TV/Movies Megathread

[Duque de Bragança]

Tron: Ares

A departure from the previous two, specially TTron Legacy almost ignored, yet with some Tron fan-service. It targets people who have not seen the previous two says the script writer. I believe him. 

Disney wants a new franchise to milk it, a sequel more than alluded in the post-credits.

Technically, this is top-notch, CGI does not bother me for a movie such as Tron. However, given there is much more real world than grid this time, it may be more visible. Plenty of night shots though to compensate.

Did Jared Leto killed another cult movie? 

So nothing special, hence the hyping on chat shows all over the place?

Probably, yes. It's lukewarm or average for me. Not a disaster of epic proportions such as Episode I but nothing special.

Did not watch it in 3D, however. Might give it another shot.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

Probably, yes. It's lukewarm or average for me. Not a disaster of epic proportions such as Episode I but nothing special.

Did not watch it in 3D, however. Might give it another shot.

I'm about to find out first-hand.  As a long-time fan of the original (which I just re-watched last weekend), I will report back.

[Syt]

Stam Fine's latest video is about the 1998 Lost in Space movie. I had forgotten that Jared Harris is in that one.



And here he is attending the premiere in LA. Lovely 90s look, cigarette and all.

[viper37]

I really don't get who Mr Terrific is or why the Green Lantern is weird. Or the elemental guy or other guys in prison. Or a lot. This messes with my head.

I've seen with my nephew.
8 years old.

Didn't really think about the plot.  He liked it.  I didn't think about anything else for a while, I was pleased at the time.

It's exactly as you said, it's like most Marvels.  Don't overthink it.  I'm not really familiar with DC universe anyway, outside of the main characters, Batman, Aquaman, Superman, Wonderwoman.

[viper37]

'The Goodfather II' - seen for the first time, Al Pacino rules, no meaningful artistic comments from me.

Is the third one worth a viewing?

Yes, because it's the last one in the series and it brings closure to the series, but it's not as good as the other 2.

There is apparently a final cut of the movie, as seen by Coppola, recently released.  I have not read the reviews.

[celedhring]

Nickel Boys

Story about a reform school from hell for black youths in the 1960s-70s. It is based in a real school which wasn't closed until the 2000s, and given what we see - fucking hell.

Anyway, the most salient bit of the movie is that it is entirely shot in first person. This is at equal times breath-taking and disconcerting. There have been many attempts at shooting a movie entirely in first person. The most notorious, is - I think - Lady of the Lake, which used POV camera as the way to faithfully translate Chandler's first-person hardboiled narrative. That movie didn't work, but again, interesting experiment.

Here, too, there's an attempt to use it in a way that makes sense. The movie is built as fragmented memories from one of the survivors of the school, and we experience the story throug his eyes, reliving these memories. I haven't read the original novel but I suppose its written similarly. For what it's worth, the Oscar-nominated screenplay really makes a great job of building the narrative through these very fragmented small moments. And I can see how *this* script could be shot any other way. So there's a very deliberate effort of marrying style with story.

The POV conceit sometimes works and produces great evocative and/or harrowing moments, but in many others you just feel there's only half a scene in there - and in time to me it grew more annoying than anything else, getting in the way of the story and its emotional heft. You never get to see how the protagonist experiences any of it except for his disembodied voice (which always feels uncanny) and some reflection shots, and you kinda miss that access to him. Again, as well-thought stylistic experiment (and with a good - if certainly harrowing - story) it's certainly worth checking out. But I don't think it quite works despite the talent on display.

[mongers]

'The Goodfather II' - seen for the first time, Al Pacino rules, no meaningful artistic comments from me.

Is the third one worth a viewing?

Yes, because it's the last one in the series and it brings closure to the series, but it's not as good as the other 2.

There is apparently a final cut of the movie, as seen by Coppola, recently released.  I have not read the reiews.

Thanks GF, I'll give it a viewing. The version now on Netflix is the 'final director's edit' you mentioned, so should be interesting.