack crap from it?
Fast forward to present...and he just walks up into Wakanda, this impossible place to find, carrying a dead body, it's all good. No problem. I mean, all this thanks to a map his dad drew like 20 years ago?..GPS can't find the bar down my street here but a 20 year map I guess makes total sense for this ultra secret kingdom...Sure.
Oh...and 10 minutes after finally walking into this extremely secretive place, he challenges the king to a duel, and yup, you guessed it, he beats him because...well...#Navyseals of course...
This King who has trained to be a warrior and protector his entire life...gets beaten up by this random guy who apparently also never gets tired because hey...he was a navy seal...
Come the f*** on man. It was so poorly done.

The original story actually made sense of Killmonger's rage. Klaue forced Killmonger's father to help fight against Wakanda by keeping his family hostage. When Klaue was defeated, the family was banished. They ended up in Harlem. Killmonger eventually reached out to the King later in life, where he was allowed back in. From there, because of difference in ideologies and social politics, he staged a coup.
That makes sense. They completely butchered the character. Let's just kill his dad in the ghetto and make him upset about it....oh and let's just mention how he's a trained Navy Seals, because you know...Navy Seals are just super duper awesome, yay america.

I was really disappointed with BP.

 

[Kriss E]

I'll generally watch most DC and Marvel (be it Fox, Sony or MCU) movies since I grew up reading those but I watch them knowing it's a couple throwaway hours. Sometimes I'll be engaged and come away impressed.

That is fine. Same reason I go watch them. Grew up with all those superheroes. I even watched the latest TMNT...
But lately it's been mostly disappointing. Hopefully the latest Avengers is as good as many here claim, and looking forward to the next Deadpool.

 

[HBDay]

Have you seen the Belko Experiment?

No I haven't, have seen it popping up in Netflix, if you are suggesting it I will give it a go. Looks like the type of movie to put on as a late nighter.

Gifted.
The Glass Castle.
Arrival.
Wind River.
Room.

And I know you said within 2 years, but if you haven't seen Big Fish, watch it like yesterday.

Saw Arrival, was good. Wind River was easily one of my favourite movies in the last little while. Haven't seen The Glass Castle, will check it out. For a minute I thought you meant The Room with Tommy Wiseau (which I have seen and you'd have to point a sharp object at me to make me watch it again) but Room the one with where the child is raised in one room? I've had my eye on that but never made the jump.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Mrb1p]

I agree with Loki, but not Killmonger. I mean, yes, he wasn't fighting to destroy the whole planet, but I didn't think they developed his character well at all. It really made no sense.
A young boy's father gets shot and killed in the ghetto...not sure how he grows up to be fueled by rage and revenge, especially when he doesn't know much of anything about what happened really. Finds a book that tells him who he is and where from...and makes it his life mission to go back there and become the king?..Without knowing jack crap from it?
Fast forward to present...and he just walks up into Wakanda, this impossible place to find, carrying a dead body, it's all good. No problem.
Oh...and 10 minutes after finally walking into this extremely secretive place, he challenges the king to a duel, and yup, you guessed it, he beats him because...well...#Navyseals of course...
This King who has trained to be a warrior and protector his entire life...gets beaten up by this random guy who apparently also never gets tired because hey...he was a navy seal...
Come the **** on man. It was so poorly done.

The original story actually made sense of Killmonger's rage. Klaue forced Killmonger's father to help fight against Wakanda by keeping his family hostage. When Klaue was defeated, the family was banished. They ended up in Harlem. Killmonger eventually reached out to the King later in life, where he was allowed back in. From there, because of difference in ideologies and social politics, he staged a coup.
That makes sense. They completely butchered the character. Let's just kill his dad in the ghetto and make him upset about it....oh and let's just mention how he's a trained Navy Seals, because you know...Navy Seals are just super duper awesome, yay america.

I was really disappointed with BP.

Yeah Black Panther was essentialy plug in the most black people possible and make a lot of reference to black culture and it will be succesful. It was really, really bad and nothing compared to Thor Ragnarok or IW.

Even Ant man was a lot better than Black Panther.

 

[Mrb1p]

No I haven't, have seen it popping up in Netflix, if you are suggesting it I will give it a go. Looks like the type of movie to put on as a late nighter.



