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Hello, SFWF! Welcome to The New 52 DC Challenge! "New" because this is the first time I'm running this, "52" because there are that many weeks in a year, and "DC" for "Dash is Canon", named after our beloved Star Wars extended universe hero and ideal human being: Dash Rendar. It's a new year and I've realized that I've fallen off the sci-fi movie wagon. I used to watch sci-fi all the time! Lately, though? I find myself busy. Unable to set aside time. But with a new year, comes a new resolution: I'm going catch up on sci-fi movies. And to do this, I am going to watch 52 sci-fi movies this year, aiming for one a week. I don't have a specific set of 52 I am going to watch, but I gathered a list of "significant gaps" from this Rotten Tomatoes "150 Best Sci-Fi Movies of All Time" list. There are a lot in the bottom 2/3rds that I found, many of them either older or newer. Most movies between the 70s and 00s I've hit, so my goal here is to catch up on some older classics as well as current releases. I don't intend to stick strictly to this list, but I'm going to rely heavily on it. As I come across other obscure titles or as new releases drop or hopefully as I get recommendations from this thread, I plan to swap movies in and out. So long as I hit my 52 goal, that'll be success for me. Hopefully I'll hit more than that?! As well, I'll write up my thoughts on movies, hopefully get some discussion going or inspire others to watch the movie too. If anyone else wants to join in the challenge,  and set a challenge for yourself! Once you've watched a movie, I'll add it to the OP.List of New 52 DCers:
Sally fucked around with this message at 06:49 on Jul 16, 2023 |
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Jan 2, 2023 02:22
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From the Rotten Tomatoes list, these are the sci-fis I haven't seen yet:
Also, these ones were on the list and I kind of resent that they are, but I'll keep them for thoroughness. Maybe I'll get around to them...
For my first week's movie, I was kind of thinking of doing "Rise of Skywalker" as it's the only movie in the new Star Wars trilogy I haven't seen yet. I figure it can only be uphill from there! Sally fucked around with this message at 00:14 on Feb 13, 2023 |
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Jan 2, 2023 02:23
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Phew, I DID watch this last week but then work/life just got away we me! A movie a week is going to be hard, so we'll see how long I can keep going. I did end up doing... Star Wars: Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker For a bit of context: I'm a big Star Wars fan. Mostly of the original trilogy, the games, the EU, and all the other ancillary nonsense. Prequels killed a lot of interest for me, so I've gone in pretty cool to Disney's stuff. I had watched Episodes VII and VIII but skipped this one until now. I've never avoided spoilers, though, so I've heard lots and lots of the hate about this movie. My plan here was to go in with an open mind, but I have to admit that my expectations were low. Like, ground floor low. The movie was a bit of a mess. Like... just jumping from one set piece to another. Lots and lots of characters and set pieces and things to do and see. Kind of overwhelming. That Martin Scorsese quote about super hero movies being theme park rides came to mind a couple of times. Yet for all of that, I have a hard time remembering specific scenes even a few days later. There were so many new characters but I don't really remember any of them. Between the original characters from Force Awakens and all the returning characters from the original trilogy, there didn't feel like a lot of room for anyone new to shine. The worst parts that I kept hearing about (e.g., "They fly now", "Somehow Palpatine returned", etc.) weren't as bad as the build up made them seem to be. They were fine. The bigger problem was that I just had a hard time caring about the trials and tribulations of the characters. Otherwise the most distracting things for me were the fact that Merry Brandybuck is now apparently a Star Wars character and the Caesar from the new Planet of the Apes fixed Kylo Ren's helmet:  Anywho, I was thinking that I'd also give the movies a little ranking as I go. You know, as one does. So here's the Dash Rendar is Canon ranking scale:  - 5 Dashes: Top shelf films. Nothing is perfect, but these are as close to cinematic perfection as you can get. Fantastic sci-fis. Legendary even. - 4 Dashes: Excellent sci-fi all around. Easy-to-recommend though clearly not a piece of genre-defining work. Still well happy to get a 4 Dash film. - 3 Dashes: Solid, if flawed. Still that something that a sci-fi fan could get behind. These get hard to recommend to people who aren't into sci-fi in general. - 2 Dashes: Not so great. Not irredeemable, but major issues. Only for true fans of a franchise/genre. Might have a few good scenes or character moments. - 1 Dashes: Barely even worth considering. Just... bad. Or worse, boring. Might have one neat idea, but just have totally squandered it. - 0 Dashes: Wretched, miserable film-going experience. The truly awful. There's only a few films I've seen that are worth so much disgust that they aren't worthy of any Dash Rendars.That all in mind, I'm going to have to give Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker two Dash Rendars out of five. As someone who has watched a lot of Star Wars, this one didn't do it for me. It just made me want to go and rewatch A New Hope. Perhaps the biggest failing of the film is that despite all the references and nods and in-jokes, there's a criminal lack of Dash Rendar and Dash Rendar-related lore in the film. For shame, Disney. For shame. I feel like it can only go up from here, though. It's funny, as I was pondering what to watch next a friend of mine asked me if I'd seen Everything Everywhere All at Once... which I haven't! And I've been meaning to watch it since it came out, so perhaps I'll continue to hold off on the list and watch that next. However, I've heard it's very, very long. So if anyone has a recommendation for a shorter sci-fi, well... I'm open.
