Movies you've seen lately.

[Vince]

Caught up on a film I wanted to see this year at the cinema, but didn't get a chance- Brightburn.

Pretty, pretty good actually! It's basically an alternate version of the origina of Superman coming to Earth, but he's not a good boy in this film! All up, I enjoyed it for an origin story and I'd be interested to see where they go from here.
7 burning eyes out of 10.

[Cletus]

I thought Brightburn was ...ok. It was really just a jump-scare horror film. I think the story could have been written better though.

[Vince]

I thought Brightburn was ...ok. It was really just a jump-scare horror film. I think the story could have been written better though.

I don’t remember it being much of a jump scare horror film to be honest. Look, I expected much better but thought it was pretty good for what it was (a pretty well made little horror flick based on Superman gone bad).

[Rorschach]

Posted this in the wrong thread. Impressions of Dark Fate.


Just got back from seeing Dark Fate. It was fairly average. Not super terrible but not good either. Having Linda Hamilton back was a huge bonus but not enough to carry the film. There was some SJW rubbish in it but it was easy enough to ignore. I just hope they let the franchise die now, or at least shelve it for a decade or two and remake the whole affair with new actors. They had a real opportunity to play with the timeline but they chose the easy way/least creative way out.

Spoiler!

The whole concept of Terminators being able to detect chronal displacements was really awesome but effectively dropped straight away. Instead of focusing on a rehash of the T-1000 and Skynet by another name, a more interesting plot point (IMO) that they introduced was Skynet’s systemic use of resources in sending back multiple T-800s to various points in the timeline. It would have been cool to see self-aware terminators at opposing ends - one looking to protect what he’d found and another (or others) trying to manifest their machine fate by re-constituting Skynet or something similar. One T-800 like Carl who developed a conscious and others that were given fail-safe missions to restart Skynet in the event Sarah and John were successful from T2.

IMO, this would have made more sense in the context of the story, they could then re-brand Skynet ‘Legion’ more organically and link Grace’s origin story to the main universe. Instead, it’a short scene with a generic killer AI origin story *yawn*. After the first act, which was pretty enjoyable, it would be Arnie, Sarah and Grace with Mexican female John Connor running around trying to stop Skynet/Legion’s resurgence from Terminators that get progressively harder to destroy coming through the timeline at more frequent intervals and ends with something involving the son or daughter of Miles Dyson attempting to carry out their father’s work by retro-engineering the CPU from the original Terminator (so far as they were concerned, Sarah was a psycho that shot their Dad and he died later in the night in her company). This would give Dani the opportunity to develop as a character as well as she represents a complete break from the past, and future. This at least intertwines the story with the first two movies which the later sequels largely ignore.

In the end, Dark Fate was a poor man's T2 with too much CGI and a Messianic figure in Dani that felt too bland and never in any real danger with Sarah, Grace and an experienced T-800 protecting her. If I had to rank them, my order of Terminator films:

1. The Terminator. Still watch this more than all of them.
2. Terminator 2. Better made but still enjoy the original more.
3. Terminator 3. It had problems but it was slightly pessimistic which a bold move for a mainstream Hollywood movie. The T-850 knew the mission was futile from the jump and Nick Stahl does pretty well with the lead.
4. Salvation. More so it attempted something different and had good lead actors. The third act did suck though.
5. Dark Fate. Above reasons.
6. Daylight.
7. Genisys. Simply terrible. Poorly made, Hollywood at it's worst.

[t0mby]

I saw the first 4 Teminators on release week (T2 release day and back again the following day). T2 is really just a retelling of 1 but with focus on young John instead. Obviously the action scenes are a lot bigger due to the budget but it feels similar. Two sent from the future, one rides around on a motorbike dressed in leather, both films they go to blow up Cyberdyne to change the future, (only viewable in deleted scenes of first movie but made for a better film by far), bad terminator drives truck chasing good guys, bad guy dies in a factory, protector dies.

#1 is still king because of its rawness, plus I have fond memories of being blown away by how big and tough the terminator was (I was 12 and it was my first R rated film at the cinema).

I thought Genisys started alright but that whole time jump forwards was the beginning of the end, then Arnie diving head first through helicopter blades..... Fuck me, who ok'd that shit.

[flipswitch]

So you saw T1 & T2 in cinema back in the day. Respek! As a kid I saw T2 first then T1 on Canadian VHS. Don’t worry I own them on every video format now.

