Movies, Movies, Movies.....

[bert425]

^ yep.. I'll check back in here in this thread, and on Twitter on Wed.

[9Armgeddon4]

^^ Sure why not.

I do have several questions to ask about the movie. I won’t ask these right now but I will say most of them are about the time traveling and final battle.

[Dombot]

I'm just saying... if anyone spoils the movie for me on here, I'm reporting you to Robb and company. That is all.

[bert425]

Ok. . just got back from seeing it.

 

And managed to be almost completely unspoiled (tho someone in a meme kinda spoiled some of the Thor stuff. . but oh well, it was minor enough).

 

thought it was REALLY good, tho could have used a trim of about 30 minutes.

 

lots of nods to comic readers, including a few things I didn't think we'd ever see on a movie screen.

 

Saw it at Alamo Drafthouse, wonderful reserved seating, 30 minute pre-show recap (during ordering/serving times) of all the Marvel films thus far (and important plot points going into this film)

 

oh. .and the food. went way off diet, tho I stuck to water to drink, and subbed out the fries on my Thanos Burger for fruit

(then blew it all in a snap (ha!) with a salted caramel milkshake. . . but at the Alamo Drafthouse. I HAD to)

 

most importantly?

one of the best reasons to go to Alamo Drafthouse for films (besides the food/drinks, the pre-show shorts, and the no-talking/no-texting strict rules)?

 

they do all kinds of fun stuff, like this "memorial" display they had up in the lobby

[Canobie Coaster]

So that Sonic the Hedgehog trailer was something else. Who thought Gangsters in Paradise belonged in a Sonic trailer?

[CaptainUnknown]

^Weird Al's Amish Paradise would have worked just as well for how bizarre it was. And now, they're changing Sonic's design after the backlash the trailer obviously received. I also don't know what Jim Carrey's doing in the trailer, but I love it.

[Canobie Coaster]

I see Jim Carrey playing Jim Carrey, not Robotnik. However, Carrey seems to be really trying and from what I've seen, he needs to carry this film.

[bert425]

he's a really good actor when he cares about the material (see: "Kidding" series or "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind").. but yeah, he's just hamming it up here.

 

lots of decent actors slumming in this, and as Canobie noted: there was such a backlash on the trailer, they announced they are redesigning Sonic (after the film is done!) to remove the human teeth, and to take away the "human" legs.

[Canobie Coaster]

^ Eternal Sunshine is one of the few movies where I see Jim Carrey playing a down-to-earth human and it's a great film. I saw the backlash and how they're redesigning Sonic.

[CaptainUnknown]

I saw Endgame for the 2nd time today and all I can say is:

Also, the girl sitting in front of me was on her phone texting on and off during the first hour or so of the movie. So when I finally asked her to turn it off, she looked at me like I was ruining her movie-going experience. But she didn't take it out again.

[tinaalsgirl]

I finally saw Endgame today.

 

All I can really say is that I've been with the MCU since 2008, and I have been on Team Iron Man the whole way. So, uh, I have lots of feelings about Endgame, and not all of them are positive.

 

Then again, I haven't been happy with any of Markus & McFeely or Russo Bros stuff in the MCU. I hope they are done with Marvel now that Phase 3 is over.

[RCT3Bross]

I saw detective Pikachu yesterday. The movie wasn't the best it could be if you ask me, but I thought it was a good movie. No my reaction to the "evil plan" was like: "Okay, that's a thing now." No it was pretty weird but I thought to myself it's a video game movie it's okay to be weird at some points, but I was shocked for a couple of minutes.

Not a lot of long action scene's with this being more of a mystery movie that's okay. I also like some character moments. Pokémon Design was just fantastic if you ask me, there where many moments I got excited just because of a Pokémon I saw.

 

So yeah there where some things I'm still scratching my head over but overall I liked it, it wasn't great but good.

[Nrthwnd]

We saw Endgame on Monday. It was good. It was long. Huge cast...

 

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

 

 

 

 

 

I loved Thor! Whatta a way to let yourself go, huh? And Capt.Marvel's new do was nice to see.

And the part that really got to me.....was the small discussion, near the end, about "cheeseburgers."