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Jan 10, 2023 07:32
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Sanguinia posted:What a fun thread. I might try this, though a movie a week might be too ambitious for me. I'll follow along either way. I mean, you could always just see how for you can go. I plan not to be too hard on myself if I can't keep to 52, but hopefully coming back here to write about it will keep me motivated. josh04 posted:Oh drat, I'm terrible at sticking to schedules but I love watching sci-fi movies and reading Dash Canon comics. Tentatively sign me up but don't call me out when I fall completely off the wagon please. Heck yah! We do what we can. Like I say, I'm hoping this thread'll motivate me to watch more than I've watched in the past few years... which is very little, haha.
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Jan 10, 2023 07:33
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habituallyred posted:Little Shop of Horrors is in the hour and thirty range. I decided to go for this and managed to get it done in a couple sittings.  Little Shop of Horrors (1986) Ok, so for the longest time all I knew about this movie was that it had a singing plant that ate people and Rick Moranis. Also I learned a bit of trivia somewhere along the lines that in order to make the plant puppet's movements realistic they moved it in "slow motion" then sped up the footage. Something like that. Anyways, this film was an absolute treat! I was grinning at every new character and plot beat. I had no idea Rick Moranis could sing so well. And the cameos? I was stoked when John Candy showed up cameoing as a radio host, but then Steve Martin popping up as evil rival boyfriend? And then Billy Murray shows up playing a... what, a dental pervert? What a delightfully absurd film. The Audrey II puppet was great too. Wasn't surprised to find out Frank Oz directed it. I suppose I just figured the movie was goofier than it actual is, but I appreciated the topics of poverty and greed and capitalism touched on throughout. Frankly, it still felt timely. I was mixed on the ending. I mean, on one hand I saw it coming and it felt appropriate. Hmm, spoilers I suppose if anyone reading wants to watch it: Glad they stuck with keeping it appropriately grim. Once the love interest died I knew Moranis's character was on borrowed time. Stanley was such a pushover scumbag there didn't seem a realistic way for him to beat back Audrey II--the "last stand" where Audrey II got infinite bullets in a revolver and pantsed Moranis was appropriately comical. But once Moranis was eaten, I was kind of expecting the credits to roll. The final destruction of the city was certainly a technical success, but it kinda dragged on. And to be honest, just overall, I'm not a big musical guy. I enjoyed the story and acting more than any of the songs, most of which I am struggling to remember. Overall, four Dash Rendars out of five. Just a fun movie overall. Oh, and the Yoda connection is appreciated. I was thinking to myself while watching it, "man, why have I slept on this so long?" But I know the answer. During high school I briefly dated this girl who was way to into theatre. It was nearly her whole essence of being and I think it scarred me. She often cited this film as a favourite...
