Remove ads

General Movies Thread

Feeling foolish, I decided to watch Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. On the one hand, J A Bayona kicks Colin Trevorrow's arse as a director - this really shows up what a huge nothing Trevorrow's direction is. Bayona can do horror and suspense, has much more visual style, and knows to put dinosaurs in the dark whenever possible. Heck, he even brings some weight and heft to all-CGI scenes.

On the other... it's still a Trevorrow script. Lava is just annoying hot goo, there's an irksome high-strung nerd character who screeches far, far too much, and for every good idea that Trevorrow brings to the table (and executes badly), there's a bad idea, which he executes badly. Ubermensch Douche guy is also vexing because he's played as being so bloody flawless, and you can't help but feel that he's the reason Trevorrow put our neeeeerrrd character in because Claire isn't being played as useless any more.

We've also got a film which is madly intent on fanservice even as it literally burns it all down. Like, they bring back the original Brachiosaurus (according to Trevorrow) to... kill it in a volcano explosion. This feels akin to The Rise of Skywalker, where the film doesn't seem to recognise that it's trampling the old thing in the name of celebrating it.
 
Last edited:
Oh god, remember movies? Maybe I picked the wrong time to start a general movies thread, right before an international pandemic of a scale not seen in a century. Whoops!

I will say, if you have the option within driving distance, go to a drive-in movie theater. It's safer, a lot of them are still open, and they're mostly doing revival showings of 80s classics. I caught a double feature last Friday of Beetlejuice and The Lost Boys, great times were had by all.

Anyway, it's also a good time to be re-visiting old favorites in general, and yesterday I watched 1981's Dragonslayer.

I haven't seen it in years, but the plot is exactly what I remember. Drags for the first half, features the insane choice to make Peter MacNicol a leading man and the hilarious choice to have Ian McDiarmid get roasted halfway through. Has a few delightful sprinklings of gore throughout.

Main thing I underestimated is the lush starkness of the cinematography, where the verdant greens of trees and grass really pop against the slate grays and gushing blues of mountains and rivers. Seems to be a common feature of even bad 80s fantasy, and modern entries in the genre struggle to replicate it. Feels like it must be something to do with the film stock.

Anyway, you're really here for the dragon, and it holds up pretty well. The greenscreen is in dire need ot restoration, it looks like the effects in Star Wars before Lucas retouched them in the Special Editions, with that thick black line around everything. Continuing that comparison, at the worst the Go-Motion effects for the dragon look like the Rancor from Return of the Jedi, but at times they are shockingly smooth and crisp, entirely devoid of the stuttering effect common to stop motion.

I still hold out hope that some director with the heft of a Chris Nolan will get it in his mind to do a creature feature and insist on sticking to the use of rod puppets and practical effects, with CGI just used to more seamlessly integrate them into the real world. I think the results could be genuinely breathtaking, if somebody would just go through the trouble.
 
On the British front, go support your local indie and catch some old movies if you feel safe doing so. Think I'm gonna see Jurassic Park at mine on Saturday :D

Also saw A Personal History of David Copperfield and it was very, very enjoyable. The colour-blind casting is remarkably easy to acclimate to.
 
bluntblade said:
On the British front, go support your local indie and catch some old movies if you feel safe doing so. Think I'm gonna see Jurassic Park at mine on Saturday :D

Also saw A Personal History of David Copperfield and it was very, very enjoyable. The colour-blind casting is remarkably easy to acclimate to.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

God, still hoping I get to see the other movie Dev Patel was set to star in this year, The Green Knight. That thing looks fucking fantastic.
 
Knives Out remains a blast - are there any other notable films which specifically use a green-and-red palette? - and my local indie is screening Jurassic Park tomorrow :D Which should wash out the bad taste from Fallen Kingdom.
 
Extremely excited that Wolf Guy, the insane live action Japanese movie about a werewolf detective who fights the Yakuza, is now available on my local Kanopy account.
 
And now, a new film! Saw Tenet, still boggling. The story is surprisingly intuitive, but in the moment your mind just rebels against some of the things onscreen. In a good way.
 
Anybody seen any good Halloween movies this year? I've been catching up on some of the classics, but I also just watched the new Netflix movie, Vampires vs the Bronx. Not very good, unfortunately. Has real mid 90s Meteor Man energy when I was really hoping for Attack the Block energy.
 
Have you seen The Boy? About an American woman who gets hired by an old English couple to look after their 'son' who is infact a doll. Has a great twist to it, especially in this age of Chucky and Annabelle.
 
Gyrfalcon said:
Anybody seen any good Halloween movies this year? I've been catching up on some of the classics, but I also just watched the new Netflix movie, Vampires vs the Bronx. Not very good, unfortunately. Has real mid 90s Meteor Man energy when I was really hoping for Attack the Block energy.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
My family watched Prince of Darkness a couple nights ago.
 
My local indie is screening An American Werewolf In London on Halloween night. Assuming the whole of England doesn't lock down, I might go.
 
Gul Damar said:
Have you seen The Boy? About an American woman who gets hired by an old English couple to look after their 'son' who is infact a doll. Has a great twist to it, especially in this age of Chucky and Annabelle.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I'm afraid I've heard nothing but bad things about The Boy up until this post.

tankdrop24 said:
My family watched Prince of Darkness a couple nights ago.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

That one's been on my list for ages. Wish it was on Shudder.

bluntblade said:
My local indie is screening An American Werewolf In London on Halloween night. Assuming the whole of England doesn't lock down, I might go.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

That's a damn good movie. Although for my money, Carpenter's The Thing is also the best werewolf movie ever made.
 
Gyrfalcon said:
That's a damn good movie. Although for my money, Carpenter's The Thing is also the best werewolf movie ever made.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That is another one I would gladly see in the big screen.

Actually, if there's one thing I've established over the last year, it's that old movies you love on the big screen are always worth it. What with the dearth of new releases, I've been to see several here in the UK (eleven if you count Parasite in black and white) and I've had a blast each time.

Of particular note was Lord of the Rings... not just the trilogy, but the Extended Editions over three consecutive Saturdays, which was basically multiple banquets for me. Honestly one of the best viewing experiences I've ever had.

Tl;dr: if you feel safe going to the movies and somewhere near you is showing old gems, go.
 
Been dying to find a revival theater doing Lawrence of Arabia again some day. One of my formative move-going experiences as a youngster.
 
Why are people willing to forgive Horror movies for offensive racist stereotypes see everyone Eli Roth made and M nigh Shamylan garbage ?
 
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top