Movies - Recently Watched or Plan to Watch Soon

[ManvsMini]

58 minutes ago, Citrine said:

It's on our watch list, almost watched it yesterday instead. 

 

Just finished watching it myself. Having a hard time deciding how to rank it. Not as good as Haywire, Carano seemed quite a bit wooden and the action sequences weren't playing to her strong points. However, John Hannah (of The Mummy series and Spartacus Blood and Sand), while not given enough screen time, delivers on his performance.

 

Definitely rank it above Gigli, not as good as Haywire... maybe on par with an Uwe Boll Bloodrayne sequel (but definitely better than the first Bloodrayne).

[Crowley]

On Friday Mrs Hamster and I watched 2 very silly HBO Sports mockumentaries.

 

7 Days In Hell - Tennis themed.

Tour de Pharmacy - cycling themed.

 

Both were funny, stupid, and blessedly short. (50 minutes and 41 minutes) Neither stretched things out or tried to fill it up with scenes that didn't add anything to it.

[Disciple of Sakura]

Wife and I watched Just Mercy on Prime last night. Good movie, well done.

[aku-chan]

Watched Terminator:- Dark Fate today.

 

I liked it, but then again I've liked all of them (so far).

[Disciple of Sakura]

1 hour ago, aku-chan said:

Watched Terminator:- Dark Fate today.

 

I liked it, but then again I've liked all of them (so far).

TBH, I've enjoyed all the Terminator movies so far. T1 and T2 are definitely the best, but there's good in most of them. Dark Fate was the best T3 we've had so far (since most of the movies since have just been attempts at T3.

[aku-chan]

7 hours ago, Disciple of Sakura said:

TBH, I've enjoyed all the Terminator movies so far. T1 and T2 are definitely the best, but there's good in most of them. Dark Fate was the best T3 we've had so far (since most of the movies since have just been attempts at T3.

 

100% agree.

Although it's a shame they felt they needed to reboot stuff again, I was interested in seeing where the Genisys story-line was going.

[Disciple of Sakura]

6 hours ago, aku-chan said:

 

100% agree.

Although it's a shame they felt they needed to reboot stuff again, I was interested in seeing where the Genisys story-line was going.

Genisys got panned so hard that I guess they decided to cut their losses. If they could shake off the desire to keep Arnold in these, they'd probably be able to start improving.

 

I'm sad that Salvation chickened out on its original plans for the ending. It would have been a really interesting twist on the mythos.

[VitM]

My girlfriend and I watched On Yoga: Architecture of Peace and HUMAN this weekend.  Both were welcome antidotes from all the division in the world lately.

[Zink]

4 hours ago, Disciple of Sakura said:

Genisys got panned so hard that I guess they decided to cut their losses. If they could shake off the desire to keep Arnold in these, they'd probably be able to start improving.

 

I'm sad that Salvation chickened out on its original plans for the ending. It would have been a really interesting twist on the mythos.

 

What was Salvation's ending supposed to be? I liked it better than some of the others. Genisys was soso and I haven't seen Dark Fate yet.

[Sirithiliel]

i stopped watching Dark Fate after (movie spoiler)

 

they killed John.

. that showed me how much they cared about the Franchise and its history and previous movies, and i lost all interest in the movie

(rant related to movie spoiler)

 

killing john complete negates and erases anything in Terminator 2. None of it matters now. He's dead anyways. They did it just to shove yet another feminist agenda character into a old franchise to replace a previously male character for the same exact role and the same exact plot, for politics instead of actually trying to construct a good story. 

