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 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Azrael, Angel of Death

Samara Weaving stars. Set post Rapture, where a bunch of humans remain and are under threat by Burned Ones, basically crispy zombies.

What’s notable here is that the film has no dialogue. The sect Samara is escaping from has cut out their vocal cords in penance. So it’s all body language. Works far better than it sounds.

This movie was oddly....good? I was surprised myself that it held me with no dialogue but it was just a genuinely interesting movie.

Now...the main event....

fething MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE!!!!!!

I honestly haven't enjoyed a movie this much in a long time. I'll second that i might go see it again in theatres and this time without my kids. They enjoyed it mostly but being able to sit in my enjoyment without any chance at distraction is likely worth it. This movie had everything I wanted from it. It took itself the right amount of seriously, it had appropriate throw backs, the cast seemed to be having a blast with it, the cast is genuinely likable, the story isn't trying to send a deeper message as evidenced by the "til next time" moral of the story.

And the music was just.....perfect.

I can see it becoming one of my yearly happy feeling viewings. 10/10

Azrael was a genuine pleasant surprise.

Shudder has some real gold. But also an awful, awful lot of utter crap. Azrael is a genuine Tosheroon of a movie. Probably because as you said? The concept is interesting, but could’ve been so badly executed.

I mean? A film without a script. Any number of talentless hacks would love to spare the cost of a script in whatever drivel they’re about to poop into existence. But here it’s done with care and forethought. You need a decent cast and a decent director to tell your story only with visuals and the odd bit of on-screen text.

 Hulksmash wrote:


fething MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE!!!!!!

I honestly haven't enjoyed a movie this much in a long time. I'll second that i might go see it again in theatres and this time without my kids. They enjoyed it mostly but being able to sit in my enjoyment without any chance at distraction is likely worth it. This movie had everything I wanted from it. It took itself the right amount of seriously, it had appropriate throw backs, the cast seemed to be having a blast with it, the cast is genuinely likable, the story isn't trying to send a deeper message as evidenced by the "til next time" moral of the story.

And the music was just.....perfect.

I can see it becoming one of my yearly happy feeling viewings. 10/10

It was great wasn't it? And some touching, even tearful moments...

.

Watched The Phantom Menace with the kids over the weekend. Not sure how long its been but kind of fun to reappraise.

It's definitely not as bad as remembered, with the opening segment being exciting but clunky in the same way Star Wars often is. Even Jar Jar isn't THAT distracting and the movie mostly works through the escape from Naboo.

Tatooine is definitely where the problems start in earnest. Apologies to Jake Lloyd but young Anakin really derails the story, though a lot of it is simple pacing. Here's where there's a lot of extended Jar Jar gags, long winded discussions on Midichlorians, exposition dumps the original wouldn't have spent half the time on and a lot of wooden dialogue. Podracing still holds up though.

That gets us to Coruscant which I appreciate more now but this is the point where a few people dozed off. This whole part is slow, full of infuriating plot beats and really, really lacking any good lines. Getting something from Anakin along the lines of Rey's "I didn't know there was this much green in the whole galaxy" would have gone a LONG way towards selling his perspective. It's still utterly stupid that the Chancellor doesn't call on THE JEDI HE PERSONALLY SENT TO NABOO when they're demanding someone go and appraise the situation. Maybe he's truly that bad of a leader and that in need of being removed but he doesn't come off as this kind of stupid. The Jedi appraisal also remains kind of dumb, though I had totally forgotten this is where "Vergence" comes from; decades before Acolyte would turn it into a meme.

That leads us to the final battle which remains memorable for both how good and bad it is. The weakest part is again, young Anakin and mostly because he serves as a second comedic relief that makes too much of the battle silly. Jar Jar, again, bothers me less than I expect but there's so much room in the space battle for Anakin's personality to develop that just goes to waste and it just ends up removing any stakes from the encounter. The duel remains great but doesn't really emotionally connect to the main conflict, particularly as Obi-Wan really hasn't had anything to do in the film.

Overall, its fine. I've always felt its the most fixable film in the franchise and definitely feel that way more upon rewatch. A lot of its more jarring elements have been folded into the franchise in such a way that they don't distract nearly as much, but the core issues with its pacing and runtime and dialogue and Anakin being a 10 year old that Padme mothers remain. There is no movie I more wish I had the power to remake and honestly 90% of the reason for that is it has so many good ideas and just doesn't land them.

Just needed a better director.

Jake Lloyd can act. Jingle All The Way proves that.

Jar Jar just needs toning down.

Both of these can be fixed with a better, arguably more importantly more restrained director.

Jar Jar just needs to change from comic relief to political activist. Just make him someone pushing hard for more integration with the Surface dwellers and that easily accounts for why they'd exile him to the surface; why he'd be exiled; why he'd clash with the ruling powers and why he'd be the one who ends up going to the Senate at the end.

