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NeverarGreat said:

Alderaan said:

NeverarGreat said:

Her weakness is very explicitly her naivete.

This is not a weakness in the film. It could have been, but it wasn’t. When she goes to the front, she is told she cannot cross No Man’s Land. She doesn’t understand the kind of modern artillery firepower she is up against. She does it anyway and succeeds. She’s told there is a gas that can end civilization and kill millions of people. She has probably never encountered something like that before. She walks right into a cloud of it and lives anyway.

At no point did her naivety cost her anything. It was a nice storyline that I was digging, but it was never a weakness.

NeverarGreat said:

Like Superman, her weakness is mental, not physical.

Not sure what else to say here, other than to reiterate that she’s not supposed to be threatened like a normal person is threatened by violence, she’s above that.

So how is her naivete a weakness? At what point does it come back to bite her in the ass? I don’t think it ever did, hence my criticism. She was so naive that she goes up to the front when nobody else would want to go there. She’s so naive that she jumps out of a trench and charges across the battlefield where hundreds if not thousands of rockets, mortars, and agents of chemical warfare are targeted on her, and this costs her how exactly? She’s so naive she believes in rubbish fairtyales that couldn’t possibly be real…or could they?

It’s a good subplot that I enjoyed for the most part, in contrast to the characters and real world around her. But a weakness is a vulnerability, not just a character trait, and I don’t think there was any payoff. There was never a point in the movie where I felt like she was vulnerable or going to fail at anything she tried to do.

X-Men: First Class (2011)

Perhaps had this movie been a straightforward adaptation of Uncanny X-Men #1 – with the original X-Men team going up against Magneto – I would’ve actually liked this movie. But nope, it had to be like all the X-Men movies before it – an underwhelming, overhyped mess with a hodgepodge of characters who are by-and-large out of place, misdeveloped, and miscast.

5/10

darthrush said:

LuckyGungan2001 said:

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith - (2005)

Decided to watch this again, and screw it, I actually like it a lot. This time around I didn’t mind the dialogue or acting, and I adored the music, action scenes, and cinematography. I also really enjoyed watching it. I know I’ll get hounded for this, but I give it a seven out of ten.

You ain’t crazy. I actually REALLY love watching fanedited ROTS.

You’re both crazy.

I must be slightly crazy too, because while I wouldn’t say I LOVE a fanedited rots, I enjoy it enough (as well as the other two prequels fanedited) to be able to at least watch them as a saga.

Some Like It Hot (1959) - Neither my favorite Marilyn Monroe film (that’s The Misfits) nor my favorite Jack Lemmon film (that’s The Odd Couple), but certainly my favorite Tony Curtis film.

Star Wars - Harmys Despecialized Edition v2.7.

I introduced Star Wars to a cousin of mine. He has never seen any Star Wars movie. My friend who came by too said - Yeah we should do a Star Wars marathon in order. I quickly stopped the crazy talk, and he too enjoyed the original unaltered version. We also watched most of that 20 minute video showing all the changes.

I’m planning on making another full set for a family friend, my family and I will be visiting later this year. I’ll try to educate family and friends as much as possible, in hopes they will do the same.

darthrush said:

Sougouk said:

Star Wars - Harmys Despecialized Edition v2.7.

I introduced Star Wars to a cousin of mine. He has never seen any Star Wars movie. My friend who came by too said - Yeah we should do a Star Wars marathon in order. I quickly stopped the crazy talk, and he too enjoyed the original unaltered version. We also watched most of that 20 minute video showing all the changes.

I’m planning on making another full set for a family friend, my family and I will be visiting later this year. I’ll try to educate family and friends as much as possible, in hopes they will do the same.

Good on you for talking that friend out of such nonsense. Nothing hurts more than someone just going “Oh that good ol Star Wars series, you haven’t seen it? Look at this dandy complete saga blu ray set. Let us just sift through chronologically from 1-6.”

