TV/Movies Megathread

[celedhring]

The Old Guard. It's essentially Highlander with Charlize Theron in place of Sean Connery (good), but without the cheesiness and beheadings (bad). Very boring antagonist, too. Big Pharma might be evil, but that doesn't mean they make good movie villains.

[Tonitrus]

Nobody has been able to do it well since the Nazis.

The Soviets made a good effort...but we let Chinese commies become economically untouchable.   

[celedhring]

Nobody has been able to do it well since the Nazis.

The Soviets made a good effort...but we let Chinese commies become economically untouchable.   

Unlike the real world, a movie is always better when it has nazis in it.

[The Brain]

Nobody has been able to do it well since the Nazis.

The Soviets made a good effort...but we let Chinese commies become economically untouchable.   

Unlike the real world, a movie is always better when it has nazis in it.

Especially at Verdun.

[Sheilbh]

Nobody has been able to do it well since the Nazis.

The Soviets made a good effort...but we let Chinese commies become economically untouchable.   

I blame TV. We've got too into anti-heroes on TV so now villains need to be a little bit realistic, little bit flawed, little bit plausible motivation (so help me God if I see another film where the villain was somehow wronged by the hero and wants to destroy everything in their life).

We have lost a proper high camp villain in a onesie

[Eddie Teach]

Final Girl. Mildly entertaining. Preppies in tuxes hunt girls for sport, get more than they bargain for. This is categorized as horror, but you never fear for anyone...

[Malthus]

Nobody has been able to do it well since the Nazis.

The Soviets made a good effort...but we let Chinese commies become economically untouchable.   

I blame TV. We've got too into anti-heroes on TV so now villains need to be a little bit realistic, little bit flawed, little bit plausible motivation (so help me God if I see another film where the villain was somehow wronged by the hero and wants to destroy everything in their life).

We have lost a proper high camp villain in a onesie

The Kurgan in Highlander was an awesome villain - just a bad to the bone dude who revelled in badness.

Clearly, what we need is more central Asian nomads as villains. Bring on the hordes of Ghengis and Tamerlane!

[The Brain]

Clancy Brown.

[Sheilbh]

The Kurgan in Highlander was an awesome villain - just a bad to the bone dude who revelled in badness.

Clearly, what we need is more central Asian nomads as villains. Bring on the hordes of Ghengis and Tamerlane!

Exactly!

The best villains are ones who either have very clear, scary motivations, or ones who are kind of motiveless - I also quite like my villains to be gay-coded. But above all they should be over the top. Heroes are boring characters. We don't need to give villains all their flaws like "realism" or "a character arc" - we need a reliable stream of characters best played by British thespians from the theatre (they can play Nazis, Soviets, Horde or Alien!) absolutely not playing it small or nuanced.

This is a hill I'll die on.

If Riz Ahmed was allowed to have as crazy a character/performance as Tom Hardy in Venom, it might even be a good film.

[Tonitrus]

The Kurgan in Highlander was an awesome villain - just a bad to the bone dude who revelled in badness.

Clearly, what we need is more central Asian nomads as villains. Bring on the hordes of Ghengis and Tamerlane!

Exactly!

The best villains are ones who either have very clear, scary motivations, or ones who are kind of motiveless - I also quite like my villains to be gay-coded. But above all they should be over the top. Heroes are boring characters. We don't need to give villains all their flaws like "realism" or "a character arc" - we need a reliable stream of characters best played by British thespians from the theatre (they can play Nazis, Soviets, Horde or Alien!) absolutely not playing it small or nuanced.

This is a hill I'll die on.

If Riz Ahmed was allowed to have as crazy a character/performance as Tom Hardy in Venom, it might even be a good film.

What come to mind as possibly the ideal match of a great hero and great villains are the Indiana Jones films.  The Nazis might be a bias, but even Mola Ram was a very good villain.

[The Larch]

The Kurgan in Highlander was an awesome villain - just a bad to the bone dude who revelled in badness.

Clearly, what we need is more central Asian nomads as villains. Bring on the hordes of Ghengis and Tamerlane!

Exactly!

The best villains are ones who either have very clear, scary motivations, or ones who are kind of motiveless - I also quite like my villains to be gay-coded. But above all they should be over the top. Heroes are boring characters. We don't need to give villains all their flaws like "realism" or "a character arc" - we need a reliable stream of characters best played by British thespians from the theatre (they can play Nazis, Soviets, Horde or Alien!) absolutely not playing it small or nuanced.

This is a hill I'll die on.

Given that you have such a strong opinion on this, which are your favourite big screen villanous performances?

[Sheilbh]

Given that you have such a strong opinion on this, which are your favourite big screen villanous performances?

For me, Alan Rickman is the bar against which all villains are measured - and I'd go for his Sheriff of Nottingham (but it's tough). It's also the best example of villains = fun and interesting and why we enjoy the film while heroes = boring and worthy. I'm not sure if it's true or apocryphal but allgedly Kevin Costner cut some of Rickman's scenes because he realised this.

I can't think of a single film that is made by the performance of the hero (because the performance is like the character - solid, good, decent - it's necessary but not sufficient to be a good film), but a villain can really make it.

Best example I can think of a film that does both very well is probably Silence of the Lambs.

Edit: And the lack of fun villains has been the biggest weakness of Marvel, and why they've really drained everything they can out of Loki.

[celedhring]

I was about to post that Hans Gruber was probably the best fit to Sheilbh's preferences 

His Sheriff of Nottingham is also one of Rickman's most memorable turns, too.

[crazy canuck]

I am not sure Rickman's Sheriff character would have been half as good without Rickman. 

Going to your point about needing the right sort of actor to pull it off properly. 

[The Larch]

I was about to post that Hans Gruber was probably the best fit to Sheilbh's preferences 

Yeah, I was thinking the same, so picking Alan Rickman totally fits (even if it's for a different character). 

What about Raúl Juliá's Bison? It might be the most scenario-chewing per frame captured on film.