The Latest Movie/TV show You Watched Topic 2.0

[JAGzilla]

The first episode of the live action Avatar: The Last Airbender. Not bad! Not great, either, and the fast pace is already a problem, but very watchable. I've, ah, seen worse attempts to adapt this series. The actors are spot-on, great choices even if some are a bit wooden so far; they're young and it's the first episode, so I'm sure that will get better as we go.

The darker, more "mature" tone is a mixed bag. I do appreciate that this genocidal world war gets to involve some on-screen death this time. I always thought that the original series could be a little too light-hearted and silly in the early episodes, and they've improved that somewhat. Sokka's duel with Zuko was an improvement, actually. Sokka still loses miserably, but without being needlessly made a joke. There are better times and places for that. On the flip side, Aang might be too mature too quickly, with less of the partially willful immaturity that was a big part of his original character arc. Hopefully that course-corrects going forward. The word "asses" being thrown in there by a Fire soldier was pretty eye-rolling.

Overall, I'm having fun seeing this show done in live action, with a different set of challenges and art forms required. These LA remakes get a lot of flak, sometimes fairly, but I think they have some value if an effort is made.

[LSD Jellyfish]

28 Years Later: parts of this film, specifically in the third half, had potential to be in one of the greatest films ever, or at least specifically attuned to my wavelength. The discussion of death and the beauty of the bone tower, hit me in a melancholic way I hadn’t felt since I watched Angel’s Egg. The rest of the film is a bit schlocky (but awesome!) so it’s a bit inconsistent in that regard.

[Jomei]

I forgot that I also saw Mickey 17. There were some fun elements, but on the whole, its totally ludicrous tone and on-the-nose satire soured the experience.

The Creepers, though, were very cool and effectively realized.

[Grand Seijin]

For fun's sake, I decided to put on one of the movies on my 50 Classic Sci-Fi movies called "White Pongo" while I was drawing.

From what I gathered, it's about a team of explorers going into the jungles of Africa to track down an albino Gorilla. In my opinion, its not the greatest B-movie gorilla schlock film in the slightest but it's definitely not absurdly horrible. To me, it's boring, plain and simple.

Watch it if you need some background noise or just want to kill time.

[JAGzilla]

I finished live action Avatar. Yeah, it stays very watchable throughout, rarely hitting the same heights as the original but never really sucking, either. I enjoyed it enough that I'll be back for S2.

- Aang's more serious story arc is a mixed bag. He doesn't feel right without his fun, childish side, and this show was wrong to cut that out almost completely. At the same time, this grimmer focus on survivor's guilt and failure is logical for a character in his position, a makes for a somewhat interesting story in its own right. Hopefully S2 can strike a better balance.

- Zuko, Iroh, and their story are pretty rock solid. No complaints to speak of there. Ozai having more of a presence and a scheming, manipulative personality is fine, I'm fairly neutral on him. But...

- Azula is not delivering so far. I don't like what they've done in making her more uncertain and desperate to win daddy's respect after she watched what happened to Zuko. She's basically the opposite of the utterly self-confident force of nature she was in the original series. And her actress isn't convincing me that's going to change. She doesn't seem to have the presence necessary to pull Azula off. Which isn't a knock against the actress; Azula was always going to be the biggest challenge to capture effectively in live action. There probably just are not many actresses out there who have the look, can keep up with the physical action requirements, and can deliver this perfect balance between total confidence, strategic brilliance, and cold dread. And the fear and desperation, too, but they're buried really deep down most of the time.

- The fast pace murders the world building, unfortunately. That's probably the biggest loss in this transition. The setting is a lot smaller and less populated with fun side characters and wacky animals. Appa and Momo are total nothingburgers.

- The action delivers well enough and feels cinematic sometimes, but they need to cool it on the "le EPIC!!!1" slow-mo shots. I was really starting to roll my eyes by the end of the season finale.

[Jomei]

I finally got around to seeing Twisters for my Independence Day screening and was delightfully surprised that it was pretty good and even had a surprise, highly inventive fireworks moment.

I've always had a soft spot for the original, which is a prime example of the type of societal contradiction-resolving (at least on the surface) Hollywood summer blockbuster that used to be the norm when I was a kid. I feared this one would lack those humorous archetypal characters of the original, or merely reproduce them without enough invention, but Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones were appealing enough as leads to cover for any lack in their characters.

