The Movie Thread

[Oldfaithful]

Holy fuck Baby Driver is an amazing movie. Best movie I've seen in the theaters in year and even better on the second viewing.

Good on you Edgar Wright. Your best film.. And Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim, and Hot Fuzz are fantastic movies in their own right.

I never thought I'd get chills listening to Barry White, but damnit he did it. The whole movie is brilliant but that scene is repeatable as fuck.

 

[rossihunter2]

Holy fuck Baby Driver is an amazing movie. Best movie I've seen in the theaters in year and even better on the second viewing.

Good on you Edgar Wright. Your best film.. And Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim, and Hot Fuzz are fantastic movies in their own right.

I never thought I'd get chills listening to Barry White, but damnit he did it. The whole movie is brilliant but that scene is repeatable as fuck.

i dunno man, i liked it less on 2nd viewing, it seems a lot shallower than edgar wright's other movies in terms of theme, concept, realisation, character - i genuinely think hot fuzz is a masterpiece

if you've got 25 minutes at some point - this (weird) video essay notices some really interesting things about hot fuzz:

 

[BloodRaven]

Holy fuck Baby Driver is an amazing movie. Best movie I've seen in the theaters in year and even better on the second viewing.

Good on you Edgar Wright. Your best film.. And Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim, and Hot Fuzz are fantastic movies in their own right.

I never thought I'd get chills listening to Barry White, but damnit he did it. The whole movie is brilliant but that scene is repeatable as fuck.

SPOILERS

It was really good, I don't care for the lead actor though and Jamie Foxx (though good) was too big a name for his role imo. My favorite part was the antagonist bait and switch.

One problem with the film is they gave him a reason to cancel the job and he insisted on continuing... despite trying to sneak out later that night.

 

[rossihunter2]

It was really good, I don't care for the lead actor though and Jamie Foxx (though good) was too big a name for his role imo. My favorite part was the antagonist bait and switch.

what do you mean about the bait and switch?
also im not sure the role was too small for jamie foxx - it looked like he was having fun in the role

 

[BloodRaven]

what do you mean about the bait and switch?
also im not sure the role was too small for jamie foxx - it looked like he was having fun in the role

Throughout the movie it looked like Kevin Spacey was the antagonist and Jon Hamm was laid back.

 

[rossihunter2]

Throughout the movie it looked like Kevin Spacey was the antagonist and Jon Hamm was laid back.

oh right - i thought that was a weaker element of the plot - kevin spacey's change of heart came out of nowhere and didnt seem particularly justified except just "plot" reasons - a lot of the characters in baby driver were paper thin and not particularly well written for me - a lot of the plot decisions were quite contrived in my opinion - ive loved all of edgar wright's work to this point and i really liked the music video concept of this one and the execution and style was breathtaking but overall i think it's maybe his weakest film - also proved to me once and for all that he really doesnt know how to right or present women in cinema - i excused it in his previous films because it felt plot-related and relevant and maybe even a commentary on the industry but here it felt disappointing

 

[BloodRaven]

oh right - i thought that was a weaker element of the plot - kevin spacey's change of heart came out of nowhere and didnt seem particularly justified except just "plot" reasons - a lot of the characters in baby driver were paper thin and not particularly well written for me - a lot of the plot decisions were quite contrived in my opinion - ive loved all of edgar wright's work to this point and i really liked the music video concept of this one and the execution and style was breathtaking but overall i think it's maybe his weakest film - also proved to me once and for all that he really doesnt know how to right or present women in cinema - i excused it in his previous films because it felt plot-related and relevant and maybe even a commentary on the industry but here it felt disappointing

I just like movies that aren't predictable or filled to the brim with tropes.

 

[rossihunter2]

I just like movies that aren't predictable or filled to the brim with tropes.

oh me too, but i dont like twists for the sake of twists or twists that feel like they exist just because the writer couldnt think how to get to the next plot point - they have to be earned and it's not necessarily a difficult thing to pull off

but yeah tropes get tired very quickly - although i love a good movie that sends up those tropes - it's why hot fuzz and shaun of the dead are great to watch and if anything get better on repeat viewings

 

[BloodRaven]

oh me too, but i dont like twists for the sake of twists or twists that feel like they exist just because the writer couldnt think how to get to the next plot point - they have to be earned and it's not necessarily a difficult thing to pull off

but yeah tropes get tired very quickly - although i love a good movie that sends up those tropes - it's why hot fuzz and shaun of the dead are great to watch and if anything get better on repeat viewings

Do you believe a storyline needs perfectly tied up loose ends? there has to be a balance between the known and unknown, I don't think it leaves room for impulse. Another thing that bugs me is the responsibility of perfect representation within the framework of a fictional movie.

