Topic: The Movie Thread

@RogerRoger Hmmm.
Well, I'll get around to it at some point. The little isn't all that interested, so maybe after Christmas.

The only thing I really, really want to see is Cats! It sounds like a perfect hot mess! 🔥😀

@RogerRoger This is the logical evolution of the "everything is political" mindset so many social progressives have adopted over the years in the States. There is no such thing as "harmless family/popcorn entertainment." Everything is communicating a message. Everything is a vehicle for propaganda of some sort. Even trying to avoid commentary on contemporary culture is a political act. So, if the newest SW film isn't actively disrupting and subverting and deconstructing the property like TLJ did, then it's choosing to be regressive and traditionalist in its approach. And pandering to old fans with fan service is a problem. After all, some portion of this older fanbase are Americans who voted for GWB and/or Trump, so we can't have that.

@RogerRoger Haha, hadn't heard about that. It's a shame it wasn't Finn and Poe, honestly: of all the flat characters and relationships in the Disney trilogy, those are the only two new characters who felt like they had a real connection. Friendship is fine; more would be fine, too. But I guess it wasn't in the cards.

Sounds like the film wasn't fetishizing the shot, even if the 'enlightened' people in the audience were.

Reminds me of this horrible thing I found in a bargain bin recently:

@RogerRoger Oh I will! But we're of two kinds whether we actually want to pay to go and see it! 😂😂
The review I saw mentioning the ever changing scale of the cats has probably tipped me over 😀

Regarding the kiss. It's the sort of thing that can as you allude, sit happily in the tapestry of a scene. Just there, no fanfare and it's perfectly fine. It's a good job the marketing shills didn't lead with it though, but I expect lessons were learned from the Russo's backpatting themselves for another moment, that should have been just left as part of the fabric of people in a scene rather than sold as a big deal.

@KALofKRYPTON Referring to that cringy bit in Endgame with the group of female heroes that practically announced their presence with trumpets and confetti?

@Ralizah no, it's up there, but I meant the Steve Rogers therapy session.
Was a good scene that played well, would've been better had one of the Russo's not cast himself as the man talking about dating then patting himself on the back for it!

@RogerRoger That’s a pretty funny exchange with the clerk.

As far as the Marvel outings, there is plenty of patronizing political shoe-ins spread throughout the MCU, but I personally felt fine with the way most of the portrayal of the under-represented groups was done with the exception of the sequence @Ralizah mentioned, which you’ll pick out easily when you see it because of its blatant fanfare-type of presentation. The over compensatory way it’s done only cheapens the desired effect, imo, whereas most of the other progressive inclusions, like the gay characters, fit more seamlessly into the narrative flow. I realize that I can’t speak for the women and the gay community so I’ve no issue if the portray is not offensive to the groups on display. I just know when a scene or sequence feels out of place and in the case of the ‘girl power’ section, it just came across too overt. But you’ll see.

When does Disney + come to UK? You’ll have opportunity to watch any Marvel outing then too.

@RogerRoger regarding Endgame. It's absolutely fine as a scene. The dialogue is a bit sentimental, but it fits the scenario well enough. It's just not at all warranting the self-congratulatory stance 😂

Captain Marvel is one of the okay-est films you're likely to see. MCU by-the-numbers in most respects. It's not terrible, but the forced feeling of the 90s setting and the faux 'girl power' leanings make it difficult to actually like.
I don't think people not taking to Captain Marvel as a character is entirely Brie Larsen's fault, certainly she's gone out her way to make people dislike her - but the character in her current form has always struggled to get any traction.
There are a couple of moments in the film where she's genuinely just a bit of a prick, but a lot of it feels like poor direction.

Watched Rise of the Skywalker earlier today. AlI I can say is that it wasn't very good.....

