The Movie Thread Reloaded

[GriswaldTerrastone]

For me 1981's "Dragonslayer" remains an AD&D-style classic.

"Excalibur" and the animated 1970's "The Hobbit" were inspiring, too.

[Pat]

To the surprise of literally everyone, Shang-Chi is expected to bring in $90 million over the 4-day Labor Day weekend, literally tripling the previous Labor Day Weekend record ($30 million for Halloween in 2007).

https://news.yahoo.com/shang-chi-blows-past-labor-192430392.html

I liked it a lot. Action and humor were both good, and Awkwafina wasn't overdoing the goofiness for laughs (I haven't really liked any of her other works). Effects were nice, and I actually preferred this version of the not-Mandarin and his rings (bracelets) better than the old comic version.

Critical Drinker does a good job demolishing the plot and characters, and says the CGI toward the end is distractingly fake looking, but thinks there are some good fight scenes, and a good story underneath with an opportunity for strong character building, especially between Shang-Chi and the replacement for his canceled father Fu Manchu, but it ends up scattered and fragmented.

Spoilers ahoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLJGVikolJs

[BoxCrayonTales]

I think they're really going to run the franchise into the ground with "Phase 4".

I sure hope so. Because that will give me hope that modern audiences can get sick of SOMETHING.

It took a while but looks like the mainstream have gotten tired of zombie movies and series finally as their interminable proliferation in everything hit saturation years ago.

We'll see the same with superhero shows just like the last two waves.

What I found most frustrating about the zombie trend was how derivative it was. There are basically only three types of zombies: slow zombies, fast zombies, and talky zombies.

All Flesh Must Be Eaten devised numerous fascinating takes on zombies in the 2000s. Without any exaggeration, it's more creative than the entire rest of the zombie genre combined.

[Shrieking Banshee]

All Flesh Must Be Eaten devised numerous fascinating takes on zombies in the 2000s. Without any exaggeration, it's more creative than the entire rest of the zombie genre combined.

I felt they where more gimmicky then anything. Zombies are scariest as a disease or a plague. Everything else is a gimmick.

'Zombies BUT IN VEE  AARR!!!'

[Ratman_tf]

The Matrix, Ressurection announced.

https://www.polygon.com/22640030/matrix-4-trailer-resurrections-release-date

Hey guys, remember that movie about a dude stuck in a simulation? Let's do it again!

What's left to say about the Matrix? I feel like they covered the topic in the original three films. I didn't have the hate for the sequels that other fans seem to have had.
But I'm failing to have any enthusiasm for this announcement.

[Shrieking Banshee]

Hey guys, remember that movie about a dude stuck in a simulation? Let's do it again!

Its a meta commentary on the nature of repetative sequels because he gets stuck in a simulation - AGAIN. ;P

[Ratman_tf]

Hey guys, remember that movie about a dude stuck in a simulation? Let's do it again!

Its a meta commentary on the nature of repetative sequels because he gets stuck in a simulation - AGAIN. ;P

We can only hope the movie is that self-aware.

[Lurkndog]

Sadly, my local movie theater has closed down. This was not unexpected, the entire mini mall it was in has been scheduled for demolition for some time. Unfortunately the multi-plex that was supposed to replace it has not yet opened, though construction should have been completed some time ago.

I'll miss the place, though. I'd been going there since the 1980s, and tickets were a bargain.

I probably won't see Black Widow or Shang-chi until I reactivate my Disney+ at the end of the year for Book of Boba Fett.

[Omega]

The CGI animated series had the right idea. Pass the rocket on to the next generation. His daughter.

Ok. The movie makes more sense now. They already sex-swapped the character so they had no choice but to do a race-swap.

Well not so much Sex swap as just passing the mantle on to the kid. Thats actually a recurring thing in comics though dont think it happened in the actual Rocketeer Comics though there was a backup installment that would have fit right in with the CGI series. Bunch of young girls playing Space Ranger.

But this new so-called Rocketeer? Nah. Its the same ol same ol woke blackfacing everything.

[Omega]

Making a whole movie around that idea seems like a big investment for a few curiosity watches.

Marketing keeps pushing that this is the road to riches. And companies across the board keep listening. Partially because it does work. But the loss usually far outweighs the gain.

[Omega]

The Matrix, Ressurection announced.

https://www.polygon.com/22640030/matrix-4-trailer-resurrections-release-date

Hey guys, remember that movie about a dude stuck in a simulation? Let's do it again!

What's left to say about the Matrix? I feel like they covered the topic in the original three films. I didn't have the hate for the sequels that other fans seem to have had.
But I'm failing to have any enthusiasm for this announcement.

Plot cant go any weirder than what they did with the MMO.

[Bedrockbrendan]

The Matrix, Ressurection announced.

https://www.polygon.com/22640030/matrix-4-trailer-resurrections-release-date

Hey guys, remember that movie about a dude stuck in a simulation? Let's do it again!

What's left to say about the Matrix? I feel like they covered the topic in the original three films. I didn't have the hate for the sequels that other fans seem to have had.
But I'm failing to have any enthusiasm for this announcement.

I think the issue with the sequels wasn't that they were bad (they were entertaining). It's that the first movie was so good, and so complete on its own, that the sequels kind of lowered the quality of the first one by existing. Normally I don't let bad sequels affect my appreciation of a part 1. But I do have to admit, found it hard not to allow the sequels to color my opinion. I also think while the first one definitely had these concepts and ideas behind it, the sequels might have gotten lost in the weeds delving into those ideas.