 

[rossihunter2]

Do you believe a storyline needs perfectly tied up loose ends? there has to be a balance between the known and unknown, I don't think it leaves room for impulse. Another thing that bugs me is the responsibility of perfect representation within the framework of a fictional movie.

oh no not at all - who doesnt love mystery? i just mean that a twist cant just come out of left field for the sake of being a twist - it has to be earned by the writing - i dont want to see it coming but i dont want to feel cheated by the twist and i most certainly dont need loose ends tied up

in terms of representation i have no problems with a film reflecting the era and place it exists within but i think the film industry has a responsibility to tell different kinds of stories and to cast the best person for a part regardless of race or disposition

like obviously there are certain types of historical times and places that were full of just white people and that's fine as long as we also tell stories about other kinds of people or that when we tell stories of modern places we arent just telling stories about white men in positions of power...

so im all for a film not being criticised for representation if that's historically accurate

but i think the arts should be an inclusive medium so there has to be a place for more balanced representations too with different types of protagonists and stories - people dont have to watch every different type of film but there should be films made for all different people

 

[BloodRaven]

oh no not at all - who doesnt love mystery? i just mean that a twist cant just come out of left field for the sake of being a twist - it has to be earned by the writing - i dont want to see it coming but i dont want to feel cheated by the twist and i most certainly dont need loose ends tied up

in terms of representation i have no problems with a film reflecting the era and place it exists within but i think the film industry has a responsibility to tell different kinds of stories and to cast the best person for a part regardless of race or disposition

like obviously there are certain types of historical times and places that were full of just white people and that's fine as long as we also tell stories about other kinds of people or that when we tell stories of modern places we arent just telling stories about white men in positions of power...

so im all for a film not being criticised for representation if that's historically accurate

but i think the arts should be an inclusive medium so there has to be a place for more balanced representations too with different types of protagonists and stories - people dont have to watch every different type of film but there should be films made for all different people

You're right a twist ending should be earned with good writing, but 'm just so jaded by lazy movies that I came in with low expectations and didn't see it coming, there isn't a lot of variation in bank heist movies.

Also I only bring up poor representation because its one of the main criticisms of Blade Runner 2. Within the framework of a fictional movie a character can be anything, male, female, other, sexist, racist, a victim, trophy, etc etc to tell the story, there is no moral obligation to make all female characters into Xena.

 

[rossihunter2]

You're right a twist ending should be earned with good writing, but 'm just so jaded by lazy movies that I came in with low expectations and didn't see it coming, there isn't a lot of variation in bank heist movies.

Also I only bring up poor representation because its one of the main criticisms of Blade Runner 2. Within the framework of a fictional movie a character can be anything, male, female, other, sexist, racist, a victim, trophy, etc etc to tell the story, there is no moral obligation to make all female characters into Xena.

not at all and bladerunner i think wasnt actually criticised as a specific film for its representation - it was just a potential reason brought up to try and ascribe a reason for why bladerunner has not done particularly well at the box office

and i think bladerunner is a good example of a film that justifies the reasons for its representation within the picture and it frames itself with the idea that the revolution is not just about replicants but also lead by a sexual/gender revolution too - i think its actually got some really well thought out sexual/gender politics

the problem is that superficially it still represents some of the problems that are prevalent within hollywood

in terms of creating fiction i think we do have a responsibility to be inclusive as a total industry (if not in every single film) - and its lazy to make all female characters into xena because if anything that is just as non-representational as making all women into damsels - all you are doing is changing their footwear not actually introducing agency to their characters

as often, the solution is to have more varied better writing about more varied stories - i dont mind a film that is representationally narrow as long as it justifies it within the film (not actively justifying necessarily but where it makes sense)

there's a famous, entertaining and well respected british critic called mark kermode who has always been a stalwart for activism on improving representation in cinema and i think its telling that he had no problems with bladerunner 2049 but i think you'll find he still has huge problems with representation in the industry

im fine with individual films being able to justify white male centric stories but im not fine with that being (even if justified) the only predominant represented race/gender/orientation in cinema if you understand my distinction...