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Jan 14, 2023 07:40
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habituallyred posted:And due to the Blob being on your list I know you like catchy songs... Though frankly the theme song was the best part of that movie. oh no! or... oh yes? I've no impression of the original but i've heard the 80s remake is an enjoyable horror film, appropriately bloody in ways that 80s films were
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Jan 14, 2023 07:43
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lmao what there's a happy ending for LSoH?? haha okay i am going to try and find that tonight. while watching i definitely felt a bit bummed out Stanley and Audrey didnt escape to have their Betty Crocker life, but knowing where it eventually went i am not sure if i will like it more. And Blobwise yah there are two. Gonna try to watch both. Also i found out that Little Shop of Horror is also a remake so it looks like I may add that to my list. and i may as well put Thing From another World on as well... I have Carpenter's version but never saw the original
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Jan 14, 2023 19:44
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Okay watched the theatrical ending to Little Shop or Horrors. It is happier... cheesier? Feels rushed haha. The amount of detail and love put into the director's cut ending is phenominal compared to Audrey 2 saying oh poo poo and blowing up in a stock explosion gif. And while I was most broke up over Audrey's death and wanted her to get her happily ever after, her end in the original was incredible. The final speech she gives where she wants Seymour to feed her to the plant so she can become part of it and contribute to jis continued success... beautiful. And matched by seymour carrying her over the threshold like a newlywed to give her up. It was an amazing scene. And for it to be all for nought when Audrey II reveals its masterplan for world domination? drat good. Mean Green alien indeed. In short I am conflicted and think both have merits, but if pushed would pick the directors cut first
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Jan 15, 2023 00:22
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 that looks really good. think i'll add it to my list.as an aside I started up disney's 20000 Leagues Under the Sea. i read the book once years ago... but i was in a painkiller haze recovering from an injury so i dont reallt recall much. also i saw the giant squid scene once late night as a kid while flipping thru channels but that's it, and for years afterwards i thought Sean Connery played Nemo because they vaguely look alike. the only vivid impression i have of Nemo is from the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic and movie which are their own kettle of fish. just got past some undersea farming but so far i love the vibe. gonna finish it tonight
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Jan 15, 2023 23:53
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 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea This movie was a blast! Dug the vibe of it. The whole time I was watching I couldn't help thinking that it felt a bit like an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. All the otherworldliness of the Nautilus and underwater exploration felt a bit like the Enterprise on expedition. I will admit, though, that I haven't seen very many of the old epic and adventure movies... still, great vibe to it. The mystery of the adventure unfolded in a very satisfying way. It dragged on in parts, but though it's been a dog's age, I do remember the book dragging on too. I am pretty sure it was serialized, so perhaps that's part of it. The squid scene was fantastic, but was a far smaller part of the movie than I thought it might've been. My vague childhood recollections had me thinking the ending would go way differently. See, in the beginning when everyone is talking about ships sinking because of a monster, I thought for sure it was the giant squid and that it was some sort of monstrous kraken mutant. Then when they discover the Nautilus, it'd be like a big ol'bait-and-switch where you THINK oh it was the Nautilus the whole time, but really Nemo is some sort of Capt Ahab type who is after this monstrous squid who killed his family. Not at all what happened, haha. The Nautilus WAS the monster mysteriously sinking warships and the squid was only a regular giant squid that attacked when the sub took a beating and sank to the bottom of the ocean, drawing its attention. Nemo was actually an anti-imperialist who was basically attempting to single-handedly stymie Europe's ability to conduct war. The ending came even further on when Nemo decided to blow up his home base and the secret of nuclear power to prevent it from falling into the hands of what looked like the British Navy. My childhood recollections were totally off, which is not the first time. Before I actually watched the first Star Wars, childhood me once conflated a bunch of scenes from Flight of the Navigator and I think Nightmare on Elm Street because I'd hide and try to spy on the television as my dad channel surfed. Anyways, really good movie. I could've done without the ol'timey racist stereotype of cannibal natives on a remote island, but thankfully the movie didn't linger on it long. Kirk Douglas had great manic energy and James Mason was appropriately broody as Capt Nemo. The crew of the Nautilus were off-putting and felt underdeveloped at first, but as the movie went on and they were revealed to basically be a death cult worshipping Nemo and unable to live without him it made way more sense. The Nautilus itself was also a bit of fantastic set design. It really holds up after all these years. Overall, I'd give it four Dashes:
Sally fucked around with this message at 06:32 on Jan 17, 2023 |
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Jan 17, 2023 06:14
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yeah, i remember feeling hyped for Ex Machina when it came out, kind of mixed as i watched it... and now? i am having a hard time remembering what happened. great casting, i liked all the people in their roles. I just... can't really remember what happened and have no real desire to watch it again.