To a degree, it suffers some from a "been there, seen that" factor, and despite the improved effects, many of the tornado moments lack the awe of the first one (Powell's character has a way of making their threat seem negligible, too), but there are enough satisfyingly scary sequences to make it worthwhile.

I also simply found its depiction of tornado alley appealingly sympathetic. While this was more West South Central, and I grew up in the Midwest, it felt familiar, true, and generous in its depiction of the people and places. I was not surprised to learn that the director Lee Isaac Chung had grown up in rural Arkansas. The way his film looked at these rural American landscapes felt so intimate and real to me, which was the biggest shock of the film.

A good Fourth o' July pick.

[CrimsonBloodX]

I watched F1 and Jurassic World Rebirth on July 2. F1 is excellent. I highly recommend seeing it if you haven't already. Jurassic World Rebirth is pretty good, better than Fallen Kingdom and Dominion. I had a great time watching both films. Also, I just watched The Mysterians for the very first time this morning on the Criterion Channel. I liked it. It's an enjoyable alien invader film with a message for world peace. Much better than Battle in Outer Space, that's for sure. Like with most other non-Godzilla Toho films, I hated that it took me so goddamn long to finally watch it, but, oh well.

[JAGzilla]

Jaws 2, via the 4K disk. Effectively my first viewing; the last time I saw it all the way through was sometime in the late '90s.

It has absolutely nothing on the original, but it delivers well enough as a sequel and a fun thriller in general. I appreciate that it didn't try to go bigger than the original (except when the shark took down a helicopter), but actually feels smaller scale and less epic. It's more personal, less about the threat to the whole island and more about Brody's struggle and the teenagers in their survival situation.

The sheer numbers of kids involved in the third act was kind of a mixed bag. There are too many to zero in on very personally and almost all of them were too underdeveloped to care about, but at the same time there's some real tension because like half of them were expendable. The potential was there for a total bloodbath, though I guess they had to keep the tone within reason. It feels like a missed opportunity for carnage, but works well enough as a semi-happy ending.

The shark's death was awesome. The prop didn't look very believable, but the pyrotechnics were there.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Jaws 2 is up there with RoboCop 2, Ghostbusters 2, and The Lost World as solid sequels who unfairly get a bad rap just because their predecessors are so revered. Are they as good as the originals? Perhaps not but they're solid well executed productions in their own right. As a personal note I personally prefer all those sequels to the originals but I know I'm in a vast minority in that regard (except Jaws of course, the original is obviously the best one).

[JAGzilla]

I'm working on Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers right now. 33 minutes in, it's pure fun. The same premise as the original, more or less, but there's no harm in reusing a good idea. Michael is basically just a chunk of Hell walking around so far, leaving total chaos in his wake, and that's awesome. The characters are a good mix of braindead stupid and charismatic; the reverend hunting the apocalypse seems like he's going to be memorable. And being from Cleveland, I always appreciate a random, needless jab at that dump.

EDIT: Done. It's a ride all the way through, very well paced and full of carnage. Basically every action scene was done pretty well, with Brady's Last Stand, the rooftop chase, and the ridiculous pickup truck scene being really memorable highlights. Danielle Harris gave a fantastic performance, and I'm sure the ending twist sold some tickets for the sequel. A very entertaining slasher movie and pretty much exactly what I wished Halloween 2 would have been instead of the bland hospital setup we got. I do wish we'd seen more of the reverend, but oh well.

[Jomei]

Another Round (Druk) was fantastic.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Got around to watching both Venom: Let There be Carnage and The Last Dance. Honestly I really enjoyed both of them, particularly The Last Dance. Had me laughing out loud numerous times. Let There be Carnage is probably my least favorite of the three but it still has it's moments. Carnage was a much more interesting villain than Riot for one.

[Voyager]

Superman

I really liked this one, and as a first film in a new project, I’m liking where things are headed.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Watched Aquaman 2 last night and finally just finished Prey. I actually really liked Aquaman 2, it's nothing special but definitely not deserving of its reputation. The Aquaman film's are far more inventive than they get credit for with solid world building and character designs.

Prey I honestly found a bit disappointing. I liked the characters alright and there's some cool set pieces but it takes a bit too long to really get going and found the ending to be a bit anti-climatic. There's enough good there but honestly I liked Predators better.

[Major sssspielberg!]

