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

[A24 5,027]

164 reviews counted? Joey is right. It won't go down.

[Sweeping Strings 3,257]

Meh. When it comes to a 2015 spy flick that knows how to have fun, I'll stick with Kingsman.

[BloodBoal 8,066]

The Brits know how to do it best!

[crocodile 9,519]

My review of the Jurassic World (mild spoilers):

http://assortedbuffery.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/film-review-jurassic-world.html?m=1

Karol

[Matt C 572]

Jurassic World - I had a lot of fun with this. Still can't hold a candle to the original, but definitely stronger than The Lost World and Jurassic Park 3. Fans will definitely get a kick of the numerous throwbacks and references, and action-wise, it doesn't disappoint.

I was surprised how brutal this film can get. Certainly more graphic than JP and TLW in terms of dinosaurs attacking and eating the hapless humans.

[Jay 45,203]

Jurassic World

I'm struggling what to say about this because it is quite a mixed bag of really good scenes and really bad / awkward / cliches scenes. Almost constantly flip-flopping between the two, and its hard to say which ends up on top. When the movie ended last night I would say I liked it, with the good outweighing the bad, but the more I ponder on it, the more the less-good aspects stand out over the good. Here's how I see it

The Good:

-For once, the trailers didn't ruin things! I had become less and less interesting in the film with each new trailer because the special effects seemed to be getting worse, but in the final film (at least under the blur of 3D glasses) the special effects were totally fine throughout! Pretty impressive, actually!

But more importantly, the trailers didn't give away all the best moments; There are two entire chase scenes that were not seen in any trailers I saw, and they were both great! Two of the best scenes, really. So kudos to the marketing department there.

-The dialogue was above-par for summer popcorn entertainment. Some funny, quippy one liners, and also some nice insights some characters have about situations.

-The raptors were awesome in all their scenes. Especially when they go off to find the I-Rex with Own on the motorcycle. Really cool sequence!

-Jake Johnson and Lauren Lapkus were great in all their scenes. I especially enjoyed their final one together.

-Owen was a cool new character. I like how much he did without actually having a lot of lines at all. I'm sure he'll be in another sequel or two even if nobody else returns.

-It was cool seeing the full park Hammond envisioned fully opened and operational, and interesting portrayal of what could happen in some alternate reality where this crazy science was possible. Especially smart was having young characters be so blase about the whole experience - it rings SO TRUE with what I see all the time with these kids today!

-Plenty of great action setpieces and chase sequences. The kind of stuff you want in your summer popcorn escape films!

-The score was great and mixed very loudly throughout!

The Bad:

-Despite the overall good dialogue, there was some bad stuff too, like that early scene with Owen and Claire that was shown as the first clip of the film. WTF was that all about? Owen is a masochistic jerk in that scene, and then he never is again in any other scenes!

-Despite the generally good special effects, there was a few bad spots, like the helicopter crash and some daylight shots.

-The animatronics were great and should have been used for more scenes where the characters have to directly interact with dinosaurs; Sometimes when they are touching CGI it was just weird!

-Some character motivations are muddled and confusing, especially the Hoskins character. His entire arc seemed either hacked up or just underwritten to me. I'll discuss it more in the thread for the film.

-I'll save my other nitpicks for that thread, actually

One other thing I should mention is that it's an interesting sequel that while it doesn't necessarily ignore the 2nd and 3rd films, it doesn't make a single reference to them at all that I could see. And really, it doesn't even mention anything from the first movie other than Hammond (who is mentioned a lot). You could watch the first film and then then one and not miss anything at all. I thought that was interesting.

So I guess I recommend it as summer popcorn fun, but not if you're looking for anything deeper than usual. It captures the great action and adventure feel of 80s and 90s movies more than it does modern action movies - in the way its shot, edited, and scored. No Michael Bay hyper editing here, or Marvel-overly-long-explosion-filled-climax either.

[FBC Director 10,764]

So what happened to the spinosaurus and the talking raptors?

[Jim 6,174]

"If you're looking for this," "if you're looking for that, blah blah blah"

I don't really think anyone going to see the fourth sequel to a dinosaur movie franchise really ought to be worrying about what they're looking for here.

[FBC Director 10,764]

I was looking for awesomeness and got it.