Saw Arrival, was good. Wind River was easily one of my favourite movies in the last little while. Haven't seen The Glass Castle, will check it out. For a minute I thought you meant The Room with Tommy Wiseau (which I have seen and you'd have to point a sharp object at me to make me watch it again) but Room the one with where the child is raised in one room? I've had my eye on that but never made the jump.

Thanks everyone.

Wind River was a good, good movie. One of my favorite of the year, I even saw it in theatre. The moment leading up to the stand off was crazy tense.


Have you seen a quiet place? Loved that one too. Its actually the only movie since the Lion King that got me to tear up.

 

[Mrb1p]

That circular camera pan was cool but I also liked the shot they did at the start of AOU when all the Avengers were attacking the right of the screen and the camera froze a moment.

For Suicide Squad, I just loved the cut intros. I thought it was creative and pretty cool.

JL was cool because they all got together and Supes came back. Still, the whole Steppanwolf and the mother boxes was poorly done and Superman came back so overpowered that he probably didn't need anyone else and could have just ended it himself.

Thats pretty much DC in a nutshell. Supes and Wally West are basically plot devices for writers.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

No I haven't, have seen it popping up in Netflix, if you are suggesting it I will give it a go. Looks like the type of movie to put on as a late nighter.

It's kinda... if the Milgram experiment was ran by Jigsaw.

 

[Kriss E]

Yeah Black Panther was essentialy plug in the most black people possible and make a lot of reference to black culture and it will be succesful. It was really, really bad and nothing compared to Thor Ragnarok or IW.

Even Ant man was a lot better than Black Panther.

Not sure about Ant Man..lol maybe a little too kidsy for me, but yes, was very disappointed by BP.
I get how some people liked the social aspect of it, but man, I thought it was very poorly done.

 

[Mrb1p]

Not sure about Ant Man..lol maybe a little too kidsy for me, but yes, was very disappointed by BP.
I get how some people liked the social aspect of it, but man, I thought it was very poorly done.

Just the fact that killmonger could somehow hang with Tchalla with his suit is ridiculous. One has been doing it since he was born and the other is an army dude. Like chill america.

 

[Kriss E]

Just the fact that killmonger could somehow hang with Tchalla with his suit is ridiculous. One has been doing it since he was born and the other is an army dude. Like chill america.

Yes, I literally smacked my forehead in the cinema and shook my head.
America loves to portray the idea that being in the Army/Seals is the equivalent of being a superhero. It's so stupid.

 

[Kimota]

I agree with Loki, but not Killmonger. I mean, yes, he wasn't fighting to destroy the whole planet, but I didn't think they developed his character well at all. It really made no sense.
A young boy's father gets shot and killed in the ghetto...not sure how he grows up to be fueled by rage and revenge, especially when he doesn't know much of anything about what happened really. Finds a book that tells him who he is and where from...and makes it his life mission to go back there and become the king?..Without knowing jack crap from it?
Fast forward to present...and he just walks up into Wakanda, this impossible place to find, carrying a dead body, it's all good. No problem. I mean, all this thanks to a map his dad drew like 20 years ago?..GPS can't find the bar down my street here but a 20 year map I guess makes total sense for this ultra secret kingdom...Sure.
Oh...and 10 minutes after finally walking into this extremely secretive place, he challenges the king to a duel, and yup, you guessed it, he beats him because...well...#Navyseals of course...
This King who has trained to be a warrior and protector his entire life...gets beaten up by this random guy who apparently also never gets tired because hey...he was a navy seal...
Come the **** on man. It was so poorly done.

The original story actually made sense of Killmonger's rage. Klaue forced Killmonger's father to help fight against Wakanda by keeping his family hostage. When Klaue was defeated, the family was banished. They ended up in Harlem. Killmonger eventually reached out to the King later in life, where he was allowed back in. From there, because of difference in ideologies and social politics, he staged a coup.
That makes sense. They completely butchered the character. Let's just kill his dad in the ghetto and make him upset about it....oh and let's just mention how he's a trained Navy Seals, because you know...Navy Seals are just super duper awesome, yay america.

I was really disappointed with BP.