So I decided to post here instead of necromancing a thread that hasn't seen much action in a while, but I finally got around to watching Latitude Zero the other day.
A bit of background- I picked up the Media Blasters DVD at G-fest maybe ten years ago. It's been staring at me for that whole time. Somehow I've never watched it.
I was pleasantly surprised! I liked a lot of the stylish editing, I loved the performances (Akira Takarada gives a great performance despite speaking english, which was special to experience ) and the effects were great. The suits were a bit funny, but one thing regarding the suits that stuck out to me was Nakajima as the lion before it gets its brain scooped out- the suit was goofy as hell, but he moved like a goddamn lion! Something about his performance as the lion was really satisfying for me.
Ifukube's score was different than his usual work, and I liked it.
I think that Latitude Zero is a movie you'll either vibe with or you won't. I loved the vibes, aesthetics, performances, score, and some of the relatively shocking bits later on. The ending was a bit nonsensical but fun. My only real downsides are the incredibly visible wires when the bat dudes attacked the heroes, and the plot kinda sags in the middle. Otherwise, high marks.
The Media Blasters dvd is really cool, too, it has interviews with the crew and an outtake reel of SFX scenes.
I also watched Nymphomaniac by Lars Von Trier but... honestly I'm just not gonna talk about it here lol

[JAGzilla]

^ I also bought the Media Blasters Latitude Zero DVD a few years ago and haven't gotten around to watching it yet. You might have convinced me to finally give it a try sometime in the next few days...

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

I actually really enjoyed Latitude Zero. Its kinda like a weird hybrid of James Bond, Godzilla, Batman 66, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Just got back from Superman. I'm actually a bit torn. There's a lot to like I will admit I even teared up several times but the overall story just wasn't all that interesting. It's carried more on it's vibe and overall message than the actual plot being all that interesting or compelling. That's not necessarily a bad thing for me, it's more important in this day and age that the message gets out to people and seems to be doing the trick for a lot of people. That for me is reason enough to hope the film continues to succeed even if the whole thing didn't work for me as much as I would have liked. Casting could not have worked out better though. Everyone fit their characters to a tee except arguably Isabel Merced. I like her as an actress but she just didn't scream Hawkgirl to me. Otherwise the casting was largely on point. Problems aside it's a solid start to the DCU.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

Well, I saw Superman. It's very... not good. I wouldn't quite call it bad, but I don't think it deserves the mostly positive reception it's been getting. "Mediocre" is probably the best one-word summary for my thoughts. But if you want to hear more, I'll put it in the spoiler tag below.

To be frank, I went in with low expectations. I'm outspokenly not a fan of James Gunn's work in general and, despite the optimistic discourse preceding the movie's release, I thought trailers and TV spots looked pretty "meh." Nonetheless, I went in hoping to be proven wrong. I didn't hate it like I was afraid I would, but I didn't like it either.

Spoiler:

Pros:
- The film does have a strong visual style. This is one of the few things I'll praise James Gunn for. His movies look distinct, and usually in a good way.
- Side characters steal the show. Krypto gets some of the funniest and most memorable moments of the whole movie. Mr. Terrific is cool as hell and gets probably the most fun action scene. Metamorpho was also well-realized, though I wish he got a bit more screentime.
- The acting itself is mostly pretty good. Rachel Brosnahan was good as Lois and David Corenswet is pretty good as Superman. But the best performances are definitely Edi Gathegi's Mr. Terrific and Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor. The latter is arguably the best live action portrayal thus far.
- Most of the action scenes are pretty good. They felt distinct from one another, as compared to the repetitive "let's smash people through buildings" action of Man of Steel.
- The light tone works here and the film still takes itself mostly serious in spite of this tone - unlike in a lot of later Marvel movies.
- The pacing was overall pretty good. If nothing else, I was never bored.