Why not make a NEW character with NEW plotlines, instead of make a 'female john connor' to be the 'savior of hte human race'? they did that with John Conner. They just wanted to redo it with a 'powerful strong female' this time

 

if they're going to reboot old franchises, at least do something new and stop with the annoying 'so strong, so flawless, absolutely perfect' female re-imaginings of the main character. why not make a believable female character, like Sarah Conner was? or Leia? or Padme? or whats-her-name from Alien? It's very possible to do a strong female character without making it so over the top 'she's so beautiful, smart and PERFECT' 

 

general rant about current entertainment 

 

 

it bothers me how hollywood is today with movies, especially reviving old franchises and then nose diving them into the ground to crash and burn by not understanding WHY people loved those franchises in the first place. All they see is money and political agendas, and make a movie around that, expect the brand name to sell, and then cry 'trolls' and 'misogynists that hate women' when the movie fails. So many of my old childhood favorites are now just crumbles, with even the older stories i grew up with actively sabotaged and retro-actively changed to fit the 'new way of things'. Looking at you, Star Wars, Dr. Who, Star Trek, and now Terminator

 

an example of this is Ghostbusters 2016. The original ghostbusters had humor, but it wasn't constant. The characters ad libbed a little bit, but not every line. There wasn't constant action, there wasn't any super fight scenes. And they took that movie, and made...a comedy with non-stop ad-libbing, no real script, crude jokes and slap stick all the way through with over the top CGI fight scenes. It has none of the original charm of the original, and they wonder why people don't like their loud, head-achey, over the top stupid show of a stand up ad lib comedy act. People didn't like it becuase it was bad. It was bad acting, bad script, bad and unnecessary CGI, and bad ad-libbing because they stuck the characters in front of the camera and said 'say funny things!' rather than have a cohesive story line. But of course they blame sexists and trolls, because why admit you did poorly on the movie when you can just shift blame to people hating it because of 'women'

 

and what bothers me is that this is almost every single new reboot of a franchise.
1. strong female character and diverse, politically correct cast
2. poorly written story because it's not as important as hitting those diversity and politically correct check marks
3. feminist marking

4. retro-actively re-write previous movies to support the new female character to be better than the previous characters, regardless of what plotholes it causes

5. ignore lore and previous established 'rules' of that franchises' universe, because who cares about lore? 

6. blame trolls and sexists when movie bombs because it's a bad movie

Edited June 29, 2020 by Sirithiliel

[Disciple of Sakura]

10 hours ago, Zink said:

 

What was Salvation's ending supposed to be? I liked it better than some of the others. Genisys was soso and I haven't seen Dark Fate yet.

Spoiler

In the original treatment, John actually dies from his injuries at the facility, and the human/Terminator hybrid character introduced in Salvation takes over as "John." Since John had only just started to gain notoriety in the human resistance, and no one had seen him in person, this meant that no one would realize that John Connor was actually not the biological John Connor, but instead a terminator himself. I like this ending because it means that Skynet has been obsessively trying to destroy John Connor, only to create the actual John Connor who successfully destroys him once and for all. It was a bold twist that would have been an interesting way to take the franchise, but the writers chickened out. Likely, they didn't want to upset people who expect the story to go a certain way.

 

I'll have to agree to disagree with Sirithiel about Ghostbusters 2016, though. I actually really enjoy it, and think it does several things better than the original Ghostbusters. I still love the original movie, but they're not trying to be the same movie. The first one is very much a product of its time, and it works very well, but there are some things that bother me about it that are handled better in the reboot. For example - in the original movie, the GBs meet a single ghost, have almost no interaction with it, and somehow manage to create a fully functional ecto-containment unit that works successfully and consistently. In the remake, the characters have to repeatedly investigate ghost sightings, acquiring additional data and information as they go, and refining their technology in order to eventually capture a single ghost. Naturally, they're better at disrupting ghosts, and manage to mostly banish or discorporate them rather than capture them by the climax, but they create an ecto-containment unit by the end. Winston is largely and after-thought in the originals (so much so that non-letterboxed versions of the movie actually crop him out frequently) while each member of the 2016 cast has their own reasons for being in the group, and all bring something to the table that's useful. Also, Kate McKinnon is terrific, and it's nice to have a villain who actually has something of a plan, rather than the plot just, sort of, happening.

I'll watch 2016 again before getting around to Ghostbusters II, and I still even like that one.

