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Spoilers What Movie Are You Watching?
- Thread starter Huntn
- Start date
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Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
A bit cerebral, yes and lacking the action/faster pace of the next 2-3 sequels, but a decent film in its own right IMO (does well to distract me/take my mind away from current events at least)
A bit cerebral, yes and lacking the action/faster pace of the next 2-3 sequels, but a decent film in its own right IMO (does well to distract me/take my mind away from current events at least)
War of the Worlds (2005)- 42% RTAS. Maybe it was the family bickering that earned this low Rotten Tomatos score?
Gritty, feels real and terrifying, with the human mobs as scary as the aliens. Great iconic scenes with first class CGI, first emergence, escape from Newark, the van scene, flaming train, ferry scene, Tim Robbins goes a little nuts scene, fertilizer scene, etc. Good Tom Cruise performance.
The only problem with this story can be forgiven because it is based on an 1897 novel, but I’d still argue that a technologically advanced alien race in the business of taking over alien worlds would know about alien germs, but then, maybe not...
Gritty, feels real and terrifying, with the human mobs as scary as the aliens. Great iconic scenes with first class CGI, first emergence, escape from Newark, the van scene, flaming train, ferry scene, Tim Robbins goes a little nuts scene, fertilizer scene, etc. Good Tom Cruise performance.
The only problem with this story can be forgiven because it is based on an 1897 novel, but I’d still argue that a technologically advanced alien race in the business of taking over alien worlds would know about alien germs, but then, maybe not...
same for me as well.
Sure is. Guess this is The Razor's Edge month, eh? I can't watch real life fireworks without thinking about that one scene. Until I looked at Wikipedia, I didn't realize quite how many of Maugham's books have movie adaptations, even having seen some of them and not realizing they were his.
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I am sad to hear of the passing of actor Ian Holm, perhaps most widely known for his role as Bilbo Baggins. I am a fan of a couple of his lesser known roles: Mitchell Stephens in The Sweet Hereafter and Pascal in Big Night.
en.wikipedia.org
Ian Holm - Wikipedia
Oh yes, Star Trek: The Motionless Picture ...
I revisit it on occasion, like you, I think it's decent, I like change of pacing vs. the next several sequels, and it's a nice stand-alone film.
BTW, nice TOS callback with your username
One thing I do when the RTCS conflicts with the RTAS (and usually this is a case where the latter is the lower one), I click through a few pages of audience reviews, see if there's low scores due to some inane politics, or just some unsupported negative stance - especially one off reviewers who never reviewed anything else (before or after).
If there's a ton of 1 star from those folks, I kind of just kind of adjust the score in my head.
It's a good take on the material, there's a couple of scenes that are as good as anything that's ever been film in the genre (the boat attack scene is just spectacular).
Ref: War of the Worlds. This is really a mystery to me, the basis of 1 star ratings for this movie.
Aliens (1986) But the 1991 Special Edition on Blu-ray Disc.
Just finished watching "JoJo Rabbit". What a great movie! I highly recommend it. Taika did an awesome job and delivered a great film!
This is a movie that just doesn't age. It's lost exactly 0% of it's brilliance in the 30 years since it was released. And now I want to watch it again.
Unfortunately the same cannot be said about the sequels / reboots / spinoffs / what ever else there is at this point. Predator 2 had it's moments, and to be fair Gary Busey is always a plus, but compared to the original? Fuhgeddaboudit.
The hype is real.😁
Honestly, I didn’t really care for the movie. I watched it multiple times, I do like towards the end where Schwarzenegger is figuring out how to defeat the Predator. But it’s one of those strange movies somehow that you watch for the sake of.....watching it, if that makes any sense?
As someone who follows Schwarzenegger in the bodybuilding industry, he was in his prime this one, just the crazy amount of mass he had on him for filming. Carl Weathers included.
Agree 100%
We like what we like and we dislike what we dislike.
I loved the movie when it came out and for years afterward. Then once I was in the Marines I grew to love and appreciate it even more.
To each their own.
