Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Caught the first 30 minutes of Annihilation on Netflix before I had to sleep. Very hard to turn it off - absolutely amazing so far. If you like your sci-fi cerebral, it’s a must watch.
(If you’re not aware, a bizarre rights agreement as well as politics between 2 of the producers and the movie studio lead this film to have a theatrical release limited to the US, released on Netflix simultaneously worldwide.)
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Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
On Saturday I went to see the new Tomb Raider movie and it was a good, quick and compact thrill ride. I choose to say this because after having seen the play through of the PS3 reboot (which the movie is based on) there's more depth to the game due to the much longer running time allowing for lengthier development of Lara's character. In the movie she doesn't start off as a naive helpless flower like she does in the game.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Saw Black Panther yesterday. Just some quick thoughts... (spoilers)
* Overall a good movie, although not excellent IMHO.
* Killmonger (N'Jadaka) is a great villain! Unlike so many other villains we get to understand his motivations. He's not just a one dimensional threat for the hero to overcome. And ultimately... he's not entirely wrong. And he even convinces T'Challa to see his POV and of course the film ends with him opening Wakanda up to the outside world, which was part of Killmonger's (and his father's) dream. The main difference being that T'Challa is pursuing peaceful cooperation and alliances with other nations instead of attempting to conquer them. But this also means that Killmonger is the agent which drives T'Challa's character development.
* lol at the "Tolkien" Whites.I gotta say that Martin Freeman did a top notch job as that CIA agent.
* As visually exciting as the car-chase scene was, story-wise it was kinda unnecessary. You could omit that scene and nothing would change in the story. Killmonger could still return to Wakanda with the body of Klause. Claus. Gollum... and still do all the same things (e.g. challenge T'Challa for the throne etc.). Yeah, it's exciting to watch, but not essential to the story. And if people are going to criticise the Canto-Bite/Casino scene in Star Wars The Last Jedi for doing the exact same thing, then I think it's only fair that the Korean car chase scene in Black Panther be viewed with similar scrutiny. Because in both scenes, the plot just stalls.
* T'Challa's character arc is interesting. Much like characters like Superman, Captain America, Wonder Woman and indeed, Optimus Prime, T'Challa starts off as a pretty high end character. He's doesn't suffer from childhood trauma or is trying to deal with personal character flaws etc. - this makes him stand out from a lot of other heroes. Unfortunately this means that T'Challa kinda lacks character development for the first half of the movie. It's not until later when he learns the truth about his uncle (Prince N'Jobu) and his cousin (N'Jadaka) that T'Challa is forced to question and revise his personal world view and moral universe. So the character of T'Challa becomes much more interesting in the latter half of the film as we follow him on this journey, but he's kinda plain in the first half.
* At times the movie felt too dark. Like when T'Challa and Killmonger were fighting in the Vibranium mine, both wearing Black Panther suits in the dark. Kinda hard to see what was happening in detail. The ritual fights at the waterfall looked much better as the scene was lit well enough to show us what was happening. Even the car chase in Korea was better lit with all the street lights in Busan.
* I felt that the movie could've benefited from a bit more humour at times - although the humour that we did get was cool. I liked the sibling rivalry between T'Challa and Shuri was great, and I loved the scene where M'Baku played on the racial stereotype of Africans being barbaric cannibals, only to laugh and say, "We're vegetarians."lol!
* Love the character of Shuri. The character would easily rival Tony Stark!I think she's only meant to be 16 years old. At this age, MCU Tony Stark won the MIT annual robot design award and at 17 he graduated MIT top of his class. Shuri appears to be working full time, implying that she's already finished her schooling. And a robot? Look at all the cool stuff she's invented! She's like Q from James Bond!
Overall a thoroughly enjoyable film, especially given how young the director is. I haven't seen Coogler's other films but I've heard good things about them. Coogler does seem to have a lot of potential as a young and upcoming film-maker.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
I rented Justice League on DVD and finally got to watch it. Thrice (just gettin' my money's worth out of a 1 night rental
Thoughts...
* Overall much better than BvS - they've clearly learnt some lessons, which is good. Most importantly - make films enjoyable.
* Steppenwolf is a completely disposable and forgettable villain. Unlike Killmonger in Black Panther, Justice League doesn't give audiences any reason to really care about Steppenwolf or his quest. He's basically just a monster who wants to do bad things and the goodies have to stop him before the badness happens.
* Really great performances from the whole cast. I can't fault any of their acting, pretty top notch stuff.
* This movie suffers from introducing half of the team in the movie. It means that the story has to occasionally provide expositions for these new characters, but at the same time it also sacrifices a lot of that exposition because of time constraints.
* Having said that, Marvel has proven that you can provide decent exposition to new character without making them poor. Let's compare the introduction of Spider-Man in Captain America Civil War vs the introduction of The Flash in Justice League. The Flash is basically introduced to us as some bored unemployed super-powered kid who immediately agrees to join the Justice League because he has no friends and literally nothing better to do.
