The Films You Watched Thread V: Dead Men Watch No Movies

[Solar]

Broken Arrow.
Haven't watched it since I was a teenager, and damn, it's aged so badly.Or it was just originally a bad movie and I was blinded by Samantha, and yeah I see now that even she wasn't "all that" either
I'm a pretty big fan of John Travolta and Christian Slater, but they really let themselves down in this one.
The cheesy guitar riff gets annoying too.

[Atticus]

Had a Marvel double bill tonight: Spider-Man Homecoming followed by Deadpool 2. Homecoming is still one of my fave comic book films. So much fun and it feels absolutely right. Great villain too ... Vulture is proper Metal Gear. Deadpool 2 was pretty forgettable ... couple of nice gags (some of which were spoiled by having the reference explained) but didn't grab me like the first one did.

[Asura]

The live-action version of Ghost in the Shell, even though I thought I would hate it, and guess what?

->Open Spoiler<-

I was right!

It was ~2 hours of my life I'm not getting back.

I think back now, and I honestly can't find one, sole, single positive thing to say about it.

Not a good adaptation. Not a good movie in isolation. It was just bad.

[Neon Ignition]

Weak, badly judged, boring to the mind, excruciatingly cheesy in parts and I'd die happy never seeing it again or a sequel getting made.

Pacific Rim: Uprising

Worthy sequel to the first film then

[QualityChimp]

The live-action version of Ghost in the Shell, even though I thought I would hate it, and guess what?

->Open Spoiler<-

I was right!

It was ~2 hours of my life I'm not getting back.

I think back now, and I honestly can't find one, sole, single positive thing to say about it.

Not a good adaptation. Not a good movie in isolation. It was just bad.

Interesting, because I do like it.
One thing I mentioned after seeing it at the cinema was that it's now over 20 years since the original anime movie and you've had two decades of sci-fi and wheareas the original felt seminal and influential, this felt derivative.

I don't know why you're struggling to say a single positive thing to say about it, there's plenty to praise.
They tried to be faithful to the original and used many shots from it, but didn't do a carbon copy of the plot, so there were still some surprises.
I also thought the production was fantastic with some great sets and plots and I really enjoyed looking at all the futuristic world on screen.

It'd be a dull world if we all liked the same thing, but it wasn't so bad that you turned it off.

Weak, badly judged, boring to the mind, excruciatingly cheesy in parts and I'd die happy never seeing it again or a sequel getting made.

Pacific Rim: Uprising

Worthy sequel to the first film then

Uprising had the emotional impact of an episode of Power Rangers, but I still love the original film.

It'd be a dull world if we all liked the same thing, but it wasn't so bad that you turned it off.

[Neon Ignition]

I didn't turn it off but I did fast forward a few bits that dragged on
They should let the series die off now, the likes of Godzilla show just how poorly done PR is

[Asura]

Interesting, because I do like it.
One thing I mentioned after seeing it at the cinema was that it's now over 20 years since the original anime movie and you've had two decades of sci-fi and wheareas the original felt seminal and influential, this felt derivative.

I don't know why you're struggling to say a single positive thing to say about it, there's plenty to praise.
They tried to be faithful to the original and used many shots from it, but didn't do a carbon copy of the plot, so there were still some surprises.
I also thought the production was fantastic with some great sets and plots and I really enjoyed looking at all the futuristic world on screen.

I can see your points, but I totally disagree.

Where you say "tried to be faithful", I see it as standing on the shoulders of a giant. I feel that many of the like-for-like scenes were bad; they looked similar or had the same framing, but they lacked the context of the original, and in many cases fell short in pacing and direction. Consider the water-fight scene; I felt it was pretty bad. The original is balletic, marvellously paced and shot, and makes great use of the animated medium. The film version just felt flat by comparison. It even follows a chase scene which has marvellous pacing, but the one in the movie had none of that.

I didn't like the production design. I felt the entire film looked and sounded "bland", like generic sci-fi. The cityscapes for instance looked too-CGI and didn't have any of the style of the original, with its incredible colour-palettes in the shots.

Ultimately I didn't like how they changed the central theme, from the Major asking questions that were broad and existential in the original, to a very personal quest-for-identity in the movie - a typical Hollywood arc that can wrap up neatly with a little bow in the third act, just in time for the end credits. I didn't feel it was true to the original's themes, which in my eyes makes it a bad adapatation, as that's the one thing I think an adaptation shouldn't change.

It'd be a dull world if we all liked the same thing, but it wasn't so bad that you turned it off.

I actually would have. I kept going because I wasn't liking it and wanted to criticise it, but felt it would be improper without at least sitting through it.

Not having a dig at you though QC; I mean I'm not blind. It didn't suffer from many of the problems of hollywood action movies these days; it was paced reasonably well, the visuals (though not to my taste) were consistent... It just really didn't like it.

[QualityChimp]

Nah, s'cool, Asura.

It's not an astonishing film, at all, I was just surprised you couldn't name a single positive, but you've now said it's reasonably paced and has consistent visuals, so that's a couple of things!

[Asura]

Nah, s'cool, Asura.

It's not an astonishing film, at all, I was just surprised you couldn't name a single positive, but you've now said it's reasonably paced and has consistent visuals, so that's a couple of things!

That's just stuff which isn't bad, though. There's a difference between something not being bad, and something being good.

[QualityChimp]

That's just stuff which isn't bad, though. There's a difference between something not being bad, and something being good.

Sheesh! Get off the fence! Do you like it or not?!

[Dogg Thang]

Finished up my mini Ring season with Ring 0. Ring 0 is a prequel and is largely a teenage drama about kids putting on a show. Yep. It shows Sadako before she ended up chucked down a well. What I didn’t remember at all is that the film is actually quite eerie. It’s a bit like Carrie but with some of those Ring creeps. I had only really remembered the teenage drama stuff.

It held up really well on a rewatch. Better than I was expecting. It adds to the lore of the series in a way that works. Many horror sequels try to explain more about their villain and usually with the result of weakening them. Ring 2 and Ring 0 both add elements to Sadako and she is especially humanised in Ring 0 but it works here, I feel. And it adds even more creepy elements, like with how her mother is handled in both of those movies, for example. There is some really weird stuff, like the presence of little Sadako, but it works. I enjoyed it.

I haven’t seen any Ring-related film after that. They made Sadako 3D and Sadako 3D 2 and also Sadako Vs Kayako, which I’d like to see. One weird thing is that apparently one of the main characters in Sadako 3D is the son of the main character in Rasen, making it a sequel to the sequel that was effectively wiped from existence rather than a sequel to the main series. That’s a strange choice. So there really are two separate Ring movie timelines. SF could make a good RCU thread.

Anyway, that Arrow blu ray set is really good and I loved revisiting these movies.

[Zaki]

Brawl In Cell Block 99 - brilliant turn from Vince Vaughan and a genuinely good watch. And there's some proper ott violence

Dragged Across Concrete is even better!

[charlesr]

As a generic action film gits is enjoyable. But lack of depth is is what gets it. Some nice visual choices can't make up for the lack of empathy for the characters. Even her meeting with her mum went nowhere. So you don't really care if she wins or loses a fight. And she's very overpowered so never seems at risk.

[Atticus]

Dragged Across Concrete is even better!

I didn’t realise it was out yet. Definite trip to the cinema.

[Leon Retro]

I watched a 1997 film called Breakdown, starring Kurt Russell. I had seen it back in the day and remembered liking it, but it turned out to be even better than I thought it would be. Kurt and the rest of the cast are great. The script flows perfectly and keeps things tense until the end. So a totally excellent film that I award 5/5.