What was the last movie you watched? (2017 Edition)

[George P Global Moderator]

Watched the newest Pirates of the Caribbean movie last night, few issues with it, actually big ones and why it did so poorly.  First off, it reused plot points from the first 2 movies,  guy and girl characters get together with Jack and go looking for something, just like first movie.  Chased by undead/cursed bad guys, just like the 2nd movie.    Second thing that was bad, they really screwed up Jack, or maybe Depp just doesn't care anymore and wants the huge disney paycheck?  His character in this movie was so one-dimensional, just played the drunk fool for 98% of the movie.  At least in the first 3, and a bit in the 4th, you see another side of his character that makes you wonder if he's really dumb/crazy or if there's method to the madness as they say.  In this though?  Nope, just doesn't do much and feels more like a supporting character.   The final problem, well, just couldn't get invested in what was going on, didn't really care much, story was shallow.  

 

Shame, because I like the series overall, this was way too weak.   4/10

[dragontology]

I thought the first two Pirates movies were great, but the third one was so lacking, I just ignored the 4th. The third was so boring, I just consider it a duology. Same with Terminator and Alien(s), actually. Two great movies and a stinker, I just don't care to see anymore. Moving on...

 

It's my birthday today, and I'm going to have a pretty great day. I'm a night owl/day sleeper, so the day doesn't really officially begin for me until I wake up in the early afternoon. So, I decided to watch a sad movie to balance the day. It's the same way I approached Grave of the Fireflies. I was having a great day, and I knew I could take the hit. Ditto the following movie. It's based on an anime, and the anime used to be my second favorite animated series, after Erased/Boku Dake ga Inai Machi. Now it's third after Orange, which did kind of the same thing as Erased with a little of this sprinkled in, but it did it a little better than this one, while not quite reaching the standard Erased has set for me. This was an anime that would have been better if shorter; like Death Note; at 22 episodes (Death Note had 37), if it only had 12, it would have been a solid 10/10. (Death Note is even more horribly stretched, and loses an extra point for 25 episodes of filler where 12 would have made it perfect. The movie got crapped on a lot, but had excellent pacing and a much better ending.) That said:

 

Your Lie in April (2016): Based on the anime of the same name, YLiA follows the story of a quirky violinist who ropes her boyfriend's shy and cagey pianist friend into being her 'Friend A," basically a stand-in for him while he's playing baseball. So Kosei takes her on dates in his friend's stead and with his friend's blessing, and we can see, while he does not, that more or less, all his friends are setting them up as a couple. We learn that Kosei has a complex with the piano because his mother tried to force him to play a certain way, and after a big fight they had... she died, and he blames himself. So Kaori helps him find the music again, but she has secrets of her own. The anime gives the ending away in the second or third episode, but it makes you think "no way, they're not gonna go that way," especially considering the length of the series. And then that's exactly what they do. It seems drawn out, again, as the series is way too long. I've actually watched a YouTube video, by the brilliant Mother's Basement, where he eloquently explains, in about 8 minutes, how the YLiA anime actually gives its ending away in the first few minutes, if you know where to look (the opening theme song). Due to copyright/DMCA takedowns, you can't actually find the real opening theme on YouTube, but here's the video with Spanish subtitles and a cover of the theme song. An anime's OP is never considered to be spoilers, and yet here we are, with one that gives away the ending. (Erased's does it, too, but it's one frame and you have to really be looking for it. And I'd argue it's far more subtle than this.) So as much as I hate to say it, the ending and direction of this movie, as it was with the anime, is fairly obvious. Almost as if they want you to know where it's heading, and dare you to stick with it, either in the hopes that you're wrong (you're not), or because you like the story. It's very much a "journey over destination" story. And yet, I love the story. I gave it a 9/10, but being fair, it's probably more objectively an 8/10. I don't speak or understand Japanese, so I can't comment on the acting. It did seem a little low budget, though. Best thing to do would be to head over to Netflix and watch the anime in English. You might find it in Japanese on Crunchyroll, if not Netflix.