[oggsmash]

The Matrix, Ressurection announced.

https://www.polygon.com/22640030/matrix-4-trailer-resurrections-release-date

Hey guys, remember that movie about a dude stuck in a simulation? Let's do it again!

What's left to say about the Matrix? I feel like they covered the topic in the original three films. I didn't have the hate for the sequels that other fans seem to have had.
But I'm failing to have any enthusiasm for this announcement.

I think the issue with the sequels wasn't that they were bad (they were entertaining). It's that the first movie was so good, and so complete on its own, that the sequels kind of lowered the quality of the first one by existing. Normally I don't let bad sequels affect my appreciation of a part 1. But I do have to admit, found it hard not to allow the sequels to color my opinion. I also think while the first one definitely had these concepts and ideas behind it, the sequels might have gotten lost in the weeds delving into those ideas.

  I thought they were bad, at least in a story telling (writing) context.   It felt, while watching them, like the work of people who had a fully finished complete product in the first movie, and were prodded to do more movies because of the huge success of the first movie.  Sort of like they were just making shit up as they went along instead of having a specific game plan for a trilogy from the beginning.   It led to a good deal of shark jumping, shitting on some of your established characters, and well, a bit of a hot mess.

[Bedrockbrendan]

The Matrix, Ressurection announced.

https://www.polygon.com/22640030/matrix-4-trailer-resurrections-release-date

Hey guys, remember that movie about a dude stuck in a simulation? Let's do it again!

What's left to say about the Matrix? I feel like they covered the topic in the original three films. I didn't have the hate for the sequels that other fans seem to have had.
But I'm failing to have any enthusiasm for this announcement.

I think the issue with the sequels wasn't that they were bad (they were entertaining). It's that the first movie was so good, and so complete on its own, that the sequels kind of lowered the quality of the first one by existing. Normally I don't let bad sequels affect my appreciation of a part 1. But I do have to admit, found it hard not to allow the sequels to color my opinion. I also think while the first one definitely had these concepts and ideas behind it, the sequels might have gotten lost in the weeds delving into those ideas.

  I thought they were bad, at least in a story telling (writing) context.   It felt, while watching them, like the work of people who had a fully finished complete product in the first movie, and were prodded to do more movies because of the huge success of the first movie.  Sort of like they were just making shit up as they went along instead of having a specific game plan for a trilogy from the beginning.   It led to a good deal of shark jumping, shitting on some of your established characters, and well, a bit of a hot mess.

The problem is the first movie didn't need a sequel at all. They shouldn't have made sequels. Period. You have a perfect movie. Anything more will muck it up. It functioned as a contained story, and any expansion of that world was only going to weaken it. I think the sequels were average movies. They definitely had storytelling problems, many average films do. But following on the heels of the matrix, the contrast was pretty severe. My reaction to them was very negative. But I was comparing them to a film that blew me away (and the sequels felt more like some kind of cyberpunk world of darkness fan fiction). I also do think they let their big ideas and concepts take over the story too much (because there are also certainly weird choices in those movies). I just feel if they were released individually, they'd be entertaining enough but pretty forgettable, not bad per se.

[oggsmash]

The Matrix, Ressurection announced.

https://www.polygon.com/22640030/matrix-4-trailer-resurrections-release-date

Hey guys, remember that movie about a dude stuck in a simulation? Let's do it again!

What's left to say about the Matrix? I feel like they covered the topic in the original three films. I didn't have the hate for the sequels that other fans seem to have had.
But I'm failing to have any enthusiasm for this announcement.

I think the issue with the sequels wasn't that they were bad (they were entertaining). It's that the first movie was so good, and so complete on its own, that the sequels kind of lowered the quality of the first one by existing. Normally I don't let bad sequels affect my appreciation of a part 1. But I do have to admit, found it hard not to allow the sequels to color my opinion. I also think while the first one definitely had these concepts and ideas behind it, the sequels might have gotten lost in the weeds delving into those ideas.

  I thought they were bad, at least in a story telling (writing) context.   It felt, while watching them, like the work of people who had a fully finished complete product in the first movie, and were prodded to do more movies because of the huge success of the first movie.  Sort of like they were just making shit up as they went along instead of having a specific game plan for a trilogy from the beginning.   It led to a good deal of shark jumping, shitting on some of your established characters, and well, a bit of a hot mess.

The problem is the first movie didn't need a sequel at all. They shouldn't have made sequels. Period. You have a perfect movie. Anything more will muck it up. It functioned as a contained story, and any expansion of that world was only going to weaken it. I think the sequels were average movies. They definitely had storytelling problems, many average films do. But following on the heels of the matrix, the contrast was pretty severe. My reaction to them was very negative. But I was comparing them to a film that blew me away (and the sequels felt more like some kind of cyberpunk world of darkness fan fiction). I also do think they let their big ideas and concepts take over the story too much (because there are also certainly weird choices in those movies). I just feel if they were released individually, they'd be entertaining enough but pretty forgettable, not bad per se.

yes.  When the first movie leaves with the main character as essentially a god....there is nothing else to say.  People's imagination will tell a better story than trying to create challenges for the now OP main character.