I knew Dark Fate would suck and so far it’s a flop.

[Rorschach]

I remember watching two different versions of The Terminator when I was a kid. The original had the better cover with Arnie with half his face exposed down to the endoskeleton. Biggest difference in this one is that it showed the full sequence of the first Sarah Connor getting shot. They re-released it with the common cover art and cut most of the sequence. Bless torrents these days.

[t0mby]

Never heard of that version before nor do I remember that scene in the extras on the dvd version. The only extras I remember were Kyle and Sarah agreeing to blow up Cyberdyne, getting the address from the phone book and the end where two guys leave Cyberdyne with a T-800 arm and chip after it was squashed in the press.

[Twiztid Elf]

Battle Angel Alita
Damn, the visuals are amazing. The robots, their weapons and the fighting choreography were all fantastic.
Such a frustrating movie. So close to being excellent.
Let down by a handful of clanger scenes and dialogues.
7/10

Dr Strange
Another visually pleasing film. One of the better Marvel films that I've seen. Again, let down by a handful of jarring sub standard scenes.
7/10

[t0mby]

Dr Strange would've been an absolute mindfuck on acid, something I did a lot of when going to the cinema when I was in my late 20s-mid 30s. Thought the film was average though.

[Deef]

Terminator - Dark Fate
Non-T2-fans: 6.5/10
T1/T2 fans: Strongly recommend avoiding.

On the surface I didn't mind this one, but it would be more accurate for me to say I didn't mind Grace. The augmented human idea this time round pretty much carried my positivity about the movie. Things felt fun when Grace was on screen and I really liked how she still had that inhuman "mission at all costs" feel in determination and in battle, but was completely human and witty elsewhere. Refreshing.

But the story was amazingly dull. It's kind of impressive how they managed to get Linda and Arnie back in the picture, and a plot connecting them to the real T2 timeline, yet still make it completely uninteresting. There was just no emotional impact anywhere; I could not have cared less about Dani, and Sarah & Arnie didn't fare much better.

Despite the massive blast from the past the role of Sarah Connor was just as dull, largely due to the fact that her purpose was literally to keep validating our boredom. Her character's job was to perform "going through the motions" as explicitly as possible. Sarah is basically the audience; she's not interested in anyone here and has seen it all before. The story carries her connection to John as more of a necessary inconvenience, so it gets acknowledged but not exercised. Her individual plot is a flat line. You could say her detachment makes sense, but from her first scene to last that's all she is.

But what really makes this movie suck is the intro.

Spoiler!

Flashing back to shortly after T2, just to kill off the bona-fide John Connor we know, felt like Terminator fans were being given the finger. I would have preferred the finger actually.

T1 & T2 weren't about preventing Judgement Day; they were about Sarah and John finding a way to stay alive. Dark Fate is basically a note to the fans that those meaningful outcomes of T1 and T2, the bits we were emotionally invested in and recall fondly as the resolutions of 2 excellent stories... were all actually meaningless. Shortly after the credits rolled in T2, the kid we'd spent 2 movies caring about just gets killed by some other T-800.

I hate that. It's canon so now T2 is actually a bit ruined, at least for me. We've always been able to re-watch T1 despite knowing the T2 events, because we'd do so knowing T2 championed T1's conclusion. You watch T1 knowing that T2's existence only enhances its meaning.

Dark Fate does the complete opposite of that to T2. Now I'll watch T2 knowing that the main thing I'm invested in doesn't actually mean anything. It is a real dick move.

I never saw T3 or T4, knowing I was happy with not having the good memories of T2 diluted. I watched T5 for no good reason, but it was so detached from T2's events that I wasn't really bothered.

Dark Fate however, that was a mistake. It's worse than just a bad sequel and I wish I hadn't seen it. But frikkin' Linda Hamilton clickbait. :/

Sculli, if you're still around, don't do it. You'll regret it.

[t0mby]

Ugh, sounds terrible, especially being given the finger part in the spoiler. Who ok'd this shit?

[unfnknblvbl]

I thought that bit was great. I fucking hated that character in T2. I did LOL hard when Arnie deadpanned "I am reliable, a very good listener, and I am extremely funny".