Poor soul is forced to watch unedited prequels before OT, and then the hacked up special editions after that.

Exactly! Sure I bought the 2011 Bluray set, because well it’s Star Wars. However, I had no idea about the fan preservation projects like Harmy’s DE until maybe 2013-2014, when I downloaded his version 1.0 in AVCHD MKVs. I also googled Harmy’s DE and got more information & was extremely ecstatic.

It was a glorious moment, to relive the excitement of the OUT, that I haven’t seen since I was a child. Sure I had many copies of the butchered editions from 1997+, but I totally forgot how much was changed, almost like a Force mind trick block.

Some of my other cousins have kids that are obsessed with Star Wars. I have to educate them. I will have to plan some Star Wars marathons with them. Let them talk to their schoolyard chums, which will tell their parents…

Cars 3 (2017)

I would have never seen this in the theaters if I didn’t have two kids, but it was decent. Miles better than 2 and probably on par with the original.

7/10

Split (2016)

7/10

Loses two points for unnecessarily showing teenage girls in various states of undress.

Gains one point for the last act.

Gains one point for tying into Unbreakable, and for the upcoming Unbreakable sequel that will tie the two movies together fully…apparently (had no idea Glass was coming until I looked it up).

• Adaptation (2002) – 9/10
• Under the Shadow (2016) – 7/10
• Sticks and Stones: Investigating the Blair Witch (1999) – 5/10
• The Barber (2002) – 5/10
• Beyond the Gates (2016) – 6/10
• Antibirth (2016) – 2/10
• Born on the Fourth of July (1989) – 9/10
• The Eyes of My Mother (2016) – 8/10

“Blair Witch” (2016)

I missed this one last year so I thought I’d give it a look last night.

This remakequel does what many movies today seem to think is required and takes a lot of things that made the original work and just copies and pastes them in - because that’s what we audiences want, right? The story beats are the same and there are many shots which are identical (even the very last one before the credits) but it just comes off as lazy rather than an homage. Gone is the subtle paranoia of the unseen force stalking the woods, instead we have multiple UNEXPECTED JUMP SCARES OF SOMEBODY WALKING ON SCREEN and brief (scary?) appearances of… a thing with long arms?! The use of realistic sounds in the original (distant human voices, twigs snapping and babies crying) has been amped up for extra effect with ground shaking bass and some definitely supernatural shrieking. There’s no mystery to that.

The cast are fine though, doing their best with this dross they’ve been given, probably happy to be working. The inclusion of modern era technology works well enough but could’ve been used so much more creatively. How much better would it have been for that drone to give the characters a clear view of the layout of the woods, where the house was, where their cars were, where the other people in their group were, only for them to continually lose their way, lose each other and have things happen with seemingly nobody around to cause it?

Overall, and despite the nifty little bow the film ties itself into with its own timeline, the movie seems ultimately pointless as --SPOILER WARNING-- everybody dies and nobody learns anything and nobody will ever know what happened to anyone.

As someone who is mildly claustrophobic I do have to give the movie some credit for the scene in the tunnel, it was extremely effective and I actually had to look away. Why couldn’t there have been more scenes with that much inventiveness? I think I actually preferred Book of Shadows.

I give it 2 children’s handprints on the wall out of 5 (with a couple of fingers missing).

EyeShotFirst said:

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

All this Batman talk made me want to take a look back at a gem from the past.

It was perfect in that it took the things that worked in the show and improved upon them.
It could’ve just been a 2 part episode in the show, but it stood well enough on it’s own. The improved animation added to that. I recommend it to anyone who never gave the animated series a shot.

It actually serves as a great starting point. Most of the events of the film seem to take place during the earlier parts of the first season. Someone actually made a timeline of what order to watch it in, but to be honest, you’re fine just watching this on it’s own. It’s a good greatest hits for what the show has to offer. Watching the show in the order each episode was released is wisest, as it allows you to understand the motivations of the heroes as well as the villains.