Genius. Plus Paxton!
HBOMAX has all 4 Alien films, including the Alien Directors Cut which I've actually never seen (though I'm familiar with the additional content). The Aliens DC/SE is pretty terrific, that additional setup in the beginning (with the colonists) is terrific.
Right? The concept is fantastic, I love the super long setup, I mean, the Predator doesn't even show till, what? Like 30 minutes into the film?
So many great things: Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura, Carl Weathers! Stan Winston involved in the FX (actually did a redesign), Shane Black the "writer" was a character (Hawkins), supposedly to have a writer on deck (he later wrote and directed one of the sequel/reboots).
It's such a beautiful snapshot of everything that was excellent about 80s movies. The material worked better in that decade, in trying to overthink it (in later versions), it took away what it made it so good. Infinitely rewatchable
According to IMDb, the Predator only had 8 minutes of screen time in the movie. How’s that for build up and suspense?
According to IMDb, the Predator only had 8 minutes of screen time in the movie. How’s that for build up and suspense?
Ha! It feels like so much more. They took a page from Jaws, less is more (though in the case of Jaws, that was more so due to FX issues). We rewatched Jaws just recently, wow, it's just so good, there are a couple of character moments that couldn't ever be reproduced, just like the perfect moment, perfect cast, one and done - like the scene with Quint (Robert Shaw) when they're drinking on the boat overnight, aka, the "Indianapolis Speech".
Spike Lee: Da 5 Bloods (2020)
The premise was interesting. Four veterans of the Vietnam War go back to get the remains of their fallen comrade. And a case of gold bars they stashed in the jungle during the war.
The execution? Not so much, unfortunately. First of all, and this is a general gripe I have with many films nowadays, this didn't need to be two and a half hours long. The pacing just felt uneven, and while the principal cast was great (so nice to get to see that one scene with Isiah Whitlock Jr. channeling Clay Davis again), they had some trouble keeping me interested in their fate. If one were to be humorous, one could read things into how Spike likes to handle the Finn he has cast in his two latest movies, but I'm just glad Jasper Pääkkönen gets work in Hollywood, and handles himself well. It was a nice touch to feature Ride of the Valkyries by Wagner, during a boat ride no less.
Spike Lee has made some great movies, but the last two have for some reason fallen flat for me. Both had good premises but somehow just didn't manage to deliver all the way.
Agreed! And I love the fact that the production company had to hire a bodyguard for Sonny Landham (Billy). Not for his protection, but for the protection of others from him. Dude apparently had a pretty short fuse and a tendency to fly off the handle every now and again, so for insurance purposes it was deemed prudent to have a guy watch over him at all times when not in front of the camera.
The premise was interesting. Four veterans of the Vietnam War go back to get the remains of their fallen comrade. And a case of gold bars they stashed in the jungle during the war.
The execution? Not so much, unfortunately. First of all, and this is a general gripe I have with many films nowadays, this didn't need to be two and a half hours long. The pacing just felt uneven, and while the principal cast was great (so nice to get to see that one scene with Isiah Whitlock Jr. channeling Clay Davis again), they had some trouble keeping me interested in their fate. If one were to be humorous, one could read things into how Spike likes to handle the Finn he has cast in his two latest movies, but I'm just glad Jasper Pääkkönen gets work in Hollywood, and handles himself well. It was a nice touch to feature Ride of the Valkyries by Wagner, during a boat ride no less.
Spike Lee has made some great movies, but the last two have for some reason fallen flat for me. Both had good premises but somehow just didn't manage to deliver all the way.
Agreed! And I love the fact that the production company had to hire a bodyguard for Sonny Landham (Billy). Not for his protection, but for the protection of others from him. Dude apparently had a pretty short fuse and a tendency to fly off the handle every now and again, so for insurance purposes it was deemed prudent to have a guy watch over him at all times when not in front of the camera.
I looked at my Jaws DVD today and considered it but ended up with the Predator. Jaws is awesome too. The “speech” scene is great too. But I prefer, “you’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