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Jan 26, 2023 08:04
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Roth posted:I haven't seen 50 of these movies so I am two short. josh04 posted:The only movie I've slotted in yet isn't on the list, lol. yeah, just slot in whatever! i was thinking of splicing in this one and it's no where near the list: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr9M7_UGmho
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Jan 26, 2023 08:06
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that sounds simultaneously dull but fascinating and i kind of want to seek this one out too. I love The Thing and have a soft spot for bad undersea sci-fi/horror films (shout out to Deep Star Six)
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Feb 5, 2023 06:16
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 Star Trek III: The Search for Spock It's been over a decade since I've seen the first two films... they were great though. I loved The Motion Picture and Wrath of Khan pretty equally. Recalling, I think I prefer TMP overall because I really liked to slowburn Space Odyssey kind of vibe it had, but were really great... But like I said, I never watched any others! So at crow's recommendation, I checked this one out. It was pretty decent. It was nice how quickly it dovetailed out from Wrath of Khan but also was it's own thing. I was worried I'd be missing a lot of context it having been so long since seeing Wrath of Khan, but I was able to settle into this pretty quick. Movie was solid. Felt like a decent old Star Trek episode. Not one of the top tier ones, but a solid middling one. I didn't particularly love Search for Spock but it kept my interest. In any other franchise I think I might be annoyed that they so quickly found a way to bring Spock back to life, but I never felt like Star Trek needed to be a show that had the death of its main characters be necessary to raise the stakes. I am always happy for Star Trek episodes to be resolved happily. Well, except I suppose for Kirk's kid dying on-screen. That was pretty grim and felt sudden. Feel bad for Kirk... Christopher Lloyd felt kind of wasted here. He didn't really feel like Christopher Lloyd. He was just... a Klingon. Yeah. Decent enough. Had fun. I'd give this a nice comfy 3 out of 5 Dash Rendars.
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Feb 5, 2023 06:36
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habituallyred posted:I suppose you should add Nemesis to the list in that case. The iffy one about cyborgs, 1992. lmao i watched the trailer for this, it looks absolutely batshit. definitely slotting this one in somewhere. this is absurd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoG8CyOTQo4
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Feb 5, 2023 06:38
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 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Also watched this one. Only thing I'd heard about it was that it was the silly one where they travel in time to save the whales... and boy did it deliver! This one was just an utter treat to watch! It was kind of slow getting things going--picked up right where Search for Spock left off and all that--but once they went back in time it was great. As before, it felt like a long episode of Star Trek The Original Series, but instead of Klingon diplomacy it was a time travel episode. The goofy fish-out-of-water time travel plots aren't always my favourite in Trek shows, but it really worked well here. Everything just worked. The comedy, the timing, the space explorers in the 80s... Spock swimming with whales in an aquarium while Kirk looked on in bafflement from the tour group was great. As was Chekhov constantly getting the death glare from people for being too Russian at the height of the Cold War. Even the cheap Spock awkwardly swearing and refusing to lie while Kirk attempted subterfuge gags landed well. My interest flagged a bit when they returned to the future to get the whales to talk to the weird apocalyptic space probe, but overall a lot of fun. Glad I watched this one. Worth sticking out too the end. It's too bad I held off on watching these for so long. Four Dashes! Solid film. How are the other Star Treks? I heard V is shite and VI is passable...
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Feb 5, 2023 08:47
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 Alita: Battle Angel This was solid if forgettable watch. I liked how it just threw you into the world and you had to just try to catch up. No real explaining what's going on. Even the main character, ostensibly our confused fish-out-of-water character with amnesia, needed very little explanation. Just enjoy! The best stories do that. Fifth Element, Mad Max Fury Road... but Alita didn't grip me like the others. Lots of fascinating scenery, but very busy. Everything just blended together. The CGI androids was decent, but I understand now the complaints about the characters feeling uncanny valley to watch--bit of the point, right? Didn't pull me out though. I just... kind of tuned out in parts. Maybe it's because the plot was too dense? Lots of characters and side-characters and historical events and proper nouns and none of it really feels like it pays off. I haven't read the manga but this whole film felt like it was based off maybe the first arc or two of that. Of course that means loads of plot points are left unaddressed by the end, like Edward Norton popping up to play Dr. Wily. Considering that Alita was the vile enemy of the floating city, it felt strange that we never got there by the end. Instead we fell in love unreasonably fast with some guy and played Rollerball. Sure, set up for a second movie, but that's not guaranteed. This just didn't feel like a cohesive whole of a film. I got a TO BE CONTINUED? instead. That aside, action was decent enough considering this was all basically CGI stick figure death theatre. The bar fight was solid, as was the Rollerball climax. The action saved the pacing slumps, imo. Discovering the Robert Rodriguez directed it was a surprise for me. I don't normally like his works, but gotta give props to him as I enjoyed this. The absolutely graphic cyborg death kills makes so much more sense knowing this. There's a couple of extremely gruesome deaths and maimings. In the end, what this film really made me want to do is check out the source manga. If there was ever a sequel, I'd be curious to see how it went. But as it stands... yeah, solid if forgettable. As an aside, the whole time I was watching the movie I thought the douchebag mercenary bot was played by Nicholas Hoult and I was impressed at what a scumbag he could portray. But nope, Ed Skrein. He was decent as Daario in Game of Thrones. Wasted his role as Ajax in Deadpool, imo. He was decent here.
