What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?

I thought The Last Duel was great and think Ridley is still capable of quality filmmaking.

And that's fine. He has a lot of fans. I'm just disappointed because his first three efforts were so spectacular and then it just started to devolve although, again, T&L and The Martian and American Gangster aren't BAD films. They're just kind of pedestrian compared to his start. Plus, I'm one of the few people I know who thinks that Gladiator is incredibly overrated and actively bad in many scenes (No one does a full cavalry charge through heavy forest unless they're blatantly suicidal.) so I'm the outlier in that respect.

I liked The Last Duel for a lot of things, but thought it came across as quite heavy-handed. There are many films that I actively want to watch again (like, say, Alien and Blade Runner...) The Last Duel is not one of them because I feel like I'm not going to catch any nuances that I missed. The script was basically beating you over the head with the essential theme of the story in every minute.

I was more bothered by the historical inaccuracies in Alien and Bladerunner.

I just rewatched The Matrix with my science fiction class. Hoo boy it was pretty great, but it was also very difficult to watch the scenes of Neo and Trinity mowing down generic law enforcement officers. Legolas did such a good job. I was bummed by the assorted cool NPCs who died as well. Switch's anger at not being able to die a hero's death, but just being unplugged (my preferred exit).

Visually, there are places where this movie felt like Mieville's Army of Shadows, about the French Resistance fighters/gangsters. At other times it looked like Bioshock.

@Cranberries - Do you mean Elrond instead of Legolas? Hugo Weaving vs. Orlando Bloom.

I watched The Northman the other day. Some serious scenery chewing going on there. But I did like it.

RobertB wrote: @Cranberries - Do you mean Elrond instead of Legolas?

All elves look the same.

That’s an HR violation.

n815e wrote: That’s an HR violation.

https://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=645

Anyone remember DM of the Rings?

"When you want an image to use for your character portrait, you have two choices:

1) Spend years mastering the art of sci-fi / fantasy illustration. Perhaps attend art school. Hone your craft until you can fully realize your character on paper just as you imagine them.

2) Use Google Image Search and swipe something that looks roughly like how you want your character to look.

For whatever reason, most players take the lazy way and opt for #2, despite the fact that there is a 90% chance they are going to look like a brooding androgynous goth / punk elf holding the wrong weapon."

ChristopherMD wrote: Rachels death warrant proves that Deckard isn't a replicant.

I agree that Deckard being a replicant doesn't make sense logic-wise nor story-wise. But the question the movie raises is not "Is Deckard a replicant?" but "How do I know I'm not a replicant?"

If our entire sense of self is determined by our memories, and those memories may have been artificially implanted, can we be sure of anything?

Greg Aleknevicus wrote: If our entire sense of self is determined by our memories, and those memories may have been artificially implanted, can we be sure of anything?

Throwback to when I found out we can't, when I got informed by a psychologist friend that our memories tend to change to create a more consistent person. Fun times. I mean, detectives probably know that, but I like to think PKD didn't.

Nodens wrote:

Greg Aleknevicus wrote: If our entire sense of self is determined by our memories, and those memories may have been artificially implanted, can we be sure of anything?

Throwback to when I found out we can't, when I got informed by a psychologist friend that our memories tend to change to create a more consistent person. Fun times. I mean, detectives probably know that, but I like to think PKD didn't.

Wasn't this the basis of Dark City, that memories and a "core person" are at conflict? Certainly plenty of stories/films use amnesia as a way to show a person can fundamentally change when stripped of their memories. Typically hollywood writers are firmly in the "nurture" camp that experiences make the person, not some sort of immutable genetic/biological foundation.

Speaking of Ridley Scott. I had Legend on in the background. It's filmed well enough with the enchanted forest being really good. Tim Curry's Darkness is worth the price of admission for both make-up and his portrayal. Tom and Mia are both fine enough. I'd say its the supporting cast/characters that drag the movie down. Like somehow they all universally suck. Was it to try and appeal to kids? Because I didn't like any of them as a kid either.

ChristopherMD wrote: Speaking of Ridley Scott. I had Legend on in the background. It's filmed well enough with the enchanted forest being really good. Tim Curry's Darkness is worth the price of admission for both make-up and his portrayal. Tom and Mia are both fine enough. I'd say its the supporting cast/characters that drag the movie down. Like somehow they all universally suck. Was it to try and appeal to kids? Because I didn't like any of them as a kid either.

My wife LOOOOOOVES Legend so we watch it fairly regularly and yeah, there is about 40 min of plot with the leads and sooo much silly filler. Of course these days we have moved past a lot of that practical effect/clunky awkward end result tolerance so that is probably some of it. And the odd dubbed voice effect going on throughout the film, while adding to the dream state Scott probably intended, does amplify how silly the side players are.

Went to the theater for the first time in a LONG time, and while John Wick 4 would have been the smart choice, we saw 65, which can be summed up as Adam Driver is an alien who happens to speak English and lands on Earth, but in dinosaur times, and has a bit of a survival romp.

Entirely predictable, a thoroughly average film.

I saw John Wick 4. It's more John Wick, just longer. Maybe it's because I watched the first 3 movies in the lead up to watching 4, but a lot of the fights go on for way too long.
There is a cool Hotline Miami-style scene though.

Saw SHAZAM Fate of the Gods. Very average, boilerplate sequel lifted in spots by the charisma of Zach Levy and some of his family sidekicks. EXTREMELY tepid villians played by Helen Mirrin, Lucy Lui, and some other girl. Probably about 50 mill in extravagant SFX that could have been trimmed with no loss, though there are some Ray Harryhousen inspired monsters that did make me smile quite a bit.

It's a shame that this and Black Adam will probably never get the team-up/showdown that seems kinda inevitable with the stories. If DC could just stop trying to link everything in these shared universes we could probably get a dope Shazam/BA film leaninginto the magic and gods of the DC world, with Zatanna as the connective glue along with Wonder Woman after Superman gets whumped fighting a magic creature he just can't handle. We just need a consistent actor pool for films that themselves don't need to be rigorously consistent, that kinda shit isn't DCs strength.