[Jay 45,203]

It was a fun. If I can ignore the nitpicky things I didn't like, it was full of great action and chase scenes with a ripping score

[FBC Director 10,764]

Track 2 from the Jurassic Park album was nicely used.

[Jay 45,203]

The film makes good use of the original JW JP themes, actually; The OST CD misses out some key uses of those old themes that are better done than the ones that are on the OST (like when the kids enter the visitor center).

Overall, they basically use the original themes for anything specific to Hammond, the old park, his idea of what the park should be, and the original T-Rex, and then use the new themes for everything completely new

[FBC Director 10,764]

I couldn't tell what the new themes were. This sounded like a Ken Thorne/Alexander Courage/Don Davis/William Ross/John Ottman job.

[Jay 45,203]

Well, there's a new main theme that gets blasted out a lot; a Family theme (usually used for the brothers), a theme for Vic Hoskins and his ACU team, a theme for Owen's raptor squad, and 2 themes for the I-Rex.

See here:

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=24405&p=1137769

[crocodile 9,519]

Ken Thorne/Alexander Courage/Don Davis/William Ross/John Ottman job.

While I do get your point somewhat, those gentlemen have very little in common with each other. Other that they worked on Williams' material.

But then, you know that.

Karol

[Jay 45,203]

Those scores took Williams themes and incorporated them into the new score throughout.

With Jurassic World, its basically a completely original score, with specifically placed cameos of the old themes in certain spots.

[crocodile 9,519]

Oh yeah, I know. But what I mean they're nothing alike in terms of background and technical abilities. Worlds apart, even.

Karol

[BloodBoal 8,066]

-Jake Johnson and Lauren Lapkus were great in all their scenes. I especially enjoyed their final one together.

Nice little moment. ^^

[crocodile 9,519]

Loved that scene.

Karol

[Jay 45,203]

It's extremely realistically written, yet something you never see in a movie, at least not one like this

[FBC Director 10,764]

Oh yeah, I know. But what I mean they're nothing alike in terms of background and technical abilities. Worlds apart, even.

Karol

Yeah, like, I totes meant that while writing the post.

[Lewya 361]

I just finished watching Chappie and I didn't like it at all. I think it could be Blomkamp's worst film so far.

I just hated the characters in this one, only Chappie is the decent character but he too gets annoying at times. The best thing about the film is Zimmer's score and some neat effects but not even that is anything really special.

Quite weak 2/5 for me.

[Matt C 572]

Mad Max: Fury Road

Hugely overrated, but it has its merits. I liked how George Miller made the female characters capable of taking care of themselves, but aside from Charlize Theron's Furiosa, I couldn't remember their names. The film is one big action sequence and not much plot, but Miller gets major kudos for going back and embracing old-school techniques with in-camera practical effects, dummies, that sort of thing. But the grittiness and lived-in feeling of the film is undone by the campier aspects, like the villain with the flame-emitting electric guitar and the conclusion to the action climax, which feels more like a Michael Bay film (with dramatic underscore and slow-motion).

Tom Hardy is fine but ultimately takes a backseat to Theron. Furiosa is such a badass.

[Jim 6,174]

Limitless, another fairly well made movie with an interesting concept but wasted by another humdrum Nolan-like imagination. In the hands of more adventurous directors the pitch of a man with access to a cutting edge drug which grants him superhuman levels of cognitive and physical dexterity might have seen us treated to a truly thrilling piece of inventive and capricious sci-fi. But what does Bradley Cooper (who is decent) do here? He plays the stock market. Fucking yawn.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 11,844]

Apparently there's a TV show based on this.

[Jim 6,174]

Won't be golden age.

[A24 5,027]

Mad Max: Fury Road

Hugely overrated, but it has its merits.

So people are liking it way too much?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 11,844]

Or Matt C just didn't really get it.

[BloodBoal 8,066]

Mad Max: Fury Road

Hugely overrated

NO!

But the grittiness and lived-in feeling of the film is undone by the campier aspects, like the villain with the flame-emitting electric guitar

He's the highlight of the film!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 11,844]

He's cool!

[Hurmm 103]

The flamming guitar guy was perfect. It wasn't exactly camp. It showed how crazy the world had become. The campiest bit was when The People Eater was blinded and started firing his two machine guns with the moonlight right behind him. It was straight out of a Robert Rodriguez movie.