@RogerRoger I didn't even notice there was a gay character in Endgame. Or I may have just forgotten about it. I thought it was much better than Infinty War. Captain Marvel was fine, nothing more but nothing less. I think some people tend to read too much into these things and try to find hidden agendas within a film. When I hear what some people have come up with I just scratch my head and move one. Sometimes it's like I've watched a totally different movie lol.

I wouldn't mind seeing the Rise of Skywalker in theaters (I'm more of a casual fan, so don't have particularly strong feelings either way about any of the films, though admit the first trilogy feels the best), though as I'm not a big fan of large crouds I'll probably wait until the home release.

Anyhow, I started up the single player mode of Star Wars Battlefront 2 this morning.

It looks absolutely stunning & is suprisingly difficult (though that may be due in part to the fact I don't play too many shooters, and am playing in 3rd person), though a bit glitchy (on many occasions enemies would go in and out of walls, one of which was responsible for one of my deaths, when I thought I had cleared a room I was suddenly being shot at again & before I died I found an arm sticking out of a wall shooting me).

Anyhow, here's the Yahoo article about the lesbian kiss scene in the new film (this seems to be their biggest takeaway from the film, as it's their most prominent article about it since it's release), and how apparently there's major disappointment amongst the fan base (with tweets!) that it didn't go deeper.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/star-wars-rise-of-skywalk...

@LN78 I'm not too keen on the two part finale, but maybe to undo the mess that the previous film created TRoS needed to be in two parts?

Just saw the trailer for the new Mulan. It looks like it could be good, it’s not a shot-for-shot remake like the others (not necessarily a bad thing at all for those movies), but given that they’re not including Mushu, I’m really not so sure about the Huns having a witch. If they were gonna remove Mushu and such they should have done away with the magic entirely, if not, there should be a Mushu even Eddy Murphy doesn’t voice him.

I also saw Star Wars. I may write a more detailed account later, but it was mediocre for for the most part, but the end was truly horrendous. I had low expectations of the end and heard it was bad. I was still upset leaving the theater at how incredibly bad it was. It made no sense and broke Star Wars in so mays ways. They turned it I to DBZ with palpating’s rediculous lighting stike. They didn’t even have the decency to make him say “UNLIMITED POWER!” As he did it.

@Jaz007 I hope there's no singing in Mulan. Not really a big fan of musicals, in cartoons is okay but not in live-action movies/series. You should watch Screen Rant's Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker Pitch Meeting. It's hilarious. The Avengers: Infinity War Pitch Meeting is also very funny.

@WanderingBullet Ha ha yeah I like those Pitch Meeting vids too. The Wonder Woman one was quite good too.

@JohnnyShoulder Cool, will go watch that. Only started watching their videos a couple a days ago.

@Arugula Wait ... what? You mean the popular song from the movie Frozen? How did you manage to survive in this world the last 6 years and not hear that song (or see the movie for that matter)? That was the most overplayed song from 2013-2015.

@Arugula I dropped a Frozen 2 mini-review a couple weeks ago, but if you go in to these films completely untainted by public perception and the over-saturation of the music and characters, then you’ll most likely really enjoy them. Even as a testosterone fueled male nerd who loves sports, video games, rock music, and barbecue, I can’t deny the catchy amazing tunes, spot on humor, and overall fun of the Frozen movies. You’ll lose a corner of your man-card, but they’re worth a watch if you have any interest at all in animated Disney.

@Arugula Disney Plus, brother. It’s the bomb. It’s all there for $6 a month. (Well Frozen 2 won’t be there for a few months but soon)

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Speaking of Disney+, as I’m amping up to go see Rise of Skywalker I started rewatching the Star Wars prequels on a whim on D+ and I think I appreciate them more now. I just wish the acting was better. The story and production value are really good. The script doesn’t do the actors any favors, but Liam Neeson, Ian McDiarmid, and Ewan McGregor do fine and make it work. The acting is just so inconsistent. It’s too bad; such a missed opportunity. The Trade Federation characters are so mishandled. And poor Jake Lloyd clearly got no help from his director.