 

I really think it could have been trimmed up several minutes here and there. But that's a minor rant.

[CaptainUnknown]

I loved Thor! Whatta a way to let yourself go, huh?

 

Now ACErs can have a body like Thor's!

[9Armgeddon4]

I saw detective Pikachu yesterday. The movie wasn't the best it could be if you ask me, but I thought it was a good movie. No my reaction to the "evil plan" was like: "Okay, that's a thing now." No it was pretty weird but I thought to myself it's a video game movie it's okay to be weird at some points, but I was shocked for a couple of minutes.

Not a lot of long action scene's with this being more of a mystery movie that's okay. I also like some character moments. Pokémon Design was just fantastic if you ask me, there where many moments I got excited just because of a Pokémon I saw.

 

So yeah there where some things I'm still scratching my head over but overall I liked it, it wasn't great but good.

 

I saw Detective Pikachu recently and I think it’s the best live action video game movie of all. The design of Pokemon looked alright for the most part. The plot was very predictable though and it obvious who the villain was. I felt like it was pretty faithful to the game also which is not something we can say about some of the other movies such as Super Mario Bros, Street Fighter, Double Dragon and Doom. The only other video game movie I know that was faithful to the game is Mortal Kombat(still my favorite video game movie). With that said this movie being successful only puts even more pressure on the Sonic movie.

[CaptainUnknown]

Saw John Wick 3 on Saturday. While as a whole it was the weakest of the three, the action did not disappoint. Some of the kills really got the audience to wince and gasp. And they tried to interject it with a style of humor that wasn't in the franchise thus far and so it felt out of place. Also, now I need to go back to the first two to see how many groin hits there were, because a large chunk of the combat was aimed below the belt and I don't remember much of that previously.

[robbalvey]

Aladdin Movie Review!

 

Wish #1 - I wish the live-action movie was as good as the animated film

So here's the thing - The live-action movie wasn't "bad" and in fact, I did enjoy it... but something seemed a bit "off" with it. The two leads, Mena Massoud as Aladdin and Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine were actually fantastic and in my opinion, save the movie. It is worth going to see just for these two alone.

 

But what seemed "off" about it? Hmm... It's hard to describe exactly, but the film felt more like a higher-budget Disney Channel movie than it did a theatrical feature film. If you've ever seen some of the more prominent Disney Channel movies like Descendants, High School Musical, etc, it was as though this film started out as being one of those, but then later decided to release it into the theaters.

 

I absoultely enjoyed the fact that the film retained the musical format from the animated film, but I actually wish there would have been more new music written for it. That being said, I found that the one song that was added (live-action film adaptions of either a Broadway musical or a previously released film need a new song to qualify for a "Best Song" Oscar Nomination) "Speechless" seemed lackluster and oddly enough didn't seem to quite fit in. So maybe I don't want to wish for more new music!

 

Wish #2 - I wish that Will Smith could have pulled it off.

Again, he wasn't "bad" exactly... but I felt his performance was very underwhelming and in many ways seemed like he was "trying too hard." But let's be honest, he had some big genie shoes to fill, and he just couldn't knock it out of the lamp. There were some moments that worked well, but overall that punch, pizzazz, yahoo and how that the original movie had was missing here and at no point did I feel slack-jawed or buggy-eyed. Genie in this film was just kind of "meh." And what frustrates me about that is having seen the Broadway Musical version of Aladdin, the role of Genie in that show is FANTASTIC! I wish they would have used that version of Genie as a model for this live-action film.

 

Wish #3 - Stop making live-action versions of the Disney Animated Classics!

This may be an unpopular opinion based on how well films like Beauty & The Beast and Jungle Book did at the box office, but I have to say that I've been underwhelmed by all of these films. None of them have lived up to their original animated counterparts and if you want to re-make a Disney animated classic, how about doing something like re-animating the film with all of today's animation technology?

