TV/Movies Megathread

[The Larch]

Active? He doesn't work hard enough on defense.

"LISTEN, KID! I've been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I'm out there busting my buns every night! Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes!"

[Barrister]

Die Hard is on tv, so of course I put it on as a great monday evening film, and the amount of stuff before the action begins that incredibly date the movie to the late 80s is quite astonishing. McLane carrying his gun in the plane, McLane smoking in the car, a telephone in the car as an amazing luxury, the incredible new technology of touchscreens, raving about Kareem Abdul Jabbar as an active player, it really has it all, and that's exclusing many other 80s tropes. 

Active? He doesn't work hard enough on defense.

[Berkut]

Wow.

I thought Tenet was fucking terrible. And I *like* Nolan movies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t23ZEKqGHzs

All true, but still a fun movie.

Except that it isn't. Fun. At all.

It's just an interesting idea that someone built a movie around that doesn't actually make any fucking sense and doesn't even try to get you to care about why all these people are doing all these nonsensical things.

[FunkMonk]

Wow.

I thought Tenet was fucking terrible. And I *like* Nolan movies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t23ZEKqGHzs

All true, but still a fun movie.

Except that it isn't. Fun. At all.

It's just an interesting idea that someone built a movie around that doesn't actually make any fucking sense and doesn't even try to get you to care about why all these people are doing all these nonsensical things.

You say you like Nolan films, yet Tenet is Nolan cranked up to 11. That is why it's fun.

That said, I think it's his weakest film.

[Berkut]

Wow.

I thought Tenet was fucking terrible. And I *like* Nolan movies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t23ZEKqGHzs

All true, but still a fun movie.

Except that it isn't. Fun. At all.

It's just an interesting idea that someone built a movie around that doesn't actually make any fucking sense and doesn't even try to get you to care about why all these people are doing all these nonsensical things.

You say you like Nolan films, yet Tenet is Nolan cranked up to 11. That is why it's fun.

That said, I think it's his weakest film.

Exactly right. I do like Nolan films, and Tenet is Nolan ^ Nolan.

Inception is a cool idea for a movie, with an interesting story built into that cool idea with characters that make sense, and the plot works once you make a basic suspension of disbelief around the core idea.

Tenet is a sort of cool idea for a movie, with an outstanding leading man, but zero character development that makes any sense outside of serving the cool idea, a plot that is just a theme built on top of the cool idea, and there is no amount of suspending disbelief that can make the actual idea make any damn sense.

It's like going to a restaurant, and they have this amazingly cool way to use butter in a new way to make your burger even better! Yes! That is so good!

Then the chef who came up with the idea is all "I am so fucking brilliant! I don't need a burger to get in the way of my amazingness! My next dish is just going to be the fucking butter! EAT IT YOU PEASANTS!"

Tenet is Nolan squared, but without anything to actually make the cool idea relevant enough to care about.

It's a euro movie - all mechanics, with a bolted on theme.

[Valmy]

Wow.

I thought Tenet was fucking terrible. And I *like* Nolan movies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t23ZEKqGHzs

What the fuck

[celedhring]

It's a euro movie - all mechanics, with a bolted on theme.

That's a weird take on euro cinema. I wish we stuck to mechanics, sometimes. 

[Josquius]

Yeah - the slight difference is I think it actually deals with him being gay which lots of these films don't. Unlike with Bohemian Rhapsody, Elton John has said that part of the reason he wanted to be a producer was to avoid the gay or the debauchery being downplayed (which prevented the film from being released in Russia) - I think the remaining Queen members sort of did. I also think the relationship with Bernie Taupin running through it is really striking. He isn't redeemed by a romantic partner but by a platonic friendship and a creative partnership. Which I think is true - I think Taupin's said it's a non-sexual love affair - but it's odd to see that foregrounded as a really important relationship in a movie, especially between a gay and straight man.

But I think it also leans more into the musical element. The songs aren't just portrayed as him recording or performing - other characters sing and they are generally really big old school musical set pieces with lots of dancers. Again I think of the contrast with Bohemian Rhapsody which I hated

Gay- I don't know much of him so who knows it could be totally accurate but the way it handled it seemed unusually straight forward to me. Maybe I'm just mixing him up with Freddie Mercury but I was sure he felt he was straight and acted towards that for a long time. The marriage came later than I thought tbh. Weird what happened there.
The scene in the club with his song writing friend and the American musicians was nice (It wouldn't bother me, your girlfriend might be a bit bothered et al) and I wonder how true it is.