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Feb 13, 2023 00:11
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those are fair points. i think if i was a prior fan of Alita, i would've enjoyed it more. like i say, it's spurred an interest in the manga for me. and yeah, John Carter... i didn't mind that film. enjoyed it. wish it did better and got a sequel. but in that case it too was good enough to get me interested in the source material. i went out and got a collection of the John Carter books. just the ones where John Carter himself appeared--I haven't gotten around to reading all the Barsoom books. fun pulpy novels those were.
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Feb 16, 2023 01:48
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grassy gnoll posted:And now, a science fiction double-feature. this is a pretty legendary double feature! i've only seen Predator 2 once, so i am probably due for a rewatch, but i saw Prey soon after it came out. drat good movie. really really good. great action, great actors. i had the same complaints you did, but i was happy to overlook them because they made sense within the flow of the film as silly as they were. very satisfied with that one. also yeah, the Comanche dub rules. when the French showed up speaking a foreign language in a dub it made the film feel even more alien, haha.
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Feb 20, 2023 06:03
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 Godzilla vs. Kong I did not care for this very much. Though maybe my fault? I've not watched any of the new Godzilla or King Kong movies. In fact, I am pretty unversed in Kong and Godzilla media in general! I've only seen the Matthew Broderick Godzilla remake and the Peter Jackson Kong remake, both films that I also did not care for! (Though Godzilla having Jean Reno had that going for it... and the Kong XBOX game was surprisingly good). Part of this thread was to hopefully expand my knowledge of both film franchises, but I think I chose a bad one to start with. For one, I didn't really know what was going on. The opening credits were great with all these neat flashbacks to past monster battles I kind of recognized through cultural osmosis, but when it got going I just didn't really know what was going on and the film didn't do a great job of explaining things to new viewers imo. I had a hard time caring about anyone... or anything. By the time Kong started jumping from battleship to battleship to fight Godzilla like some video game cutscene, I started to tune out. I've slowly been watching this film for the past month, 15 minutes here, 15 minutes there. I considered dropping it entirely, and maybe I should've, but drat it I am committed to this project and wanted to see it through. The whole Journey To The Centre of the Earth subplot felt flimsy and weak. Kong got a battle axe, I guess. It all felt kind of silly. All villain deaths were wet farts. Human underestimates Kong or Godzilla, briefly has an "oh poo poo, I underestimated them" realization, then dies. Everyone moves on quickly and they are forgotten. Ho hum. There were moments that were neat, but all the action just kind of blurred together for me. Just... eh. Need to go back and watch the original films I think. 2 out of 5 Dashes. Wasn't feeling it.
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Mar 22, 2023 19:09
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you saw it in theatre too?  but yah i think i gotta bump OG Godzilla to the top of my list. i know so much about it from just... well existinv but havent sat down and watched it.
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Mar 22, 2023 22:25
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i nearly walked out of Jackson's Kong. went with a bunch of friends and was getting bored. tried to get them to leave too but they wanted to stick it out. the consensus at the end was "yah it was okay probably not worth sticking out" but ah well
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Mar 22, 2023 22:27
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updated movies lists. grassy gnoll, you are killing it! i gotta catch up. halfway thru another film... i picked another stinker though...
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Mar 31, 2023 05:59
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Presto posted:BTW, if you're going back to OG Godzilla, watch the Japanese original and not the American re-edit with Raymond Burr. I am definitely going to this.
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Mar 31, 2023 05:59
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 Tides aka The Colony Wanted to watch a higher brow sci-fi after Godzilla v. Kong, so I tossed this one on. Trailer looked pretty sweet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5fVmaO2C0g. The plot is that a small subset of humanity fled Earth to the Kepler system to avoid a complete global breakdown, leaving all the poor huddled masses to die in war and destruction. Decades later, the radiation from the Kepler system has rendered those humans infertile, so they send a mission back to Earth to see if it is viable to live there again... first mission never reports back, so the film picks up with the second mission crash landing on the planet. Some great visuals. Love the post-catastrophe Earth being reduced to an endless tidal flat. I mean, it doesn't make sense, but I'm willing to go along with a contrivance for an interesting film. The trailer gave me a whole bunch of vibes... Mad Max, Waterworld, The Road... I was in! Plus it has Jorah Mormont and Dollar Store Liam Neeson. Only problem is there's just not much to it. At all. What we see in the trailer? That's it. The movie starts well enough. Slow moving. Builds a good mood and atmosphere. And then just keeps spinning its wheels. The first half hour is the best when the protagonist is just wandering around interesting shots of a dead earth or trying to figure out what the gently caress is going on after being kidnapped by the post-apocalypse tidal flats people. When she inevitably joins up with survivors from the first Kepler landing, things just kind of plateau. It's all extremely predictable. None of the twists are interesting or revelatory. The slow plodding shots can no longer hold up the thin plot. The movie just kind of ends and you don't really care. Would not recommend. Well, the first half hour was pretty neat. Like I say, once the protagonist joins up with the other Kepler survivors everything just ground to a halt. Like, I am not opposed to movies breathing, lingering on scenes, seeing some beautiful cinematography... but the director here is no Terrance Malick. 2 out of 5 Dash heads.