On the last paragraph, it makes the story much more compelling. As a whole I thought the execution of the ideas were pretty bad in the movie. It's like their narrative was so all over the place that it failed to connect intellectualy and emotionaly for me. Also I didn't think the actors playing BP and Killmonger were that good, maybe they lacked charisma whatever, they failed to connect with me. I kept imagining Idris Elba in these same roles...

 

[Kimota]

That doesn't answer my question.

Is the Mistress of Death in the movie?

Seems they have changed his raison d'être.

Mistress Death is not there. And I for one like that they removed Death. The comic Infinity Gauntlet was a great action book but I didn't like Thanos' motivation of his love of Death and the ending(he was defeated cause he allowed himself to be). It felt hollow and did not do much for the character of Thanos.

Originally Thanos was a take off of the DC New Gods character Metron who was a cosmic scientist and then along the way he became more of a Darkseid analog. It's cool I thought that by focusing on the mathematic concept of removing half the population they went back to the original concept of Thanos as someone with a calculating mind and acting accordingly.

 

[Sorinth]

Mistress Death is not there. And I for one like that they removed Death. The comic Infinity Gauntlet was a great action book but I didn't like Thanos' motivation of his love of Death and the ending(he was defeated cause he allowed himself to be). It felt hollow and did not do much for the character of Thanos.

Originally Thanos was a take off of the DC New Gods character Metron who was a cosmic scientist and then along the way he became more of a Darkseid analog. It's cool I thought that by focusing on the mathematic concept of removing half the population they went back to the original concept of Thanos as someone with a calculating mind and acting accordingly.

I thought that part made no sense. Wiping out half the population isn't a solution to the problem because it will just start growing again. With Earth's current growth rate it would take approx 60 years to double the population. What's the point in wiping out half the universe if 60 years later you are back to square one?

 

[Per Sjoblom]

I just had to post this somewhere because it's certainly not music, more of phenomena how to get simple m minded people to watch a TV show. In the 60s there were some decent songs, mainly French, Spanish and British, then ABBA won it in the early 70s with Waterloo when I was on a drunken binge ferry trip back and forth to Finland. I have avoided it since the late 70s. The reason I posted it is that the BBC article is a bit about Canada and that they have never been a part of it (be grateful).

What's Ryan Reynolds got against Eurovision?

 

[sandviper]

Wind River was a good, good movie. One of my favorite of the year, I even saw it in theatre. The moment leading up to the stand off was crazy tense.


Have you seen a quiet place? Loved that one too. Its actually the only movie since the Lion King that got me to tear up.

I have A Quiet Place on my to watch list, but it was a tear jerker? I wouldn’t have thought that in a million years. Or is there another A Quiet Place that I am unaware of.

Last movie to make me tear up was Wonder.

 

[Mrb1p]

I have A Quiet Place on my to watch list, but it was a tear jerker? I wouldn’t have thought that in a million years. Or is there another A Quiet Place that I am unaware of.

Last movie to make me tear up was Wonder.

Yeah i rarely get emotional but that one hit me hardish.

Kinda like the Yonduu funeral in GOTG2 and Groot protecting everyone in GOTG.

Those hit me hard also.

Oh and Hulk screaming at Iron man in avengers.

 

[Kriss E]

On the last paragraph, it makes the story much more compelling. As a whole I thought the execution of the ideas were pretty bad in the movie. It's like their narrative was so all over the place that it failed to connect intellectualy and emotionaly for me. Also I didn't think the actors playing BP and Killmonger were that good, maybe they lacked charisma whatever, they failed to connect with me. I kept imagining Idris Elba in these same roles...

Idris Elba would have been great. I agree especially about Killmonger, Michael B. Jordan overacts too much. He's 100% intense all the time.
Too bad, they really could have done something great with BP.

 

[Mario Lemieux fan 66]

Constantly searching for good movies that I've missed. Anyone any suggestions? Preferably from within the last year two.. Go further back and I've probably seen it.. Bonus if it's on Netflix!

