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What Is The Last Film You Watched? (Newer Films)


King Mark

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Solo - fun enough, but some signs of its awkward production are noticeable ... it's overlong and kinda fumbles the 'build' to its ending, for example. 

Rogue One is definitely the better of the SW 'backstory' movies so far.

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22 minutes ago, Sweeping Strings said:

Solo - fun enough, but some signs of its awkward production are noticeable ... it's overlong and kinda fumbles the 'build' to its ending, for example. 
 

 

The question is, did you buy him as Han Solo? Was this a Star Wars movie or just a generic action movie about a character that incidentally has the same name?

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It paints him as a good guy deep down, who thinks he's a cool rogue-ish bad guy who doesn't care about anybody, when in fact he does get attached, and too much. It's fitting with his role in Star Wars, not that much with him leaving everything to become a rogue again by TFA (there's a huge age gap, though, much could have happen). I kinda bought it was Han.

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Looks and sounds like a wait for Netflix movie to me. Who knew Star Wars would be a bit franchise faitiguey after all these new movies bombarding the cinemas every few months.

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Dito. There are a hundred ways to make an interesting movie within this universe but after seeing the reaction to (even) TLJ i can just imagine the forks and torches when a REALLY interesting variation hits the cinemas. Next.

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If you think Rogue One was a fan service wait for this one. Easter Egg after Easter Egg and absolutely no risk on any front. The music is bit different, true, but mixed so low that it won't matter. There's nothing particularly WRONG with it per se. It's just really dull.


Karol

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'Rogue One' was just one very lame movie full of one wrong story progression after the next. The Vader scene was the really the only saving grace, coming very late, saving very little.

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Solo

 

Well made, fun, properly paced heist flick that gets a lot right that Rogue one got wrong.

Solid, well drawn characters, good dialogue, and sets up Solo in the SW universe in a totally acceptable and satisfying way.

 

21 minutes ago, crocodile said:

If you think Rogue One was a fan service wait for this one. Easter Egg after Easter Egg and absolutely no risk on any front.

 

I disagree. I find the fan service well placed for the most part and I cared about all the characters. This is a lot better than Rogue one.

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1 hour ago, Chen G. said:

 

If he did, would that make this film any good?

 

If you're doing a movie about a loved Star Wars character, it's better to get it right then get it wrong, don't you think?

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Sure, but there's more to a film than just getting the titular character right.

 

The story is far more important.

 

The critique I'm hearing about Solo isn't about the main character and certainly not the actor's performance. That's all secondary to what seems to be an episodic, none-engaging story.

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12 minutes ago, crocodile said:

You are satisfied with pretty much anything, aren't you? ;)

 

Karol

 

No, not at all. I thought Rogue One was a failure.

 

You didnt like Solo? Not Nolan enough I guess?

9 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

The story is far more important.

 

No, the story doesnt matter as much as how the story is told. Both Kasdan and Ron Howard do good solid work in that regard. 

 

Well paced  movie too. Probably the best paced SW film for decades.

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3 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

 

The story is far more important.

 

 

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of story. After some time, you kinda heard it all. I prefer movies that are character, atmosphere, theme and style driven. If they get the character right, then I'm inclined to condone its other problems. If the characters doesn't feel right or authentic then I'm inclined to judge more harshly.

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7 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

 

No, not at all. I thought Rogue One was a failure.

 

You didnt like Solo? Not Nolan enough I guess?

 

 

If you paid attention, you'd know I had issues with every single Nolan film in the past decade (starting with The Dark Knight). ;) That is actually true.

 

There was nothing wrong with Solo. It was just predictable and boring.

 

Karol

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33 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

Solo

 

Well made, fun, properly paced heist flick that gets a lot right that Rogue one got wrong.

Solid, well drawn characters, good dialogue, and sets up Solo in the SW universe in a totally acceptable and satisfying way.

 

 

I disagree. I find the fan service well placed for the most part and I cared about all the characters. This is a lot better than Rogue one.

I agree and so much better scored. Powell > giacchino.

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6 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of story. After some time, you kinda heard it all. I prefer movies that are character, atmosphere, theme and style driven. If they get the character right, then I'm inclined to condone its other problems. If the characters doesn't feel right or authentic then I'm inclined to judge more harshly.

 

Than what's stopping you from watching a two-hour mockumentary about Han's dietery habits and bowl movement?

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1 hour ago, Chen G. said:

 

Than what's stopping you from watching a two-hour mockumentary about Han's dietery habits and bowl movement?

 

At least that sounds like a path less travelled.

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8 hours ago, publicist said:

'Rogue One' was just one very lame movie full of one wrong story progression after the next. The Vader scene was the really the only saving grace, coming very late, saving very little.

 

Indeed. It was boring like Solo, but Solo at least wasn't a totally pointless joyless film.

 

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11 hours ago, publicist said:

'Rogue One' was just one very lame movie full of one wrong story progression after the next. The Vader scene was the really the only saving grace, coming very late, saving very little.

I thought the Vader scenes were an insult to any intelligent person. It was such a poorly conceived  sequence. Its as if the writers put Kylo Ren into the film wearing Vader's mask. It was the finale nail in the coffin for that film to me.

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The Vader scene on Mustafar is okay. The Vader scene over Scarif is ridiculous because he goes absolutely berserk moments before he steps onto the Tantive IV much calmer, other than choking one guy.

 

Where's the missing scene where they feed a hangry Darth Vader a Snickers in hyperspace? 

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2 hours ago, JoeinAR said:

I thought the Vader scenes were an insult to any intelligent person. It was such a poorly conceived  sequence. Its as if the writers put Kylo Ren into the film wearing Vader's mask. It was the finale nail in the coffin for that film to me.