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Mar 31, 2023 23:19
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Another movie not on my list, but one that I've been meaning to watch since I first saw the VHS cover of it in a video store in the 90s... Johnny Mnemonic (1995) I'm not sure what I expected from this. The only William Gibson book I've read was half of Neuromancer, so the plot here was entirely a surprise. Keanu Reeves is pretty wooden in his performance here. I mean, I didn't hate it. But this was pretty schlocky. Was a fun watch, though! Kind of zoned out here and there, but it changed set pieces quickly enough that I was pretty entertained throughout. Got some serious "Escape From LA" vibes from it. Just very schlocky. I was surprised to see Dizzy from Starship Troopers here. Turns out this was Dina Meyers first film role. She was alright. Again, but wooden. Now that I think of it... the most exciting thing for me was seeing actors I know from other properties in bit roles here. Henry Rollins popped up as a super hacker, Ice T was part of some low-tech cyborg gang, Udo Kier was a scummy pimp, Takeshi from Takeshi's Castle plays an assassin, and Dolph Lundgren is a wandering murder preacher. I think it's this aspect of the movie that made it feel most like an "Escape From..." film... just the main character wandering from set piece to set piece with a famous character in between to carry the plot, all while they are racing against a clock that ends in their death. Only Escape From New York was a better film over all and Escape From LA was a better schlock mess imo. Decent flick, though.
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Apr 18, 2023 07:44
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i am halfway through Cloud Atlas right now. like... 2 hours in halfway. and i feel like i am still waiting for something to happen. not sure if these intertwining stories are gonna pay off...
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Apr 22, 2023 03:45
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is super mario bros scifi? wondering if i should count it... 
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Apr 23, 2023 16:45
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grassy gnoll posted:This movie always kind of blew my mind because the main plot and characters are so dull, but all the background details are so rich and interesting. It's like it tries to actively pursue a story about the least interesting elements it has to show off. This sums up my feelings of the film way more succinctly, haha
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Apr 25, 2023 07:09
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yeah, okay, sure.  The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) It was alright.
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Apr 25, 2023 07:27
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At least they've again re-confirmed that Mario and Luigi are a pair of bumbling schlubs from Brooklyn.
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Apr 25, 2023 07:46
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 Cloud Atlas (2012) This one was interesting. I'd heard of the premise but I hadn't read the book. Cloud Atlas was big enough in 2012 that I was aware of the critical division. My expectations have long since tempered, so I went in just ready for whatever. Like I mentioned earlier, felts like I spent a whole lot of time waiting for something to happen. I'm not opposed to films taking time to breathe and set-up. I really liked Inception considering it's 2 hours of set-up for a 1-hour non-stop action setpiece. Cloud Atlas felt a lot like that. There's six interweaving plots just the story cuts between. Feels like it takes forever for things to be set in place... perhaps because they have to jump between so many plots? It took a while for me to really get invested. Like... not until the last hour. But that last hour? Pretty sweet. I did not care for the Neo-Seoul action rebellion and chase sequence, but the 1970s crime thriller where Keith David helps Halle Berry avoid a murderous Hugo Weaving? That poo poo loving ruled! Good lord, give more heroic roles to Keith David. Also just give more roles to Hugo Weaving in general, many doesn't get nearly enough love on the big screen these days (i know he'sbeen doing television roles). Basically every incarnation Hugo Weaving played was great, but the 1970s assassin and the Knock-Off Nurse Ratchet role were particular perfect. Didn't expect to get so caught up in the role of the old guy locked up in an institution against his will by his vengeful brother. Good one, that. Otherwise, Hanks was alright, but Halle Berry was great throughout. Best part of the movie was going onto Wikipedia and looking up the chart of who was who in each iteration. I was really taken aback to figure out who Halle Berry was. She really just disappeared into her roles. Also shout out to Hugh Grant as a murderous post-apocalypse cannibal. Harder to rate this one... For the first two hours I was thinkin' three Dashes, but it really picked up in the end. Raises my estimation. If I had half Dashes, I'd more happily give it a three and a half, but I am not too bothered to make it a four either, so:
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Apr 25, 2023 08:41
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even ruminating on Cloud Atlas overnight my appreciation has grown. confident 4 Dash. i think of i pulled a Roger Ebert and rewatched it a bunch of times i would just see more and more details that would improve the experience. not gonna do that with this challenge but... yah. still wonder if it could be cut more. not sure how or where you'd do that. not sure how i feel about a four hour version haha. not that i am necessarily adverse to long long movies.