[The Evil Overlord]

Transformers, The Last Knight

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3371366/

 

Entertaining, funny, good effects

 

7/10

 

edit, plot holes everywhere

Edited September 22, 2017 by The Evil Overlord

[Xahid]

4 minutes ago, The Evil Overlord said:

Transformers, The Last Knight

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3371366/

 

Entertaining, funny, good effects

 

7/10

Me too

[The Evil Overlord]

Pirates of the Caribbean; Dead men tell no tales

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790809/

 

8.5/10

 

As entertaining as a Pirates movie should be, just don't go in expecting the wow factor of 'Curse....' good story line, great acting, and that bank robbery scene  

[Circaflex]

Cult of Chucky - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3280262/

 

 

I'd give it 6/10 because I am a sucker for corny horror movies these days.

[George P Global Moderator]

Baby Driver,  7/10, I rated it a little lower than critics and others who give it 8s because at the core of it, the story isn't very compelling, and pretty basic, seen it before.   I like the way they used music to tie into things though, and the driving was very good.  

[The Evil Overlord]

8 minutes ago, George P said:

Baby Driver,  7/10, I rated it a little lower than critics and others who give it 8s because at the core of it, the story isn't very compelling, and pretty basic, seen it before.   I like the way they used music to tie into things though, and the driving was very good.  

You're more generous than me, I thought the movie sucked so bad it wasn't even worth the effort of posting about it here.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Gerald's Game.  For the most part, it followed Stephen King's novel very well ... Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood gave excellent performances.  Highly recommended for those that have Netflix.

9/10

 

 

[LaP]

On 7/12/2017 at 7:10 PM, TheReaperMan said:

Alien: Covenant

 

Personally I think it had a lot of plot holes, bad story and was not scary at all. The original Alien film is 100% better than this, shame really as I was looking forward to watching this one.

 

Covenant is possibly the worst Alien movie.

 

It's definitely worse than the first 3 movies. Prometheus was not very good but at least it was an okay introduction with some potential. I think even the 4th movie is better and i personally despise the 4th movie i prefer to act like it doesn't exist at all.

[+JR1966 Subscriber²]

33 minutes ago, Jim K said:

Gerald's Game.  For the most part, it followed Stephen King's novel very well ... Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood gave excellent performances.  Highly recommended for those that have Netflix.

9/10

 

 

Love me some Carla 

[+JR1966 Subscriber²]

Hitman's Bodyguard. Enjoyed it very much. Turn off the brain and enjoy the ride.

 

 

[LaP]

On 3/22/2017 at 11:33 AM, Copernic said:

 

 

9/10

Loved Silence. Definitely the best movie i watched this year. I don't know what the kids on imdb are smoking but the rating for this movie on imdb is ridiculously low.

[LaP]

On 5/23/2017 at 0:29 AM, dragontology said:

So I'm better off not seeing the second Independence Day?

You're better off not seeing any of the independence day movies. The first movie was awful.

 

I remember seeing the trailer in a theater with a friend while waiting for our movie to start when i was a teen. The trailer was awesome. It was like if they had taken all the action sequences of the movie and made a 2 minutes movie out of it. Me and my friend were like omg we GOT TO SEE THAT MOVIE AT ALL COST. Then later we went to see the movie and man it was such a disappointment. One of the biggest disappointment i ever had in a theater ever with Pearl harbor.

[Circaflex]

War for the Planet of the Apes - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3450958/

 

 

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I would give it 7/10. It was eerie how similar the message of the movie was compared to the times we are currently living in. I'd recommend it.

16 hours ago, JR1966 said:

Hitman's Bodyguard. Enjoyed it very much. Turn off the brain and enjoy the ride.

 

 

I enjoyed this one as well.

[George P Global Moderator]

Finally watched Spide-man homecoming, I'd say it was average, 7/10 at best, maybe as low as 6.5/10 at times.    Ignoring the fact that it relied on tony stark/iron man too much IMO, it was too, chatty?   This version of Peter talks way too much IMO, like he's always excited or just hyper.   It was good how his inexperience showed but still, some parts seemed forced at times, like for someone who's suppose to be pretty smart he lacks common sense.   

