Topic: The Movie Thread

@Ralizah @JohnnyShoulder
Midsommar looks good, every time I see the trailer though it just makes me want to watch The Wicker Man.

@KALofKRYPTON Hopefully not the Nic Cage version!

@JohnnyShoulder There is no Nic Cage version... shhhh!

@JohnnyShoulder @KALofKRYPTON

@FullbringIchigo Stop it!

@KALofKRYPTON
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
...NO

@FullbringIchigo

@KALofKRYPTON It definitely looks like a properly scary reworking of The Wicker Man. While I like me some moody nighttime horror, daytime horror, properly composed, can also be quite compelling. And I really dig the discordant visual elements: sunshine, happy-looking Swedish people, flowers, and folkdances combined with apparently really brutal and disturbing violence and imagery.

@FullbringIchigo I've never seen the remake. I wonder if it was before or after the scene where they film a bear-suited Nicolas Cage comedically punching a woman in the face that they realized the whole "horror" part of their "horror movie" had kind of slipped away from them.

@Ralizah honestly it's worth one watch just to see how bad it really is

@FullbringIchigo @Ralizah @KALofKRYPTON It falls into the so bad its almost good to no this is really bad category. Funny for all the wrong reasons and has to go down as one of the worst remakes ever, and that is saying something.

@Ralizah as @JohnnyShoulder says, it's a terrible film.
One of the few that I would actually write off as completely irredeemable.

@FullbringIchigo I have a special place in my heart for bad horror movies.

@Ralizah yeah there is something about a bad horror movie isn't there, something you just can't quite explain

@FullbringIchigo @KALofKRYPTON Honestly, at least The Wicker Man seems to be good for laughing at. Nicholas Cage is the Orson Welles of enjoyably bad acting. It's worthwhile in that regard.

Some movies are... just bad. Not so bad they're good. So bad they're just... really bad. Watch Krampus: The Reckoning, for example, and tell me honestly that any bit of that movie ever gave real joy to one person on this Earth.

Oh. While it's technically anime, ANYONE who likes "So bad it's good" horror NEEDS to watch Dracula, Sovereign of the Damned. Grab some alcohol and a few friends and it's an absolute blast.

@Ralizah if it wasn't a remake and I wasn't so fond of the original, I might feel the same.

@KALofKRYPTON I think that is the worst thing about remakes (with films anyway), is that they hardly improve upon the original and are usually much worse. That also means your memory of the original is probably forever stained with the remake. Which is why i usually never bother remakes or reboots of films that I grew up with. I don't think there is a person on earth that can convince me to watch the most recent Ghostbusters movie.

@JohnnyShoulder
The problem these days is that there's such a reluctance for IP owning studios to develop new material when a remake/reboot/sequel offers the potential for 'guaranteed' returns.
It's a shame.

I only read the other day that Jacob's Ladder is being remade. For the life of me I can't imagine what anyone could hope to add to that film other than an over reliance on cgi.

I get it to a point with something that was bad, or just old enough and handled in a way to be a significantly reinvigorated experience (like The Fly), but certainly iconic stuff from pop culture, or just even firmly already a serviceable film that gets remade is just a damning testament to the industry.

If you meet anyone who actually wants you to watch the Ghostbusters reboot, get a hitman hired!

I think, when people in the future are learning about this current period of American history, Ghostbusters (reboot) is going to be a fascinating historical piece for a variety of reasons.

As a film, though, it's mediocre-to-bad, and it's possibly one of the most aggressively unfunny comedies I've ever seen.

Also, Disney needs to stop with the live-action remakes. They started on a high note (Cinderella is fantastic and manages to simultaneously be reasonably faithful to the original while also dramatically improving it in certain ways, and The Jungle Book was a pretty fascinating film on a technological level), but the remakes have just been getting weirder and worse over time.

I swear to god, I already couldn't forgive them for the way they ruined Beauty and the Beast, and now they're going after my all-time favorite Disney film, The Little Mermaid. Shame on them for not casting a red-haired actress!

Nothing in their older catalogue is safe.

@Ralizah The reaction to The Little Mermaid casting is rather interesting. Most people, outwardly at least that I've seen are very much on board.
Now of course there are plenty of fans out there who want a cast that reflects the cartoon characters they grew up with. Unfortunately, much as those of us who don't particularly want the next James Bond to be black, these fans are instantly dismissed as Disney (or insert pretty much any studio) is well aware that they can make just as much coin from the positive diversity media coverage as they could out of life long fans.
This all once again touches on the remake culture (I'll leave Bond out of it for this), but the more they want to flog a franchise without including original actors, they will come up against modern politics - ergo the new project will be shaped by the times as opposed to the perceived originality of vision as the preceeding works.

But then you also have the Liberal bubble which won't let you disagree and dominates entertainment media:
Don't like Ghostbusters (reboot)? You must be a cave dwelling misogynist.
Don't want a black Bond? You must be a bigot and racist.

I don't know if you recall, but the same media machine reared up during casting for the live action Aladdin. It was all rage and indignation that a mixed indian/caucasian woman was cast as Jasmine or that the production admitted that they were struggling finding a male lead.
All of this Liberal vitriol shot at them, seemingly in defence of the animated Aladdin film of all things! Which from a Liberal stand point is actually pretty indefensible for its orientalism (It's a great film, but if you don't know much about where the story actually comes from and it's cultural history - and that in comparison with the Disney cartoon - I do suggest looking it up).