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Apr 25, 2023 16:37
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bit of a dry spell... but watched Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 last weekend as an excuse to go to the theatre. also The Bad Batch which i have jad on my Netflix to watch lost for literal years. will come back and write up my thoughts
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Jun 3, 2023 08:13
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 Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (2023) Solid movie! Really enjoyed it. Best Marvel film I've seen in a dog's age, but that's a low bar to clear imo. I've basically stopped watching Marvel films since Endgame, barring a few here and there (Into the Spider-Verse, which was great; Venom, which was... eh; Thor: Love and Thunder, which was hit and miss for me). It's a pretty common opinion, I'm sure, but the Guardians movies have always been more fun to watch than the other greater Marvelverse films. I like that they're basically their own thing. The first one was a real breath of fresh air--brought me joy in a sci-fi film that I haven't experienced since I first saw The Fifth Elements. Just a drat good movie. Vol. 2 was also a great follow-up... for what was basically a film about dad problems, the Ego and Yondu stuff was fantastic. Michael Rooker and Kurt Russell just dominated the film. That said, while Vol. 3 was equally fun in the moment, I felt myself less and less invested this time around. It was clever and charming and the various cameos and absurdities were a joy, but by the end I had a hard time really connecting with it. Seeing Sylvester Stallone pop up as a Ravager was great, as was Nathan Fillion appearing as a hemmoroid space marine... but they really cranked up Drax the Destroyer's silliness. Mantis's characterization felt hit or miss... Groot is just kind of there... Peter Quill is... well, whatever. Gamora's arc was real good with Quill, but I dunno. It was kind of side-lined for Rocket Raccoon's story and while I know a lot of people like Rocket Raccoon, James Gunn especially, I don't! The 3D animation was very good. Making me pathologize with the sad animals being abused was powerful. It was done in a satisfying way, too. I just... don't care all that much about Rocket Raccoon. The movie ended, I felt entertained, and within 24 hours I had basically forgotten the movie. I had to re-read the plot to remember what happened. Almost forgot about the great Dr. Moreau stuff going on because I just couldn't really get into it. Chukwudi Iwuji was a great villain, though. Pleasure to see on screen every moment. Big fan of him from Peacemaker, so glad he got brought back. Anyways, it wrapped up the whole James Gunn Guardians trilogy in a satisfying way, but I just felt the earlier movies were far more memorable. I considered giving this a 4-Dash rating, but it seems to be actively forgettable. Whereas I found myself appreciating Cloud Atlas the more and more I thought about, I find myself less and less impressed by Guardians here. Makes a solid popcorn flick. Fun, but simply not as memorable as the other two Guardians films.
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Jun 4, 2023 21:46
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 The Bad Batch (2016) Saw this one on Netflix a while back with a weird picture of Jim Carrey and the promise of post-apocalyptic wandering. Was intriguing enough, so I added it to my To Watch list and forgot all about it. Figured with this whole 52 movies exercise, I'd finally put it on. Real mixed back this one. Kinda like "Tides" in that is has a really strong opening but then peters out. That said, this movies opening stays enjoyable far longer than Tides and doesn't go quite so sour. The opening is great. The main character is found guilty for whatever crimes she's committed and exiled to a walled off desert. Very Escape From... films, but less fantastic than either of those. What's great is the film never says what her crime was. Fill in the blank with whatever batshit you want, though I like to think it's some President Adam from Escape From LA bullshit. Anyways, the protagonist wanders around for a bit and promptly gets captured by cannibals. Gets a leg and an arm cut off, manages to kill a captor, and escapes by pushing herself on a skateboard across the dry plains before being discovered by Jim Carrey, the desert hobo, and dropped off in a Fallout-esque city called Comfort. If I'm selling it, great--if not, this is a fantastic sequence and the film looks beautiful. Just gorgeous to watch. It has a lot of potential to go completely off the rails and the most batshit way as well. Comfort city is run by a guy called The Dreamer, who keeps the town happy by providing them drugs and hydroponic vegetables and has his own personal harem of pregnant women armed with automatic weaponry acting as personal bodyguards. The main character, Arlen, is healed, given a prosthetic leg, and gets a gun to learn how to shoot for self-defense... only she then goes wandering the desert looking for cannibals from cannibal town to murder. It's so good! There's so much melancholy in every shot. The linger camera is amazing. Again, it just looks fantastic. Only it kind of peters out in a way that I wasn't expecting. Mundane. More realistic... was I wanting a more schlocky ending? Sure. But a lot of momentum died about halfway through the film and it just sort of coasted to a stop. Jason Momoa played "Miami Man", one of the cannibals, and the film is weirdly partly a redemption of him and it could have done more interesting things with him... or Keanu Reeves... or Suki Waterhouses's main character... or Jim Carrey or anyone! But like I say it just kind of peters out. About three-quarters of the way through the film I was thinking to myself "Well, this was nice. I'm about done though." Still a way more enjoyable film than Tides.