 

For once an iconic scene that worked cinematically. 

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Turns out there's a fair few OG fans who are surprisingly still quite precious about Star Wars, and they are by all accounts still quite vulnerable to feeling hurt by how it plays out. 

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On 28/05/2018 at 12:14 PM, Alexcremers said:

 

The question is, did you buy him as Han Solo? Was this a Star Wars movie or just a generic action movie about a character that incidentally has the same name?


Hmm ... he manages a certain cocky swagger as the film goes on, but there wasn't much there to remind me of Ford ultimately. 

Agree with what others are saying about Glover's Lando (although the less said about the inferences concerning what he and his droid sidekick get up to, the better :eh: ) .

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Solo. Was it "necessary"? No, but then neither were the PT nor the ST, and you could even argue about ESB. But it was a lot of fun! And it being intentionally more shallow* than the main series (and RO, due to being so directly connected to the events of SW) means that it can get away with much more than most SW films. I was thoroughly entertained and, unlike at least all the PT and ST installments, nothing rubbed me the wrong way.

 

*) Not that the OT or the other main series installments are particularly deep. But they aspire to "higher drama" than Solo does.

 

CD's arriving next week. Looking forward to that.

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Thoroughbreds - Set against the fitting facade of wealthy suburban Connecticut, Amanda, a disturbed teenage girl is sent to her former best friend for SAT tutoring, who it is quickly revealed has plenty of problems of her own.  Lily, provoked by her dismissal from Andover, takes inspiration in Amanda's apparent sociopathy (she "doesn't have emotions," and teaches Lily how to fake cry quite convincingly) and develops a desire to kill her asshole stepfather.  Amanda, it turns out, is facing animal cruelty charges for brutally killing her own horse in a mercy killing gone horrifically wrong, and in Lily's mind, this makes her a reciprocal murder tutor.  Together, they enlist Tim (Anton Yelchin in one of his last roles), quite possibly the world's worst drug dealer (and convicted sex offender), to serve as their hitman.  Oh, and it's largely played as a black comedy up until the (finally, after being a milder-than-expected film for most of its runtime) disturbing twist:

Spoiler

During the planning stage of the murder, Amanda gives a stunning Hannibal Lecture (see tvtropes) on how Tim's life is not worth living due to his legal difficulties.  After Tim decides not to go through with killing the stepfather, Lily has to find another way to kill Mark.  She spikes Amanda's drink one night while they are hanging out, intending to murder Mark and frame a drugged Amanda for the crime, but bails at the last moment and confesses this to Amanda.  Instead of rethinking the plan, though, she turns Amanda's speech back on her, and Amanda chugs the drink anyway, allowing Lily to (off-screen) stab Mark to death while she passes out on the couch.  Amanda (presumably) spends the rest of her life in a mental hospital for the animal cruelty and homicide charges, while Lily's life returns to normal (her disingenuous appeal letter to Andover for her plagiarism-related expulsion apparently works).  It's strongly implied through a voice-over letter that Amanda's psychiatrist's original diagnosis of extreme depression was right all along, and much of the emotionless persona was merely a coping mechanism for her trauma.

It's a really brutal ending, but I'm not sure the film actually earns it.  While Mark is certainly a dick, but the actual emotional abuse is fairly mild.  This plays up the black comedy - people suffer much worse without having any thoughts of murder - but it makes the whole effort feel rather pointless.  I have to commend the filmmakers for getting the setting right--having overlapped with that world when I was in boarding school, I can say very few media representations accomplish that--but it's a thin story that never takes full advantage of its conceptual potential or cutting insight into New England elite life.

 

One truly standout element, though, is Erik Friedlander's score.  Seething cello, pounding percussion, and bizarre prepared piano--all rather mundane-sounding elements in today's film music world, but used quite uniquely here--come together for a really stunning sound that clashes with the film's visuals in the best possible way.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Solo: A Star Wars Story - Really enjoyed this. Probably the purest fun Star Wars film, I've seen in some time. The action sequences were thrilling, Ehrenreich was a solid Han, Glover was a great Lando, and the visuals were stunning. Plus I really dug the "space heist" aspect.  

 

Also hearing Powell's score in the context of the film really made me appreciate it more. It fit so well with the visuals. The love theme in particular is quite stunning. - 7.5 / 10

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23 minutes ago, Fancyarcher said:

Solo: A Star Wars Story - Really enjoyed this. Probably the purest fun Star Wars film, I've seen in some time. The action sequences were thrilling, Ehrenreich was a solid Han, Glover was a great Lando, and the visuals were stunning. Plus I really dug the "space heist" aspect.  

 

Also hearing Powell's score in the context of the film really made me appreciate it more. It fit so well with the visuals. The love theme in particular is quite stunning. - 7.5 / 10

 

Unfortunate that it's underperforming, a good film.

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It's like Disney would cast Jennifer Lawrence in a Star Wars movie. It would be very wrong. You cast relatively unknown actors and a few character actors. You don't enlist popular personality actors for the Star Wars universe. 

 

Who's running this franchise?!

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Like Diet Coke says, Hollywood stars are distracting. It becomes almost impossible for the viewer to believe they truly belong to the Star Wars universe. 

 

 

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I know it worked that way for me. But hey, maybe it's different today. Maybe the new Star Wars audience doesn't care whether Ariana Grande or Daisy Ridley is playing Rey. I know that casting unknown actors was important to JJ Abrams because he wanted to emulate Lucas' style of casting. I'm pretty sure he too believes that it helps.

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