Edited June 30, 2020 by Disciple of Sakura

[Sirithiliel]

Ah see I had the opposite feeling 

 

The plot felt like it just stumbled along with no direction. I hated the humor. Flat out actually hated it. It was just all four of them shouting whatever random thing that came to their heads every second of the movie , usually at the same time so it is just a cacophony of screaming. Their assistant was a embarrassment

 

I dunno. Everything about it rubbed me wrong. I would have liked it better if they ad libbed less, have jokes room to breathe instead of immediately shouting another one and another one, and if the characters had more unique roles. Usually in a group you have the funny one, the smart one, etc. In this movie they are all trying to be the funny one, and none of them are

 

We will agree to disagree I suppose . I thought it was god awful and just head ache inducing

Edited June 30, 2020 by Sirithiliel

[aku-chan]

10 hours ago, Sirithiliel said:

i stopped watching Dark Fate after (movie spoiler)

  Reveal hidden contents

they killed John.

. that showed me how much they cared about the Franchise and its history and previous movies, and i lost all interest in the movie

(rant related to movie spoiler)

  Reveal hidden contents

killing john complete negates and erases anything in Terminator 2. None of it matters now. He's dead anyways. They did it just to shove yet another feminist agenda character into a old franchise to replace a previously male character for the same exact role and the same exact plot, for politics instead of actually trying to construct a good story. 

Why not make a NEW character with NEW plotlines, instead of make a 'female john connor' to be the 'savior of hte human race'? they did that with John Conner. They just wanted to redo it with a 'powerful strong female' this time

 

if they're going to reboot old franchises, at least do something new and stop with the annoying 'so strong, so flawless, absolutely perfect' female re-imaginings of the main character. why not make a believable female character, like Sarah Conner was? or Leia? or Padme? or whats-her-name from Alien? It's very possible to do a strong female character without making it so over the top 'she's so beautiful, smart and PERFECT' 

 

general rant about current entertainment 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

it bothers me how hollywood is today with movies, especially reviving old franchises and then nose diving them into the ground to crash and burn by not understanding WHY people loved those franchises in the first place. All they see is money and political agendas, and make a movie around that, expect the brand name to sell, and then cry 'trolls' and 'misogynists that hate women' when the movie fails. So many of my old childhood favorites are now just crumbles, with even the older stories i grew up with actively sabotaged and retro-actively changed to fit the 'new way of things'. Looking at you, Star Wars, Dr. Who, Star Trek, and now Terminator

 

an example of this is Ghostbusters 2016. The original ghostbusters had humor, but it wasn't constant. The characters ad libbed a little bit, but not every line. There wasn't constant action, there wasn't any super fight scenes. And they took that movie, and made...a comedy with non-stop ad-libbing, no real script, crude jokes and slap stick all the way through with over the top CGI fight scenes. It has none of the original charm of the original, and they wonder why people don't like their loud, head-achey, over the top stupid show of a stand up ad lib comedy act. People didn't like it becuase it was bad. It was bad acting, bad script, bad and unnecessary CGI, and bad ad-libbing because they stuck the characters in front of the camera and said 'say funny things!' rather than have a cohesive story line. But of course they blame sexists and trolls, because why admit you did poorly on the movie when you can just shift blame to people hating it because of 'women'

 

and what bothers me is that this is almost every single new reboot of a franchise.
1. strong female character and diverse, politically correct cast
2. poorly written story because it's not as important as hitting those diversity and politically correct check marks
3. feminist marking

4. retro-actively re-write previous movies to support the new female character to be better than the previous characters, regardless of what plotholes it causes

5. ignore lore and previous established 'rules' of that franchises' universe, because who cares about lore? 

6. blame trolls and sexists when movie bombs because it's a bad movie

 

I dunno.

While I do somewhat agree with you about this current trend in films and stuff, in Dark Fate I saw it more as finally cutting ties with the older films and letting the franchise move on if (and considering how poorly these movies have been received for a while, that's a pretty big if) they make more.

 

(Even though they will probably still find a way to cram Arnie into any future ones).

 

Plus the whole 

Spoiler

John pays the ultimate price to save humanity from Skynet, but it turns out that the creation of something similar is an unavoidable part of the future 

really appeals to cynical old me.

[Sirithiliel]

30 minutes ago, aku-chan said:

 

I dunno.