I look forward to the upcoming Blu Ray release of this.

5/5

Best Batman film ever, IMHO. It also incorporates some elements of Batman:Year Two, which is one of my favorite Batman stories.

Aaannddd keeping with the Dark Knight, watched Lego Batman tonight with the kiddos. It was a nice take on Batman, including his more ridiculous characteristics. Watching it in English for the first time was a plus, but I felt that if I was a Lego fan in general I may have liked it more… 7.5/10

Mark’s Down On Your Syntax said:

“Blair Witch” (2016)

I missed this one last year so I thought I’d give it a look last night.

This remakequel does what many movies today seem to think is required and takes a lot of things that made the original work and just copies and pastes them in - because that’s what we audiences want, right? The story beats are the same and there are many shots which are identical (even the very last one before the credits) but it just comes off as lazy rather than an homage. Gone is the subtle paranoia of the unseen force stalking the woods, instead we have multiple UNEXPECTED JUMP SCARES OF SOMEBODY WALKING ON SCREEN and brief (scary?) appearances of… a thing with long arms?! The use of realistic sounds in the original (distant human voices, twigs snapping and babies crying) has been amped up for extra effect with ground shaking bass and some definitely supernatural shrieking. There’s no mystery to that.

The cast are fine though, doing their best with this dross they’ve been given, probably happy to be working. The inclusion of modern era technology works well enough but could’ve been used so much more creatively. How much better would it have been for that drone to give the characters a clear view of the layout of the woods, where the house was, where their cars were, where the other people in their group were, only for them to continually lose their way, lose each other and have things happen with seemingly nobody around to cause it?

Overall, and despite the nifty little bow the film ties itself into with its own timeline, the movie seems ultimately pointless as --SPOILER WARNING-- everybody dies and nobody learns anything and nobody will ever know what happened to anyone.

As someone who is mildly claustrophobic I do have to give the movie some credit for the scene in the tunnel, it was extremely effective and I actually had to look away. Why couldn’t there have been more scenes with that much inventiveness? I think I actually preferred Book of Shadows.

I give it 2 children’s handprints on the wall out of 5 (with a couple of fingers missing).

With the mythos established in The Blair Witch Project and the Curse of the Blair Witch mockumentary, you’d think they’d be able to come up with a good sequel or two which actually builds on the original’s mythology. But nope, all we get is one sequel with atrocious characters and a nonsensical plot and a rehash geared towards Generation Stupid. Pathetic.

“Shoot 'em Up” (2007)

A crazier, distant cousin of John Wick with just as high of a body count but the added bonus of two instances of death by vegetable. Dripping with irony and wearing its action movie (and cartoon) influences proudly on its sleeve it definitely lives up to its name.

Paul Giamatti is hamming it up something fierce as the villain and Clive Owen’s gruff, monotone delivery of every single line has never been more appropriate. Monica Bellucci plays a pregnant Italian hooker, so, enough said. Everybody’s in on the joke and from start to finish this film has so much fun. Just watch the background bad guy’s reaction when Giamatti wipes his bloody hand on his coat.

There are many memorable scenes (a gun fight DURING a sex scene!) blink and you’ll miss it visual jokes and one liners that it’s probably going to be just as good on the second viewing.

The shoot-out set to “Ace of Spades” is a standout but everything’s done with so much skill and wit there’s never a dull moment. And just when you think it has nowhere else to go we get a bonkers parachuting gun battle.

I could go on but it’s pretty obvious I liked it, and if you like action movies I’m sure you’ll like it too.

Sample dialogue:

“Find me every wet nurse, lactating hooker and mammary-on-tap in the city.”

“Looking at those dog hairs on your trousers I’d say ol’ duchess took a liking to you.”

It’s a real shame this flopped in theatres, I think it’s a genuine classic of the genre. Beautiful, violent insanity.

I give it 4 and a half carrots out of 5.