* I never even knew that Henry Cavill had grown a moustache, but when I saw this movie I immediately knew that there was something wrong with his face in some shots. I could tell that it had been digitally modified, but I didn't know why. The fact that without knowing this story, I was still able to easily spot it, shows just how poorly the CG shave was. But IMO the director for MI:3 was being penile. They needed to reshoot some scenes because Snyder chose to step down and was replaced by Joss Whedon due to a horrific personal tragedy in Snyder's life that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.Cut Warner Bros some slack and let Cavill have a shave for crying out loud! You can always attach a false prosthetic moustache on his face when he returned for shooting MI:3. Adding a fake moustache has got to be much easier and cheaper than removing it. Apparently the CGI shave cost them US$25 million. Even if the fake moustache looks a bit different, fans would learn the reason why and easily forgive you. Many other actors and actresses have used fake hair because it was cut or shaved for other roles. e.g. Karen Gillan and Matt Smith had their heads shaved for Guardians of the Galaxy and Terminator Genesis (or however that stupid misspelling is) respectively, so they wore wigs for when shooting the end of Doctor Who. Heck, if I were Whedon/WB I would have offered to pay MI:3's production staff the cost of using a prosthetic moustache... it would have to be cheaper than US$25M.
* Cyborg looked... eh. As Honest Trailer describes it, like a laser pointer covered in aluminium foil. We finally see his look get upgraded at the end and... why didn't they just make him look like that to begin with?!?
* Why does that Russian city only have one family living in it? Or do they only care about saving that one family? Did the others all die? If so, how did only this one family survive? Surely that ironing board leaned up against the window can't be that strong!
* Loved how they incorporated elements of Michael Keaton's Batman theme and Christopher Reeve's Superman theme into the soundtrack. Very nice.
* I generally didn't like the scene where the newly resurrected Superman goes ape on the other Justice Leaguers. I understand why it happened, but it felt unnecessary and didn't advance the plot much. Having said that, the fight itself was very well done, and I do love how Superman had that super-speed match with the Flash. The fact that the Flash never got hit by Supes shows that he is actually faster than Superman too.
* Overall I feel that this was too much of a fan's movie. I understand that many parts of this movie makes more sense if you read the comics, but a good comic book movie should be one that any audience member can enjoy, including those who've never picked up a comic book in their life. Again, this is another aspect where the MCU is superior to the DCCU.
* I have mixed feelings about this, but this movie is clearly trying to emulate some of the successful elements from the MCU. Making serious characters more comical (and thus more human). Foreshadowing an impending apocalyptic extra-terrestrial threat (Darkseid/Thanos) etc. On one hand I can understand why they're doing it - kinda like a, "If you can't beat them join them" strategy, but on the other hand it kinda makes the movie more bland as it's not giving us as much freshness/originality. This is one thing that made Wonder Woman stand out more. But then again, DC did try to be really different with BvS - they went all dark and gritty, a formula that worked with the Dark Knight Trilogy and had given then reasonable success with Man of Steel. But it was something that didn't resonate with audiences on BvS (myself included), so... I can see why they decided to try and mirror some of the successful elements from the MCU.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Game night. Good comedy. Slight twists. 6/10. Some funny moments shown in the trailer gave it away so not as funny the 10th time in the movie.
Tomb raider. Good movie. Gritty like the game. Wasnt sure if it was staying grounded or adding supernatural elements. The floor scene messed it up. Over all good quality flick. If you enjoyed the game will like the movie. 8/10. Felt the first killing scene with her and no killing for killing sake. Like to see where they go from here.
Rank 10 - Admin
Saw the Deadpool 2 trailer on youtube... looks like it should be good.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Saw Pacific Rim 2: Uprising and am happy to say it is just as bonkers as the first. Perhaps the first one looked slighlty cooler due to using the good ‘ol nighttime/rain combo.
"I am not a gun. I'm hitting people with a hammer. On Mars."
The Iron Giant / David Wildgoose
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
I saw a trailer that focused on Cable, and it looks exactly like what a live-action Cable should look like, so I'm happy with that. I did however have a pause at the start of the trailer, unsure if the person "born into war" was Cable or Thanos...Originally Posted by griffin
I didn't like Pacific Rim 2 but I did like the Jaeger scenes (and great to see a live action Bulkhead!). They also seem to have improved their geography of Sydney but locals might know better. At least there was no giant wall protecting the Opera House from North Sydney this time.
Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
As good as the sequel is, it can't match the first one which I've watched so many times and have to admit is better than Godzilla (2014).
P.S. Love that mega kaiju at the end and the little junkyard jaeger.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
PR 2. Not as good as the first with story but you can see more as it is shot during the day. I dont like how the gateway was created, just glossed over that. Still silly fun. 6 or 7/10
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