 

It's not like we are stuck in the times of early 3D animation of films like Chicken Little, recent films like Moana, Zootopia, Frozen, and Tangled prove that you can make some absolutely BEAUTIFUL films with todays 3D animation capabilities. Take the original audio soundtrack to the animated classic, re-master it, and re-animate it. Could you imagine how insane a nighttime scene from Aladdin like "A Whole New World" would look re-animated with the technology used in a film like Moana? INCREDIBLE!

 

I want credit for this idea if it ever happens!

 

In summary, I wouldn't tell you NOT to go see Aladdin, as I did enjoy it, but adjust your expectations accordingly... or maybe watch it when it comes to the Disney Channel as I feel then it would be a perfect fit!

Edited May 23, 2019 by robbalvey

[Waltrane]

I haven’t seen this yet (obviously) but point 3 is right on. The live action versions are getting out of hand and never as good as the original.

[Nrthwnd]

And now they're starting to make additional live action films, following their original live version (hello Maleficent?). Now I hear there's another version of "101 Dalmatians" coming, in the near future.

 

But.... didn't they do it with Glenn Close already?

 

P.S. Think what they do, with today's tech and such...for their original "Alice In Wonderland?"

[tinaalsgirl]

So far, of the straight-up remakes of their older animated movies (so Burton's Alice doesn't count in this, as it's a continuation of sorts), my favorites have been Maleficent - which gave her a super interesting backstory and I'm excited for the sequel - and Cinderella, which was close enough to the original to feel familiar and homey, but different enough that they not only rounded out Ella's character, but they also gave life to Kit, the Prince.

 

I haven't seen Jungle Book yet. I, personally, like the Beauty & the Beast live-action film, but that's in addition to the original, not as a replacement or whatever.

 

After the trailers came out for Lion King, I found myself really uninterested in seeing it.... until Entertainment Weekly had a multi-page story about it and I finally realized that they really aren't making this movie to redo or add to the story like the others - its existence is pretty much because they wanted to try new things technologically. And now that I know that the entire film is CG (I had thought the scenery/environment was filmed and the characters added to it), and I've read about the really amazing VR tech they used to direct & film the movie.... I'm back to wanting to see it again. Also, they've got an amazing voice cast, so that'll be fun, too.

 

I'm excited about the "live-action" Lady & the Tramp that's coming to Disney+. Tessa Thompson AND Janelle Monae doing voices? YES PLEASE.

[Garet]

And now they're starting to make additional live action films, following their original live version (hello Maleficent?). Now I hear there's another version of "101 Dalmatians" coming, in the near future.

 

I think it's supposed to be more focused on Cruella and a back story for her, basically what Maleficent was for Sleeping Beauty.

[tuxedomask5432]

I just saw Disney’s Aladdin remake, and was pleasantly surprised! The dancing, costumes, and sets are really amazing. The computer animated Raja and Abu were excellent. The new original song for Jasmine to sing, called “Speechless” fit in well with the returning songs. It’s by far one of the best Disney remakes I’ve seen so far.

[tuxedomask5432]

I haven’t seen this yet (obviously) but point 3 is right on. The live action versions are getting out of hand and never as good as the original.

 

Perhaps these Remakes are doing exactly what Disney wants them to do. Give the audience a taste of the film they used to enjoy, or expose the younger generation who missed the original, in order to drum up DVD/Digital sales of the original movie.

 

With Disney+ on the horizon these films will supposedly be available on that platform as well. So they want to create as much demand as possible. While they have done this already, I’d like to see them remake some classic live action Disney films like “The Apple Dumpling Gang.”

[michaellynn4]

...but overall that punch, pizzazz, yahoo and how that the original movie had was missing here and at no point did I feel slack-jawed or buggy-eyed.

 

 

The only one of these movies that I've thoroughly enjoyed so far has been Jungle Book, and that's mostly due to Bill Murray's performance as Baloo. Since then, they all just fall into this "okay, but unnecessary" category where they either adhere way too closely to the original script and it just ends up being a weak imitation. I'm hoping Lion King ends up being different.

[Nrthwnd]

We're seeing Aladdin on Thursday, in IMAX and 3D, so I expect to be OD'd in colours, effects, and such.

 

And a big BIG Genie. lol!

 

Followed by a nice late afternoon meal, at the Old Spaghetti Factory, across the street!