[dragontology]

The NeverEnding Story (1984): Watched this the night before last. I'm not adjusting its 8/10 rating I previously gave it, but holy hell this movie is bad... I mean... it hasn't aged well. And it does some things spectacularly badly. However, the premise is still cool, and it deserves at least a 7/10, and it's a pretty damn good modern fantasy flick for only being an hour and a half. I'm going to assume everybody's seen it, it's only been like 33 years since it came out...

 

First off, of the three Fantasians introduced first (Rock Biter, guy with the bat, and guy with the snail), only the guy with the bat actually reaches the Ivory Tower, and no fewer than 2 dozen creatures are already there... and not only is the Empress's handler already aware of the Nothing, he's already sent for help, but his information isn't good enough to tell him the legendary warrior Atreyu is only 13 years old (or at least that's how old Noah Hathaway was; Atreyu's age is never given). Rock Biter and Snail Guy never even get that far for no reason.

 

Second, the Swamp of Sadness seems to have the reverse effect. The horse inexplicably dies, but the swamp fails to take Atreyu in his mourning. So why was the horse sad again? Oh, right, because Atreyu and Bastian are the same person, and they're both a b—h, but the movie doesn't make this clear at this point. (There's really no proof Atreyu is any kind of great warrior. He's really just a kid.) And if you want to say the purpose of the earlier Rock Biter scene was to set the Nothing up, after all that talk of "that would have been something, this was literally nothing," then we see the Nothing is a scary storm... which is literally something.

 

Moving on, Falkor takes Atreyu 9.891 miles closer to the Southern Oracle, leaving a 13 year old boy to walk 109 miles for no apparent reason (after being patched up by the gnomes, naturally). Atreyu passes the test of the Sphinxes, which is originally stated to mean that he can't be too proud of himself. Then Bastian and the gnome scientist are telling him to have confidence. Which is it, humility or pride? Then it shoots him anyway, but he dodges it. Then there's the second test that is so much worse, but Atreyu sees Bastian and Bastian skips ahead so Atreyu doesn't actually have to deal with that. The Southern Oracle blows a bunch of smoke up his a–, which is then deciphered by Useless Wolf, who was sent to kill Atreyu, but has no idea what Atreyu actually looks like. Atreyu could have said "well thanks for the chat, hope you find Atreyu or whatever his name is" and the wolf would never have attacked.

 

I'm okay with Falkor flying and talking in space, but Atreyu? This is beyond silly. Fantasia has been blown up and there are chunks of it floating around. It looks like Fantasia was on Alderaan and the Death Star blew it up. Oddly, we were watching on Blu-ray, and it looked like there were active things happening on the chunks... not sure about that. And then the Ivory Tower is intact on this one chunk, because of course it is. Then we get the cool plot twist where Bastian in the real world has to name the Empress for some reason, and he decides to name her after his mother. Okay, but then he throws open the window and shouts "Moon Child." Was his mother actually named Moon Child? According to IMDb the script called for Moon Child, but there's a debate over what Barrett Oliver actually said. On the Blu-ray it's pretty damn clear he says "Moon Child." It doesn't sound like anything else. And without trying to be too mean, that's a pretty apt name for her.

 

And of course his first wish is to fly Falkor and chase the bullies, because of course it is. That couldn't be his second wish after putting Fantasia back in order and saving all those lives, could it?

 

I know, I know, it's a kids movie, but I had a lot of fun dissecting it night before last.

 

Tokyo Ghoul (2017): This movie literally just came out yesterday, at least the English subtitled version. It came out in Japan back in July, I believe, but it's only been translated to English as of yesterday (16 October). I've seen both seasons of the anime, but I haven't read the manga (graphic novels). The movie is said to be based on the manga and not the anime, which is adapted from the manga, and poorly according to some. The basic premise is that ghouls are a sort of cannibal mutant who can only consume coffee and human flesh. They enjoy greater speed and strength, rapid regeneration, and have these limbs (1-6) called kagune which sprout from their back and can take many forms, usually working as spears or shields, in the form of horrific tentacles. Their only weakness is that they must consume human flesh, and some have red eyes, though this isn't consistent. Main character Ken Kaneki is assaulted by a ghoul, but a freak accident kills her while she was feeding on him. The doctors made the controversial choice of putting some of her organs in him to save his life, which in turn makes him half a ghoul. He still can only eat human flesh (and coffee), but only one eye is red. (And yet, while some ghouls have red eyes, others don't.) The nature of the kagune varies from ghoul to ghoul, but most work like tentacles with spear tips, each with the strength to support the ghoul and the other appendages.