I liked Bohemian Rhapsody. Where I'm quite meh on Elton John I do like Queen, I was really big on them when I was a kid. I expected it to be awful though it ended up really quite decent.  Also I do hate musicals whilst music production is a topic that interests me.
I don't think it underplayed the debauchery too much. I think it got across the point just fine without going too much into porno territory.
It did omit the infamous "I need another boy, this one is broken" line and put much too positive a light on Mercury in that era, but its hard to see how they could have gotten permission to make the biopic if they'd shown the full depths of Mercury's arse holery in the wild days. Quite a different thing when you've the guy himself to go "Yup, I was a dick, go ahead" and when he's dead and you've his friends looking over your shoulder instead.

The problem with Rocketman is that it's the same as any other of those music biopics. Humble guy with lots of talent is successful despite all odss, then does drugs/drinks/gets a divorce, ultimately sees the error of his ways, becomes successful again. And the film is bookended by some moment in his life that highlights his artistic and human resurrection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W3zQkGpzC0&ab_channel=SonyPicturesEntertainment

I know that Elton John's life arc is exactly that, which makes it slightly weird. 

Yes. Not even biopics. I get sick of this same template in so many films. British films especially seem to be guilty of it. Face early struggles and rise from nothing, at the peak of your success somehow fuck up or let it go to your head and fall out with your friend and/or love interest, pull it all together again for the finale.

My girlfriend noticed the main actor in it was also Eddie the Eagle in his biopic and Robin Hood in a recent Robin Hood. We imagine sometime soon he will get a call to be in the new Star Wars film and go "Oh, so you want me to play Mr Star Wars?"

[celedhring]

The problem with Rocketman is that it's the same as any other of those music biopics. Humble guy with lots of talent is successful despite all odss, then does drugs/drinks/gets a divorce, ultimately sees the error of his ways, becomes successful again. And the film is bookended by some moment in his life that highlights his artistic and human resurrection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W3zQkGpzC0&ab_channel=SonyPicturesEntertainment

I know that Elton John's life arc is exactly that, which makes it slightly weird. 

Yes. Not even biopics. I get sick of this same template in so many films. British films especially seem to be guilty of it. Face early struggles and rise from nothing, at the peak of your success somehow fuck up or let it go to your head and fall out with your friend and/or love interest, pull it all together again for the finale.

My girlfriend noticed the main actor in it was also Eddie the Eagle in his biopic and Robin Hood in a recent Robin Hood. We imagine sometime soon he will get a call to be in the new Star Wars film and go "Oh, so you want me to play Mr Star Wars?"

It's one of the most common narrative structures you'll find - it's just an adaptation of the hero's journey. And if you look at those movies in isolation they are perfectly okay applications of what is classically thought as a "good story" (the protagonist faces external obstacles to succeed and he beats those, but ultimately it is revealed that the true conflict is an internal flaw that he has to overcome in order to achieve true happiness). It's just that it's become so perfunctory...

[The Larch]

The trailer for the Venom sequel is out and it seems to be absolutely crazy in a good way. 

https://youtu.be/-ezfi6FQ8Ds

[Sheilbh]

The trailer for the Venom sequel is out and it seems to be absolutely crazy in a good way. 

https://youtu.be/-ezfi6FQ8Ds

Good because the main redeeming feature of the first film was Tom Hardy's performance/craziness

Also very pleased to see Stephen Graham in a film like that.

[HVC]

Sounds like a Cookie Monster cameo in the kitchen scene lol

[Berkut]

It's a euro movie - all mechanics, with a bolted on theme.

That's a weird take on euro cinema. I wish we stuck to mechanics, sometimes. 

It was making the comparison to a euro game, not cinema.

Euro games are known for having some mechanic that drives the game, with a "theme" bolted onto the mechanic.

[celedhring]

Ah yeah, that does make sense indeed.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Wow.

I thought Tenet was fucking terrible. And I *like* Nolan movies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t23ZEKqGHzs

Pitch Meeting is rarely wrong.  Even when it is a movie I like, I have to say they're on target.