Movies

[Origins]

IIRC in some article the Deadpool script originally called for Cannonball. The reason they used Negasonic Teenage Warhead? For the name reaction joke.

I'd also like to suggest Dog Soldiers for werewolf, horror, and/or action movie fans. The werewolves in it look like what I imagine Gauru form is. Their victims however are British soldiers. Also it includes Liam Cunningham.

But is it any good? I like to think so. No wonky camera angles, decent plot, good effects, and good acting. The characters are well developed and they feel real. You are watching Cooper, non Potential Victim #1 struggle against the werewolves The effects are great: people actually look like they are being eaten by the werewolves. Even one punch in the film looked absolutely real--whoops, that one was real.

So I'd recommend it as a good movie if you want to see how smart Predator Kings would operate. And the werewolves themselves, both in look and in how they react to damage, make me think the writers might have been World of Darkness fans. These werewolves are realistic: no cheap CGI, but highly detailed wolf-human combination costumes.

The SyFy B-movie Sharktopus is B-movie that I find funny. The sequels at didn't even try to take themselves seriously (the Sharktopus has a Twitter account). Badly acted, badly scored, badly edited, badly shot, badly written, bad special effects, bad continuity, and feeling like it would be on MST3K (were it still around). Funnily enough, IMDB calls it a remake of a bad Italian B-movie: Devil Fish that WAS on MST3K.

[Orianna]

So Morgan. Saw one of the previews and HAD to see it. And I wasn't disappointed. The story behind the movie and the acting was spot on. I'm not good at these review things, but the movie was awesome..lol!

The new Blair Witch. Ok...some people hated the original, I get that. I actually loved it and it is one of my favorite horror movies. I mean, how many movies can say the fear you see is actual real fear? The new one did not disappoint. They had a bigger budget and access to some CGI, so expect that. All in all...edge of my seat! The jump scares were on point, and the end...well...lets just say they took the movie to the next level. Least in my opinion, and I'm a die hard horror movie buff

So those are my two recent movies that kicked ass

[West]

Suicide Squad

I'm kind of getting tired of 'lots of CGI swirling dirt' being the hallmark of A Big Villain.

I'm also pretty sure this is a remake of the original Ghostbusters. Like, literally.

Margot Robbie enchants, Will Smith pontificates. It's a bad movie, and doesn't pass my walk-through-a-room test. I'd keep walking. It's only value is a few nuggets here and there that build on the DCCU. Again, swirling dirt. I think my biggest gripe is that the movie is a visual mess. It's dark, muddy, and incoherent. It wants to establish a visual identity like Dredd or Watchmen but never manages to do it.

[Yumyumcrow]

Dr. Strange.

Yes.

Go see it. It works well and has some stunning visuals in the mould of Inception. I really enjoyed the visuals of the spell craft. The plot holds together and I actually feel it is more about the man than about what villains he has to fight - thats my opinion and I'm trying to be vague enough to avoid too much spoilerage.

Its fast paced and is a fitting addition to the Marvel cinematic universe. 2 cut scenes at the credits so there is some world building going on here too.

One side note: I really wish hollywood would get over its "white washing" policy. You'll probably be able to guess which role I'm talking about here (not disrespecting the actor) just the casting.

[West]

Dr. Strange

Yes. So much yes. Especially for Mage players. I also love the nod to BBC 'Sherlock' with the collar straightening bit. It's got a few things to nitpick as a movie but having a passing familiarity with the source material it's very well done. It also does an insane amount of world-building in such a short time that every 'origin' movie should takes it's cues from this one.



Pacific Rim

I'm surprised I didn't review this before... but that's probably a good thing. I had the occasion to watch it again and that has cast it in a more favorable light. The premise is that giant monsters (Kaiju) invade from another dimension and we fight them with giant robots (Jaegers).

