What films have you been watching? (XII/IB) - CFC's Dirty Dozen

Reposting, cause it was in the last page of the last thread:

The ritual (2017)

Ultimately this wasn't very good. Had some positives too, though.

Spoiler :

The monster was nice, but also a bit of a rip-off of the Kothoga (from late 90s 'The Relic', a better film than this).
The guilt angle wasn't used with style or subtleness, imo.
The swedish hicks/pagans didn't really help with a horror sentiment; if anything it looked ridiculous.
Movie lasts for 1,5 hours. First hour-ish (up to when the first person in the hike dies) is better than the rest.

 

Guardians of the Galaxy Vols 1 & 2. They were delightful. Baby Groot stole the show in Vol 2.

 

Atomic Blonde (2017)

A Cold War-era spy film featuring modern fight choreography, it shows us the 1980s through the same lens that Hayley Atwell's Agent Carter did the 1940s, with the proverbial volume turned up. Very nice cinematography, design and choreography. The director is a long-time stunt performer and the fight scenes are exceptional. This was his first film as director; he's working on Deadpool 2 right now, which has me really looking forward to that movie.

Charlize Theron is both actor and movie star (I separate the two) and while she's mainly the latter in this film, she brings some of the former to a couple of important scenes, which I thought made a big difference. Someone like Milla Jovovich could have done much of the action scenes, but it wouldn't have been the same movie. I think Theron has really aged into her looks, and I'd say the director and cinematographer agree with me, using the hyper-'80s neon colors to light her. And, according to a Hollywood Reporter article, "Charlize did 98 percent of her own action including fighting, running and those kinds of things. When it comes where she has to fall down stairs or swing from a height — that she can't do insurance-wise."

The fight scenes were where the movie really shone, for me. Being a fan of fight sports, it's difficult for me to call fight scenes in movies "realistic." Movie fighting is its own martial art, distinct from combat fighting, self-defense fighting, and sport fighting, and part of movie fighting's raison d'etre is to be unreal. Still, there's a version of movie fighting that is more down-to-Earth, while still being creative and thrilling to watch. The director doesn't use spastic, split-second cuts, instead letting you appreciate the action and its results, which can be both exhilarating and cringe-inducing. You can follow the flow of the scene, its sequence of events, and the action may even tell you something about the characters. Netflix's Daredevil is another good example of this style.

'It does what it says on the tin' is a lovely phrase that I've borrowed from our former Imperial masters. If this looks like it's up your alley, I think you'll enjoy it, but I'm not sure it transcends the genre. That same HR article about the stunts also notes that Theron is ready and willing to film a sequel. I'm in. I've grown bored with trying to assign movies a number rating, "4 out of 5 stars" or whatever. So I'm reaching back to Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert's simplistic-yet-elegant system.

 

I watched it this weekend and had a similar experience.

 

Arrival.

Meh.

 

Logan is overrated but still good. I was expecting more based on reviews, but still it was one of the better x-men movies, good for a superhero movie but not really a transcendent film like I was lead to believe it would be.

Rogue one is different from any star wars movie and in a good way. It's very serious and somewhat dark. It's just good- believable, well acted characters, a great plot line that isn't as illogical as many other star wars movies. Nice backstory for the other movies.

I liked them both too. I was trying to get caught up on everything before infinity war comes out. I have now only not seen ant man from the mcu movies. I thought guardians 2 was a little funnier. I like drax and his laughing and bluntness and there's more of it in the 2nd one.

 

Same here. I still have to see Hulk and Spiderman although Amazon won't allow you to rent Spiderman, you have to buy and I'm not sure I'm willing to drop $20 for a one time viewing.

I saw Ant Man a couple of weeks ago. It was a good solid movie but not one of the top tier from the MCU. It gets bonus points because it has Evangeline Lilly who I've had a crush on since her Lost days.

 

Are you talking about the one with Ed Norton? That hulk is so old and they changed the actor since then. It's not necessary to see for the plotline. It's an ok movie.

Spiderman homecoming is an awesome movie, but also not super relevant plot wise. It's more like a spin off movie, probably like ant man.

Movies I think are crucial to the plot are the ones with infinity stones or major characters- all three thor movies and captain america movies, both avengers, both guardians. Even iron man series isn't *that* critical. I guess the first one kind of shows the origin of the avengers and stuff, iron man 3 is after age of ultron chronologically and has Tony Stark having like a identity crisis that I guess kind of explains a bit of civil war, but it's mostly fluff.

 

That's the one. It is still considered MCU cannon so I'd like to check it off my mini bucket-list despite everything. I would like to see Mark Ruffalo get his own movie but from what I've heard that isn't likely to happen. He had a big role in Ragnarok and I've heard Hulk will have big roles in both the Infinity War movies, so perhaps Marvel thinks that will suffice.

 

Yeah, the Hulk is tied up in some of the crazy licensing issues, so Ragnarok was Ruffalo's Hulk movie.

 

Yes, you should watch Rogue One, Arakhor.

 

I hear ya but it’s not that good of a movie. Kind of on par with that first punisher flick.

Marvel licensing is really screwy. I went to Disney world last month and there was no marvel stuff anywhere. Even though Disney owns the studios they don’t have rights to any theme park stuff. Universal does. It’s really weird like very specific properties were sold off piece by piece when marvel went or almost went bankrupt in the 90s.

 

Sarajevo (2014), a film revolving around the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife, depicting the troubles of everybody involved and the complete disregard the ruling classes (shown as having already decided there would be a war) for everyone under their command or responsibility. Interesting casting, too.

 

Taylor & Burton's Cleopatra.

Production value is off the charts, but I don't like either leading character. Marc Antony is whining & full of self pity. Cleopatra is a shrew. IMHO, the only interesting major character is Octavius.

 

^That is one iconic role for Taylor. Impressive scenes too - eg the entrance of the procession of chariots to Rome.

 

I asked this of Caesar, I demand this from you!

I love that movie.

 

IIRC, she won an Oscar for Taming of the Shrew.

 

Rumour has it that Angeline Jolie may star as Cleopatra in a new movie. It is unlikely any new film (in this CGI-fest age) will rival the Taylor one, though.

 

It's really weird to me that you couldn't do a black Achilles but Cleopatra played by a woman of Northwest European descent doesn't bother you