My favorite movies of the last 2 years.

handmaiden
hell or high water
Monsieur et Madame Adelman
Lion
dangal
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Avengers: Infinity War
sing street
dunkirk
Julieta
O.J.: Made in America
captain america civil war
train to busan
The Age of Shadows
body and soul
logan
get out
black panther
It
La La Land
Rogue One
hacksaw ridge
spiderman homecoming
the big sick
the shape of water
Coco
Isle of Dogs
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
thor ragnarok
Thelma
a quiet place
Green Room
your name
zootopia
I, Tonya
Frantz
Ça sent la coupe
three billboards outside ebbing Missouri
wind river
blade runner 2049
The Red Turtle
The Breadwinner
call me by your name
Grave (raw)
Moana
Colossal
Loveless
Patients

 

[Kimota]

I thought that part made no sense. Wiping out half the population isn't a solution to the problem because it will just start growing again. With Earth's current growth rate it would take approx 60 years to double the population. What's the point in wiping out half the universe if 60 years later you are back to square one?

Well for example, I think the Earth deciders that we have now probably are concerned over the overpopulation. I think they came up with displacement as a solution but one could come up with genocide as one. Like Thanos did.

I think it would be interesting to hear how he came up with the solution. But nevertheless, he is a psycopath to have decided to come to act on it. In my opinion he should probably have come up with something better since he is basically God now.

They did this to stay faithful to the comics in some manner.

 

[sandviper]

Well for example, I think the Earth deciders that we have now probably are concerned over the overpopulation. I think they came up with displacement as a solution but one could come up with genocide as one. Like Thanos did.

I think it would be interesting to hear how he came up with the solution. But nevertheless, he is a psycopath to have decided to come to act on it. In my opinion he should probably have come up with something better since he is basically God now.

They did this to stay faithful to the comics in some manner.

I know there has been talk about an Eternals movie. They could dive deeper into Thanos and his solution.

 

[sheed36]

Just finished the latest episode of The Americans. That show still remains one of the best TV shows currently on TV IMO. Only 3 episodes left in the series and it should be interesting how all this clues up. Things are starting to heat up and I don't see a happy ending for some of the characters.

I'm really liking this season of Billions as well.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Idris Elba would have been great. I agree especially about Killmonger, Michael B. Jordan overacts too much. He's 100% intense all the time.
Too bad, they really could have done something great with BP.

MBJ is annoying as hell.

The movie wasnt great to start with, but he made it so much worst.

Also, a petition should be started to force him to change his name.

It is a travesty that this man is allowed to have such a legendary name.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Well for example, I think the Earth deciders that we have now probably are concerned over the overpopulation. I think they came up with displacement as a solution but one could come up with genocide as one. Like Thanos did.

I think it would be interesting to hear how he came up with the solution. But nevertheless, he is a psycopath to have decided to come to act on it. In my opinion he should probably have come up with something better since he is basically God now.

They did this to stay faithful to the comics in some manner.

Our socio-economic system is the reason why there's an overpopulation problem.

A different socio-economic system could support a lot more people.

 

[Kimota]

Our socio-economic system is the reason why there's an overpopulation problem.

A different socio-economic system could support a lot more people.

Yea but a super-hero movie about an Evil man that fix that would probably suck.

 

[Kimota]

I know there has been talk about an Eternals movie. They could dive deeper into Thanos and his solution.

In the movies though they seemed to have just went with the idea that Thanos is a random scary alien. The connection to the Eternals would have been easier if they would have gone with Thanos' comic's origin where there are two groups, the imperfect and Evil ugly Deviants and the good and beautiful and perfect Eternals. Thanos was an Eternal that was born with the Deviant gene and as such he looked like he does and he became Evil like the Deviants, killing his own father as a young man.

In the current movie mythology there are no reasons to connect Thanos with the Eternals. In the comics, The Eternals as well as the Deviants and Homosapiens were all created by a super-advanced race of giant aliens. Deviants sort of represented the monsters and devils of Earth's past and stories and everything that has to do with Gods and especially Angels were done by the Eternals(it was the leader of the Eternals Ikaris would spoke to Noah to build an Ark and he guided to safety). If they had played their cards right, they could have easily said that Thanos could have been the representation of the Devil that returns. But anyway. I guess they could say the Eternals would come from all the people that have been erased by Thanos. Like they are the Universe's anti-bodies to protect sentient beings.