While I do somewhat agree with you about this current trend in films and stuff, in Dark Fate I saw it more as finally cutting ties with the older films and letting the franchise move on if (and considering how poorly these movies have been received for a while, that's a pretty big if) they make more.

 

(Even though they will probably still find a way to cram Arnie into any future ones).

 

Plus the whole 

  Hide contents

John pays the ultimate price to save humanity from Skynet, but it turns out that the creation of something similar is an unavoidable part of the future 

really appeals to cynical old me.

 

 

I feel like they could have done it better though, than kill him in the first 2 minutes as a kid. I dunno. That just really rubbed me the wrong way. I feel like there are ways they could have pulled off the inevitable while still keeping terminator 2 as a relevant part of the franchise. Like, what I'd he was an adult, and the adult John saw the time of skynet never arise, thinks he is successful and the world is safe....only to then die to something new, a NEW terminator we have never seen before. 

 

 

Not only does it keep terminator 2 relevant, but we get to see humanity's building hope crushed just when they think they actually did it, they actually saved the world, the date skynet was supposed to be created came and went with no skynet. 

And then...tragedy. plus this way we see a new Terminator kill him, not the extremely outdated Arnold model. 

 

That would also play into the 'future is inevitable' theme. The new AI kills John, as the savior of the world in the future, but a new savior then takes his place, just like how the new AI took Skynet's place. John still dies. New AI still tries to kill new Savior being protected by Sarah Connor. 

 

Though honestly I do feel like they could have done something different than rehash a old terminator plot with a female savior. Young child is future savior of human race from evil AI, so evil AI sends terminator robot that can shift it's shape to kill them and they must be protected by a friendly terminator and Sarah Connor. It has been done before, it is nothing new other than gender bending the savior. I would have loved to see something original 

 

Edited June 30, 2020 by Sirithiliel

[aku-chan]

4 hours ago, Sirithiliel said:

4 hours ago, aku-chan said:

 

I dunno.

While I do somewhat agree with you about this current trend in films and stuff, in Dark Fate I saw it more as finally cutting ties with the older films and letting the franchise move on if (and considering how poorly these movies have been received for a while, that's a pretty big if) they make more.

 

(Even though they will probably still find a way to cram Arnie into any future ones).

 

Plus the whole 

  Reveal hidden contents

John pays the ultimate price to save humanity from Skynet, but it turns out that the creation of something similar is an unavoidable part of the future 

really appeals to cynical old me.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I feel like they could have done it better though, than kill him in the first 2 minutes as a kid. I dunno. That just really rubbed me the wrong way. I feel like there are ways they could have pulled off the inevitable while still keeping terminator 2 as a relevant part of the franchise. Like, what I'd he was an adult, and the adult John saw the time of skynet never arise, thinks he is successful and the world is safe....only to then die to something new, a NEW terminator we have never seen before. 

 

 

Not only does it keep terminator 2 relevant, but we get to see humanity's building hope crushed just when they think they actually did it, they actually saved the world, the date skynet was supposed to be created came and went with no skynet. 

And then...tragedy. plus this way we see a new Terminator kill him, not the extremely outdated Arnold model. 

 

That would also play into the 'future is inevitable' theme. The new AI kills John, as the savior of the world in the future, but a new savior then takes his place, just like how the new AI took Skynet's place. John still dies. New AI still tries to kill new Savior being protected by Sarah Connor. 

 

Though honestly I do feel like they could have done something different than rehash a old terminator plot with a female savior. Young child is future savior of human race from evil AI, so evil AI sends terminator robot that can shift it's shape to kill them and they must be protected by a friendly terminator and Sarah Connor. It has been done before, it is nothing new other than gender bending the savior. I would have loved to see something original 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Sirithiliel

 

Oooh, I like your version of the plot!

 

Also I agree, it would be nice to see the franchise shake things up a bit, maybe a different timezone (A wild west set Terminator movie would be pretty cool I think, even if it would be pretty much a rip-off of the original Westworld film), or a rival AI or something.

But then you run into how risk averse the film industry is these days, which is a whole 'nother problem.