 

[RavensMania]

And to think when the Star Wars movies originally came out in 1977-80-83 they started 4-5-6, then we’re going to do a new one every three years starting with 1-2-3, then move onto 7-8-9. I didn’t think it would be going on now. Lol

 

[rossihunter2]

And to think when the Star Wars movies originally came out in 1977-80-83 they started 4-5-6, then we’re going to do a new one every three years starting with 1-2-3, then move onto 7-8-9. I didn’t think it would be going on now. Lol

tbf there was a bit of a big break between 4-5-6 and 1-2-3 and a slightly smaller but more frustrating break between 1-2-3 and 7-8-9 - the difference now of course is that we will now have star wars films ever year until the end of time - although i hope they give themselves a few years before they start the next trilogy related to the actual "saga films" and just do this new rian johnson trilogy from elsewhere in the galaxy and the standalones for a bit

 

[RavensMania]

tbf there was a bit of a big break between 4-5-6 and 1-2-3 and a slightly smaller but more frustrating break between 1-2-3 and 7-8-9 - the difference now of course is that we will now have star wars films ever year until the end of time - although i hope they give themselves a few years before they start the next trilogy related to the actual "saga films" and just do this new rian johnson trilogy from elsewhere in the galaxy and the standalones for a bit

Pretty impressive. Not only that, the wait allowed for much better scifi effects, that couldn’t have been done even just a short time ago.

 

[rossihunter2]

Pretty impressive. Not only that, the wait allowed for much better scifi effects, that couldn’t have been done even just a short time ago.

we are now getting very close to eliminating the uncanny valley effect - i.e. where a cgi person looks real but something sort of undefinable is off

 

[RavensMania]

Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction are among my favorites.

 

[BloodRaven]

not at all and bladerunner i think wasnt actually criticised as a specific film for its representation - it was just a potential reason brought up to try and ascribe a reason for why bladerunner has not done particularly well at the box office

and i think bladerunner is a good example of a film that justifies the reasons for its representation within the picture and it frames itself with the idea that the revolution is not just about replicants but also lead by a sexual/gender revolution too - i think its actually got some really well thought out sexual/gender politics

the problem is that superficially it still represents some of the problems that are prevalent within hollywood

in terms of creating fiction i think we do have a responsibility to be inclusive as a total industry (if not in every single film) - and its lazy to make all female characters into xena because if anything that is just as non-representational as making all women into damsels - all you are doing is changing their footwear not actually introducing agency to their characters

as often, the solution is to have more varied better writing about more varied stories - i dont mind a film that is representationally narrow as long as it justifies it within the film (not actively justifying necessarily but where it makes sense)

there's a famous, entertaining and well respected british critic called mark kermode who has always been a stalwart for activism on improving representation in cinema and i think its telling that he had no problems with bladerunner 2049 but i think you'll find he still has huge problems with representation in the industry

im fine with individual films being able to justify white male centric stories but im not fine with that being (even if justified) the only predominant represented race/gender/orientation in cinema if you understand my distinction...

To me the Bladerunner movies are a realistic depiction of the future of sexual identity and revolution, I get that patriarchal dominance and subjugation through history is a sensitive topic and that a cyberpunk world with flying cars and vast machine cities isn't realistic either but the sequel follows the rules set by the first movie, female replicants are "pleasure models" but also use their sexuality and a weapon to seduce men.

If we take a step back and look at the industry as a whole then yes there are issues, but there are traps in forced representation audiences have preferences, thats not to excuse poor representation but there needs to be some context in regards to enforcing changes imo

 

[rossihunter2]

To me the Bladerunner movies are a realistic depiction of the future of sexual identity and revolution, I get that patriarchal dominance and subjugation through history is a sensitive topic and that a cyberpunk world with flying cars and vast machine cities isn't realistic either but the sequel follows the rules set by the first movie, female replicants are "pleasure models" but also use their sexuality and a weapon to seduce men.

If we take a step back and look at the industry as a whole then yes there are issues, but there are traps in forced representation audiences have preferences, thats not to excuse poor representation but there needs to be some context in regards to enforcing changes imo

oh i agree and tbh i dont think bladerunner suffered at the box office or critically because of its representation - i think it just didnt have the box office pull it needed to make back all of its money in the way it could have simply because its a sequel to a box office flop from 1982... i think also that bladerunner justifies its representation within the sequel in the way its revolution is actively led by female replicants

and i agree there needs to be context to improving representation in the industry - it's why i say that not every film needs to adhere to "forced" representation - just that the industry as a whole needs to be better with the types of films it makes, and how it identifies and realises its characters and stories across the industry in general rather than in every single film

 

[SepticeyePoe]

Ragnarok was awesome!