Whether or not Fury Road is a classic, well I guess we'll know a few years down the road. I don't know now but I can a hard time remembering the last time a live action action movie was this good. Do I have to go all the way back to The Matrix? There are probably one or two after that that's evading my memory right now...

(If we include non-live action it's the best since The Adventures of Tintin. Yeah I love that movie. )

[Brónach 1,321]

I like it more than The Matrix

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 11,844]

The campiest bit was when The People Eater was blinded and started firing his two machine guns with the moonlight right behind him. It was straight out of a Robert Rodriguez movie.

Bullit Farmer.

[crocodile 9,519]

The flamming guitar guy was perfect. It wasn't exactly camp. It showed how crazy the world had become. The campiest bit was when The People Eater was blinded and started firing his two machine guns with the moonlight right behind him. It was straight out of a Robert Rodriguez movie.

Whether or not Fury Road is a classic, well I guess we'll know a few years down the road. I don't know now but I can a hard time remembering the last time a live action action movie was this good. Do I have to go all the way back to The Matrix? There are probably one or two after that that's evading my memory right now...

(If we include non-live action it's the best since The Adventures of Tintin. Yeah I love that movie. )

Raid 2. It's a similar sort of thing but within martial art genre. Characterisation through action and beautifully directed.

Karol

[Hurmm 103]

The campiest bit was when The People Eater was blinded and started firing his two machine guns with the moonlight right behind him. It was straight out of a Robert Rodriguez movie.

Bullit Farmer.

Bullet Farmer.

The flamming guitar guy was perfect. It wasn't exactly camp. It showed how crazy the world had become. The campiest bit was when The People Eater was blinded and started firing his two machine guns with the moonlight right behind him. It was straight out of a Robert Rodriguez movie.

Whether or not Fury Road is a classic, well I guess we'll know a few years down the road. I don't know now but I can a hard time remembering the last time a live action action movie was this good. Do I have to go all the way back to The Matrix? There are probably one or two after that that's evading my memory right now...

(If we include non-live action it's the best since The Adventures of Tintin. Yeah I love that movie. )

Raid 2. It's a similar sort of thing but within martial art genre. Characterisation through action and beautifully directed.

Karol

Well I thought Raid 2 was overlong and had too many superfluous bits in it. The Raid was great. Not sure if I would give it the same credit in terms of movie making as Fury Road but maybe that's just me being dismissive.

[crocodile 9,519]

I agree that some bits bog it down slightly. But it's a visceral piece of action cinema nontheless.

You also need to remember it had over 30 times smaller budget than Fury Road.

Karol

[A24 5,027]

It was a bit too long, yes. The Raid 2 had a lot more ambition, story-wise. I guess they felt they couldn't repeat the simplicity of the first one.

[Jim 6,174]

Mad Max Fury Road. To be honest I'm pretty disappointed after all the recommendations I've had here. It was just two hours of relentless mechanical viscera and I've never known a movie's sound design to be so excessively - violently - loud, the percussion heavy score alone made Man of Steel sound like John Barry. The film was something different, and I appreciate it for that, the action was by and large well done. Some of the wide shots were really striking and the mise en scene quota was rich there. But it was exhausting. The total lack of storyline and even dialogue were what hurt the experience the most for me, the characters were worthless and to be frank I don't even know why they bothered to call the thing Max Max. Mad 2 Hours would have been more apt. If you want 120 minutes of nigh on endless high speed big rig battles in the desert then great, but that kind of thing certainly doesn't do much for me. 2/5

[BloodBoal 8,066]

Ouch.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 11,844]

Idiot!

[Jim 6,174]

Let's just say there's a good reason why I've never seen a Fast and the Furious movie.

[BloodBoal 8,066]

Vin Diesel?

[Jim 6,174]

Vin Diesel is decent!

[Hurmm 103]

Tbh I expected more people to respond to Fury Road the way Quint just did.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 11,844]

Most people saw the light. Lee did not.

Oh well....

[Jim 6,174]

I'm surprised you're into destruction derby Steef.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 11,844]

I'm into virtuoso action, strong characters and an interesting story.

[Jim 6,174]

The action was well done, I agree. But I didn't see the Cameron comparisons you mentioned, sadly.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 11,844]

Cameron, McTiernan, Spielberg, the lot

[Jim 6,174]

The difference with those guys is they know when to pause and have a breather. Mad Max has a couple of breathers, but they feel empty and fruitless. And then comes the onslaught again, and again.