Cons:
- James Gunn's skills as a director are up for debate but he is not a good screenwriter. Many times, I was taken out of the movie by some very on-the-nose, sometimes outright cringeworthy dialogue. While Hoult's performance as Luthor hits all the right notes, he's often forced to say some truly regrettable lines. "My BRAAAAIN beats your BRAAAWN!" Ugh.
- Going off of this, the film's themes are presented with all the subtlety and nuance of a flashing neon sign that you're forced to stare at for hours while strapped to a chair Ludovico-style. Too often, characters say - in far too many words - what we should've just been shown. The worst offender, by far, is Superman's final speech to Lex, where he actually says the words "Being human is my greatest strength." Another groaner earlier in the film is the whole "Maybe hope is punk rock" scene. For fuck's sake, James; show don't tell.
- While their individual performances are pretty good, David C and Rachel B have very little chemistry. The Clark-and-Lois relationship is always the emotional core of these stories, but here it felt like it was there because it was expected to be there. In general, Lois felt wasted in this movie. Her main contributions to the plot are having an argument with Clark about the consequences of his actions (that drags on way too long) and getting Mr. Terrific to help rescue him from Lex's clutches - which doesn't matter much because he pretty much saves himself, with help from Metamorpho. Lois plays no real role in the climax whatsoever. She just drags a bunch of the supporting cast around on a flying saucer while they type up a report about Lex's villainy.
- Look, I'm glad we didn't have to sit through yet another origin story, but movies opening with a bunch of text to explain their lore is rapidly becoming one of my most detested cinema sins.
- While some of the humor lands, some doesn't. This will be a matter of taste, but I found Jimmy being adored by every woman despite seeming so very milquetoast to be an unfunny gag that, as often happens in Gunn films, was dragged out waaaaay too much. It even became a major plot point! And going off of that, I don't like the way the film treated Eve. Yeah, she's annoying, but she's also trapped in a relationship with a terrifying sociopath and put her life on the line to help in spite of this. She deserved to be treated as more than a joke. Honestly felt a bit misogynistic to me and I'm not the type to throw around that accusation willy nilly.
- The visual effects are hit and miss. Sometimes they're cool, other times I feel like I'm watching a cutscene from the good ol' PS3 days. The fight with the kaiju, in particular, is full of sub-par CG.
- While Mr. Terrific is cool, the Justice Gang felt like lame sequel bait. Nathan Fillion basically just plays himself as Green Lantern - not terrible but nothing special - and Hawkgirl is completely wasted. In general, the movie just has too damn much going on and feels messy. Yet another common problem among Gunn's films.
- We have yet another movie that pretends to get political and goes about it in the most toothless way possible. The conflict between Boravia and the other fake country with a silly made-up name is clearly meant to mirror the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine conflicts, but of course there are never any meaningful parallels and it's all kept vague enough to not risk pissing off anyone on either side of the political line. "Strong country bullying weak country bad" is about as deep as it gets, and it's displayed almost cartoonishly with the villagers literally trying to fight tanks with sticks and cinderblocks. This whole aspect of the movie felt like a plot tumor that either should've been given fuller focus or axed entirely. After all, why does Lex care about owning half an impoverished country when he's already a multi-billionaire with big sway in the US government. Oh, he doesn't and he just wants an excuse to kill Superman. Okay - this is a man who controls a fucking pocket universe and invents his own supervillains, he really needed to start a conflict halfway across the world to do that? The plot just doesn't stand up to any scrutiny whatsoever.
- Gratuitous John Williams Superman theme usage.

[JAGzilla]

Exists (2014). A found footage killer Bigfoot movie. As a lifelong paranormal geek, I like realistic depictions of unexplained phenomena and (since I grew up, anyway) have never really been enthusiastic about the idea of killer cryptid fiction. I know quite a few recent Bigfoot horror movies are out there, but I've never watched any of them and mostly don't hear anything good about them, anyway. But my mom saw something positive about this one on Facebook and randomly wanted to watch it with me, so we found it on Tubi, and I went in totally blind with rock bottom expectations.

Honestly? I was pleasantly surprised. Nothing about it is amazing, but it's actually a pretty fun, competent monster movie. It's short and wastes no time at all getting to the point, with minimal sleaze and only as much character development as it needs. The premise is a good one: a lame asshole YouTuber and his friends head out to his uncle's remote semi-abandoned hunting cabin to hang out and make a video out of partying and mountain bike stunts. They run over a Bigfoot on the way in and suddenly develop a problem. It's a good enough excuse to have cameras everywhere and dumb characters completely out of their depth. The tone is pretty balanced, not trying to be scarier than it is or play up the silliness too much, although it definitely has a cheesy sense of humor that got a few laughs out of me.

The Bigfoot is executed reasonably well. It's not vicious without cause, it just wants revenge. Its behavior is mostly rooted in the kind of things that often get reported, and its physical capabilities/approach to violence are plausible. The humans are outmatched, but barely and believably. A good mix of CGI and practical effects are used. We see more of the suit than I'd like towards the end, but then a lot of people will prefer that the monster not be hidden. I would tend to agree, except that, y'know, it's notoriously hard to get a good look at Bigfoot.

Overall, it's a good time and I'm glad I watched it. I really need to start digging more into the huge pile of lower-end creature features that exist. I watched a lot of them as a kid, but very few in the last twenty years or so. Gotta fix that.