Make him a high ranking politician and he will do great at being useless in battle, but good as a negotiator and so forth. Actually fits his role in the film almost perfectly and builds him up for rising in the Senate to the point where his vote of no confidence carries weight if he'd built political allies and so forth.

So, if the movie was different it would be a better movie? I mean, sure, take out the s*** characters, change the s*** dialogue, alter the s*** plot and redo the s*** fight choreography and we might be getting somewhere.

Dialogue is par for Star Wars at that time.

The action and effects are solid.

The plot is fine. More centred on politics than many expected, but it works.

Also, this is probably the first time I’ve seen someone bemoan the fight choreography!

Wire work super leaps, pointless spins.. tiresome. Williams score is doing some heavy lifting, the new fight music perhaps the only saving grace of the movie. Overread has said that it has been saved retroactively by the cartoons.

But hey, a new generation likes different things. I haven't seen TPM since it came out, and have no desire to see it again.

More importantly, why is my 'flag' the stars and stripes when I'm in the uk?

Just saw the most action I've ever seen in any movie... ever.

I just saw The Furious.

Imagine if you wedged the plot of Taken with the close up martial arts of the Raid.

Oh, and cram in all the action scenes from all the John Wick films...

Almost to the point of ridiculousness.

My step-dad and I really enjoyed it. Just don't expect good acting... or good dubbing.

Springstein: Nowhere to Run....Or something like that?

This is a boring movie. It is not bad perse, but it just has no real conflict and a very weak character arc/emotional arc. There is no reasons this movie exists except to herald the aging "Boss".

The main guy from The Bear is Bruce and he is putting out a good performance. There are also really good points about male friendship and relationships weaved in this flick, and that is the only real point of light in the whole thing.

I almost fell asleep during it, and I rarely do that if a movie is on.

Clash of the Titans

No. Not the good one. That’s going on later. This is the 2000’s one.

I don’t hate it. It’s not a complete waste of your time. But it doesn’t half tick the lazy trend boxes. Shaky cam and filmed from too close during combat being the worst offender. And of course, it lacks the charm of its illustrious predecessor.

The CGI remains pretty decent though. For instance, the killer scorpions move convincingly enough and have interesting and natural seeming texture and detailing on their carapace.

Also, Gemma Arterton. She’s dreamy, so always points for Gemma Arterton.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Jar Jar just needs toning down.

In my opinion his parts need better timing and cuts. Phantom Menace isn't very good in that regard. Contrast it with his Clone Wars episodes. The humor is the same but the implementation is so much better.

Disclosure Day (2026)

Yeah, enjoyed it. Not much to say really other than if one likes Spielberg then go treat yourself.

 Geifer wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Jar Jar just needs toning down.

In my opinion his parts need better timing and cuts. Phantom Menace isn't very good in that regard. Contrast it with his Clone Wars episodes. The humor is the same but the implementation is so much better.

Yeah, this is what I noticed as well. It's not just Jar Jar either. Scenes across the whole film have this really bad habit of lingering to the point where there's a fear the actors might forget the cameras are rolling.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Clash of the Titans

No. Not the good one. That’s going on later. This is the 2000’s one.

I don’t hate it. It’s not a complete waste of your time. But it doesn’t half tick the lazy trend boxes. Shaky cam and filmed from too close during combat being the worst offender. And of course, it lacks the charm of its illustrious predecessor.

The CGI remains pretty decent though. For instance, the killer scorpions move convincingly enough and have interesting and natural seeming texture and detailing on their carapace.

Also, Gemma Arterton. She’s dreamy, so always points for Gemma Arterton.

The deal breaker was humiliating Bubo. Cruel and ruthless crime!

That’s in the sequel, isn’t it?

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
That’s in the sequel, isn’t it?

I only saw a few minutes in passing of the remake. A glimpse of Bubo in a ‘locker room’ scene where he’s picked up and put down almost immediately, on screen for literally one second and some riding on some awkwardly animated giant scorpions. I’d seen enough.

SamusDrake wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Clash of the Titans

No. Not the good one. That’s going on later. This is the 2000’s one.

I don’t hate it. It’s not a complete waste of your time. But it doesn’t half tick the lazy trend boxes. Shaky cam and filmed from too close during combat being the worst offender. And of course, it lacks the charm of its illustrious predecessor.

The CGI remains pretty decent though. For instance, the killer scorpions move convincingly enough and have interesting and natural seeming texture and detailing on their carapace.

Also, Gemma Arterton. She’s dreamy, so always points for Gemma Arterton.

The deal breaker was humiliating Bubo. Cruel and ruthless crime!

Agreed!!