I was initially disappointed, and that's probably my fault. I wanted to be whisked off to that magical place where I was a kid who first discovered Robotech. And that's just never going to happen. Seeing it again, though, showed me that it's a movie that holds up well to a passage of time that's been filled to overflowing with fantastic sci-fi/hero/fantasy movies and brings some pretty cool things of it's own to the table.

I love, love, love that that protagonist and co-star have super-great chemistry and are just friends. That they didn't shoe-horn a romance in yet captured a very intimate feeling relationship -- beyond the intimacy of 'the drift'.

The story is as good as something like this could be. It's a little silly but nods in places to that silliness (the kooky scientists and Ron Perlman hamming it up) but at the same time does a good job taking itself seriously with the mecha... which are visually stunning. I think they made a very smart move in showing the mecha in hangars quite a bit to establish scope rather than just relying on crashing thru CGI cities.

It paces well, looks (mostly) amazing, and has a decent story and cast anchored by the awesome Idris Elba.

[deltadream]

Re: Pacific Rim

My husband hated the movie. I let him rant about for about 15 minutes after we got out of it and calmly pointed out that it was a Mecha-Anime that they did a live action of.

He paused to digest and reflect for a few minutes and replied "I take it back. That was a very good movie."

[Yumyumcrow]

Fantasic Beasts and Where to Find Them

The Potter-verse is back with this welcome addition. Different continent. Different time period. And set purely in an adult wizarding world (no, not for subject matter which is fairly dark in any case about control / loss of control; but because its not set in a school. The magic here is fully displayed and unrepentant).

CGI and puppetry is well done, so the visuals look great. There was a lot of world building done in this movie, given the change in time and location. I think it was well handled and evoked a very different place to Potter's Britain (some of the US wizard's ideas are very much voldemortish... which gave the place an understated bite in my opinion). Its not just visuals - with a few well placed lines of dialogue you can get a decent picture of the pervading social views as well - something I thought was well handled.

I think they were testing the waters with this movie. It works well as a stand alone caper - yet like Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone it does lay out the seeds for something much bigger that does reach forward in time to Harry P.

Plot is straight forward enough. Awakward Englishman abroad with a magic case (read TARDIS / Zoo). In a series of mishaps involving a muggle baker and a bag swap (don't ask) some of the animals our hero is "smuggling" into the country escape. One part of the plot involves their efforts to recapture the beasts before too much damage is done (the beasts are loveable!) Newt Scamander's plot only touches slightly on the real plot of the film, suffice to say its a hunt for something else loose in the city and there are certain factions all too willing to scapegoat Newt for the background noise he makes...

And I have to say it: the speakeasy is so... Ling. Its wunnerful!

See this movie!

Can minors watch it? I think so. On a scale I feel this movie has aspects that put it closer to the final set of Harry P. movies. Young children could get scared with the some of the final scenes. Without kids of my own to go by, thats the best advice I can give. I'd be guided by what you know and what your local guides say.

[Cayce]

ROGUE ONE

This film...is the Star Wars film that people have been waiting for since Return of the Jedi.

AFTER FOUR TERRIBLE FILMS!!!

There finally comes a Star Wars movie worthy of the name! It makes JJ Abrams look like the mediocre hack that he is!

(That's right, you heard me JJ. Or, maybe not over your piles of money, but if there was ever a reason why you should never touch Star Wars after the Force Awakens, it's how much BETTER Rogue One is.)

SO!

If you like Star Wars, treat yourself and see it

[Yumyumcrow]

Wow...

Cayce is really passionate about this...

[West]

So... I'm right there with Cayce. This is the sequel to the original trilogy we've all been waiting for.

Not only because it's a great movie, but it also manages to mitigate the crime of watching Darth Vader slowly neutered over the course of three shitty movies and restore him to all of his Sith glory.

Anyway. You all know the plot. Cameos abound for nergasms.

I originally had massive misgivings when Disney announced they planned a Star Wars movie every year. I imagined Jar-Jar-esque silliness to push toys and lunchboxes. But this was epic. And if they're going to deliver something like this every other year? I'm in. Totally in.