Topic: The Movie Thread

@Ralizah It's been a while (since the film I reckon), and no bone break I think - but understated it isn't.

Avoiding a memorable score in a very unheroic film was a good call I think.

For a two hour runtime, I think he handled the story very well.

@KALofKRYPTON The violence is incredibly over-the-top, and it's problematic in the context of the themes in the wider narrative. Here's a decent write-up on the problem: http://reel3.com/violence-as-fetish-in-zach-snyders-watchmen/

I don't see how not having original music for the film helps it at all. A good score doesn't inherently glorify the characters or what they're doing. And, if anything, the director is already doing that by lingering on the overly-stylized scenes on-screen.

It's not a mess, for sure, but I do think there are ways it could have been improved without massively increasing the runtime.

@Ralizah

I really quite like Snyder's thinking as put across in that article. Alan Moore is punishing us!

I'm a big fan of music in film. It's a character all it's own or only serves to punctuate. In such an ensemble piece, punctuation is really all that is needed from a score. The addition of the licensed music calls to mind the importance of the setting.

@KALofKRYPTON Part of what Alan Moore was deconstructing was the inherent violence of superhero comics, indeed, although I don't see how that extends to Snyder's logic regarding his depiction of violence in the film. The violence was glorified. If anything, it's rewarding the sadism of the audience. I don't mind the idea of "punishing" viewers by making things so gruesome and unpleasant that it makes the audience question why they're watching the film in the first place (Haneke's 1997 film "Funny Games" and Hideaki Anno's "The End of Evangelion" do something similar to great effect). But I don't think that's what Snyder does in his films.

I'll give him this, though: at least his Watchmen is a serviceable version of the story. His remake of Dawn of the Dead, on the other hand, was a complete disaster.

300 wasn't great, either, but I don't like Frank Miller or his fascist narratives anyway, so I don't mind what happened to that story.

@Ralizah Yeah DotD is a stinker. But it was always going to be.
Quite like 300 for what it is.

@KALofKRYPTON You wouldn't believe how many people still say that the remake of Dawn is better than the original. It almost physically hurts to hear people say that.

On its own, as a ridiculous live-action cartoon dripping in maschismo, 300 is OK, but I'm very biased against it, considering I like neither Snyder nor Miller! I don't mind the objectification of muscular male bodies, though. If I enjoy it in the same way most men enjoy porn, I can watch it fine.

@Ralizah It's a terrible film. Barely even popcorn fodder.

The 300 sequel is a far worse affair! 😂
Mind the odd fat bloke who gets kissed in the CGI pass and you'll be fine

I like Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, I would say it is probably his best film (good James Gunn screenplay). Of course it isn't as good as the original, but this was one of the first films to bring back Zombies in a big way and it does work as a thriller and black comedy.

Watchmen is, to me, a very mechanical adaptation. It is so literal, except the ending change, that the narrative suffers as it follows the narrative of the graphic novel which works in the book but not necessarily in the film. The violence is not a problem to me, clearly an attempt to inject some commercial viability into such a big film. Oh and the intro montage, is honestly great.

@KALofKRYPTON Haha, he looks okay in that image, I guess. But I think that the guy who made it should've chosen a more serious look. I can see a slight smile there.

Aaaaaaaaand Venom is targeting a 12A/PG13 certification...

@KALofKRYPTON I don't have high expectations after watching the Venom trailers. The CGI looks poor and the action sequences didn't look that good either. It looks a bit B-movie-ish. What do you guys think of they're reimagined version of Eddie Brock? Also, I assume there'll be no web slinging as well.:/

@WanderingBullet I not a Hardy fan at all - I think he's pretty miscast here. As to the nonsense of making a Venom film without at least building from a Spider-Man film first ... Well, obvious idiocy - but I was always keen on Venom, and there were some great comics.

I like what I've seen of the effects work myself, Venom looks 'there' - a flesh and bone enormous monster. The design looks pretty good I think - just Ultimate Venom on screen really.

There'll be a version of - just extending symbiote tentacles for traversal.

Anyway - despite my misgivings about a lot of it - I at least thought it would be violent enough to do the character justice. Foolish to think that Sony wouldn't go for the Kiddy £££ first and foremost really.

@KALofKRYPTON They do have a Spider-Man film, Homecoming. As I understand, it’s part of the Spidey universe with that movie, but not part of the MCU. I think, it’s hard to tell as this point.
Anyhow, I’m still excited for the film. I’m willing to give it a shot. Expandables 3 was still a fun movie.

@Jaz007 I mean in terms of Venom's origin. MCU Secret Wars would've been waaaaaay better than Infinity War!

There's been talk of Holland appearing in Venom but nothing confirmed. For all intents and purposes, Venom at the moment, is essentially stand alone.

I'll still go watch Venom but I'm way more hype for Into the Spider Verse.

@Jaz007 Sorry if I've missed something here, but what is Expandables 3 and what does it have to do with the Venom movie? 😕

@JohnnyShoulder I meant to say Expendables 3. You know the series with Rambo (the actor technically) and Jason Statham and a bunch of other stars. It was PG-13 while the previous 2 were R.

@Jaz007 Ah ok. Only saw the first one with Sylvester Stallone. Mildly entertaining I suppose but have no intention of watching the others, no matter how many action stars they chuck at it.

Always thought Nolan's Batman films and the Bond films starring Daniel Craig would have been better with a 15 or 18 rating rather than a 12A (think that is the UK equivalent to a US PG-13).

That is a shame about the Venom movie, not seen the trailers yet but I thought that it would be a good fit a more 'mature' rating. I thought Logan and Deadpool showed the industry you don't need to have a 12A rating at the most to have a successful comic book movie at the cinema.

I really like Hardy as an actor but agree with @KALofKRYPTON in that he has been massively miscast as Venom.

Finally got around to watching Black Panther recently. There's far too many Marvel movies at this point to possibly rank them, but I certainly enjoyed it.

I don't get the notion that it should be nominated for best picture though (a sentiment that seems to be popular, at least online). It's definitely a bit more topical than your average popcorn flick, and Killmonger is certainly one of the most memorable Marvel villains (Loki notwithstanding, that's not a hard accomplishment TBH), but other than that it's pretty par for the course in relation to it's peers.

HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS UNTIL NOW?!

SO excited. This is going to be THE film of 2019, as far as I'm concerned.

Saw the trailer in the theater today when I went to see Mission Impossible: Fallout.

Which was pretty decent. Don't remember having seen any of these movies before, and I clearly missed some context from previous films, but I think I got everything. It was a fun spy action-thriller. Lots of masks and double, triple, and quadruple-crosses.