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Jun 5, 2023 15:25
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also in a gamble to try and catch up on films--so many weeks behind--I'm gonna go check out the new into the spider-verse movie. Spider-Man is more sci-fi than Mario to me, so i'll include it this time.
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Jun 5, 2023 15:32
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 Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (2023) Into the Spiderverse was real freaking good! fantastic casting, absokutely engaging story, and easily some of the best animation i've seen in a film since... the last Spiderverse. would absolutely recommend this to anyone. caveat: would need to see first film for those not insanely into comic book lore... but this one does an admirable job of diving into things. much less accessible than the first though, which was the peefect intro to everything Spiderman that is not Peter Parker. I wouldnt say it is a perfect film though. There are definitely some parts where the action starts to drag. I'm looking at you climactic final chase scene... it's kinda weird but maybe that is where i am for all things super hero. i dont really care about long dragem out action sequences in animation. i rather the drama with friends and family in these flicks. gimme more of Miles' mum and dad being Miles' mum and dad. gimme more of Gwen struggling with hiding her identity from her dad. loved all that. way more human and emotional. when ot comes to extensive choreography i love it in live action films (eg John Wick) but care far less when it is animated 3D or 2D. Like, I loved the wire fights in The Matrix but fell asleep whenever the action went full 3D (gently caress off hurly burly fight). this may be obvious to loads of people but i kinda just had this epiphany watchibg this film. just full grin the whole time loving this movie but as that final set piece wore on i found my eyes glazing over. biggest crime of the film was the cliffhanger though. i heard there was one but didnt expect it to be that egregious. that's some NEXT WEEK ON BATMAN level bullshit. i was expecting resolution to at least SOME of the story's plot here. not everything but poo poo... what a way to end. as i type this i am tryibg to figure out i am so annoyed here but wasnt at all bothered with say Empire Strikes Back... i am not sure why. is it because with ESB the immediate plot issue of Luke needing to rescue his friends is solved? sure the Empire and Vader still exist and Han is frozen in a brick of carbonite, but there was the sense the hero's landed on their feet and were going to regroup... that scene with them all looking out the Mon Calamari cruisers viewport out into the stars... definitive yet promising future adventure. here the heroes square off with the primary antagonist only halfway through the film before he essentially disappears entirely from thus narrative. Vader won his showdowm but at least it was in the climax of ESB... in Spiderverse 2 the film keeps going on and we get a NEW secondary antagonist for the climax of the film, do not reconnect with the first villain, then end on a stinger that reveals a third antagonist before cutting to credits. the heck. there's kind of am ESB parallel where one hero is captured by the villain and the other heros band together with the promise to save the first hero but... i dunno. was talking to crow about this film and he mentioned he really liked it but would have to wait for the conclusion to really rate how it landed and now i get why. unlike the first film, this Spiderverse doesnt feel like it stands well on its own and that's disappointing. regardless of complaints overwhelmingly e joyed it 4 outta 5 Dashes.
Sally fucked around with this message at 06:36 on Jul 13, 2023 |
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Jun 6, 2023 15:46
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banned from Starbucks posted:I'm 1/3 if the way through Avatar:H2O and it def needs more Spider hissing at things. Solid start though. how'd it finish?
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Jul 13, 2023 06:33
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nine-gear crow posted:I said this earlier elsewhere, but much like Fast X, I'm going to need to see the second part of Across the Spider-Verse to fully judge it, just because both films are functionally Act 1 of a two, or in Fast's case, three act story and they end insanely abruptly. I liked Spider-Verse MUCH more than Fast X though, holy poo poo. "Chai IS tea!"
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Jul 13, 2023 16:03
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