Dark Fate wasn't terrible, just not spectacular. It probably won't age well, but it could be seen as Arnie's last hurrah, and it was pretty good at that.
I'd give it an 8/10, but then I enjoyed Genisys in the cinema, sooooo

[Twiztid Elf]

Anyone seen Sanic yet?
It's supposed to be alright.
I'm tempted, but I'll probably wait till I can watch it at home.

[Peppermint Lounge]

I'm glad it's reviewing well. Thought it was doomed after the justified backlash from the original trailer. Good on them for responding with a good movie.

[Froggy]

I went and saw it and to my surprise quite enjoyed it. My kids LOVED it so I think it will be a decent hit from word of mouth alone.

[Vince]

Saw Sonic with my 2 boys on the weekend. Good film! Nothing special but my kids were glowing walking out of the cinema! They got home and were trying their best to run up and down the house as fast as Sonic! Probably a 6.5 out of 10 for me. Good morning family fare.

I also caught Doctor Sleep on 4K Blu Ray this weekend. Really good follow up to the iconic The Shining. So much better than it had any right to be. Well told and well executed. An 8 out 10.

Terminator Dark Fate is a competently made film that, if it was the “true sequel” to 2 sci/fi classics, would be a far better film. Unfortunately it completely ruins the lore of the 1st 2 films and even makes them null and void. A complete disappointment from that perspective even though as a film, it isn’t too bad. 4/10 as it ruins 2 of the greatest films of all time.

Midsommar is brilliant. Saw it on the weekend as well (had a bit of spare time so caught up on some films). I’m not spoiling shit about it, suffice it to say it involves a religious “cult” and a group of people stuck with them. In Sweden. In the daylight (mostly). Some of the imagery will be stuck with me forever. I love Ari Aster’s first major release, Hereditary, and this is just as good. Saw the directors cut so not sure exactly what they added in. An easy 9/10.

[Cletus]

I watched Joker last week. Then I watched it again on Saturday night. I'll watch it again.

I can understand why people would hate it for myriad reasons (haters have a list of grievances and it is extensive). But I do not sit on that side of the fence. I want to call it a masterpiece. I want to call it a cinematic work of art. I want to say it's possibly the best comic book character movie I've ever seen, (sorry Deadpool). I wasn't bothered enough to look at a single review before watching it. I only knew that some pockets of the media/reviewers were claiming it would incite incels to rise up and kill. But what a nice surprise for it to end up being one of the best movies I've ever watched. There is so much going on in this film and all of it is astounding. If you haven't yet, see it.

What do you get when you make Joaquin Phoenix play the Joker?

[Click to see hidden content]

You get what you fucking deserve.

[Kangawallaby]

I watched Parasite last night, fantastic film deserves all of the accolades it got !!!
Do yourselves a favour, especially if you are on the fence because of the subtitles, just give it a watch.

Also watched Knives Out over the weekend another enjoyable film, bit odd ball, and Daniel Craig as the KFC PI is fantastic.

[unfnknblvbl]

gonna be weird, watching a Korean film with English subs...

[t0mby]

gonna be weird, watching a Korean film with English subs...

Why? You haven't watched many Asian movies with subs I take it? Do you watch dubbed versions instead or just give them a miss altogether?

[t0mby]

Just finished watching Uppity, The Willy T Ribb's story on Netflix about the first black man to race in the Indy 500. Gotta feel for the guy, the shit he was dealt from racist rednecks in the sport, dirty racing tactics, dodgy mechanics..... If you liked Senna, you'll love this. An amazing story and the people that he raced and helped him, Nigel Mansell, Paul Newman, Mario Andretti to mention a few.

10 dodgy gear ratios out of 10.

[Peppermint Lounge]

Took the boy to see Sonic today. Very enjoyable. Sonic conceived well and Jim Carrey is great. My son flying around the shopping centre and wanted his running shoes on when we got home.

[unfnknblvbl]

gonna be weird, watching a Korean film with English subs...

Why? You haven't watched many Asian movies with subs I take it? Do you watch dubbed versions instead or just give them a miss altogether?

No, as opposed to seeing an English film with hard-coded Korean subs

[t0mby]

Ready Player One.

Wasnt too bad, predictable and, even the $0.25 coin won in a bet I knew would come in handy later. Some really good nods to the 80s and sounds fucken epic on a home theatre. That level 99 magic shield and the big smart bomb at the end, I'm sure the neighbours in the next block heard the bass.