 

If this sounds like too much, it kind of is. It worked for me in the anime, which I believe had 12-13 episodes to flesh out the world of Tokyo Ghoul. The movie really expects you to go in knowing this. As one who did know it, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but my rating must be objective, so I must also hold this against the movie. Another thing the movie doesn't explain is how agents of the CCG — a paramilitary organisation dedicated to hunting ghouls — are able to take the kagune from dead ghouls and make weapons called quinque. Now, not only is it not established how ghouls control their kagune, but the quinque are simply never explained. A guy carries a suitcase, presses a button on the handle, and the case splits apart to reveal this fleshy sac hanging from the handle, which now becomes a kagune the human controls. Why? Pretty much because it looks cool and humans needed a plot device to fight back with. The manga might explain how humans can control them, but the movie doesn't even begin to try. There are a bunch of little explanation shortcomings like this, but those are the most egregious ones.

 

All in all, the movie is kind of like the first X-Men with mutants who want to assert their dominance over mankind, and those who want to live in peace, but naturally it's a lot darker. It is a lot of fun if you want to just enjoy a horror film, and it didn't bother me that it was in Japanese and I had to read the dialogue across the bottom of the screen. It only went by too quickly a couple times, one was when there was a newscast on and the film subtitled both. For the most part, the film worked, and even if you don't understand kagune or quinque, you can just remind yourself it's adapted from an anime, and it's not real anyway. The movie ran a solid 2 hours, just a minute shy, but it didn't feel too long. In fact, they stopped it, I think about halfway through what the anime covers. So, if you've seen the anime, don't hold your breath for the centipede, "what's 1,000 minus 7," and the white hair. None of those appear in the film at all. Jason doesn't appear in the film at all. I gave it a 7/10.

On 10/13/2017 at 7:28 AM, George P said:

Finally watched Spide-man homecoming, I'd say it was average, 7/10 at best, maybe as low as 6.5/10 at times.    Ignoring the fact that it relied on tony stark/iron man too much IMO, it was too, chatty?   This version of Peter talks way too much IMO, like he's always excited or just hyper.   It was good how his inexperience showed but still, some parts seemed forced at times, like for someone who's suppose to be pretty smart he lacks common sense.   

I don't think Peter Parker is meant to be smart, per se, I think he's meant to be a nerd, with a side of ADHD/Asperger's or something. I'm not a comics guy, but from what I've seen, he's more social outcast than Einstein. He's just this awkward, creepy, nerdy guy. Maybe not so much creepy. I dunno. I haven't seen Homecoming, and I think Tobey Maguire is the best Peter Parker I've seen.

[Draconian Guppy]

On 10/16/2017 at 11:03 PM, dragontology said:

The NeverEnding Story (1984): Watched this the night before last. I'm not adjusting its 8/10 rating I previously gave it, but holy hell this movie is bad... I mean... it hasn't aged well. And it does some things spectacularly badly. However, the premise is still cool, and it deserves at least a 7/10, and it's a pretty damn good modern fantasy flick for only being an hour and a half. I'm going to assume everybody's seen it, it's only been like 33 years since it came out...

 

First off, of the three Fantasians introduced first (Rock Biter, guy with the bat, and guy with the snail), only the guy with the bat actually reaches the Ivory Tower, and no fewer than 2 dozen creatures are already there... and not only is the Empress's handler already aware of the Nothing, he's already sent for help, but his information isn't good enough to tell him the legendary warrior Atreyu is only 13 years old (or at least that's how old Noah Hathaway was; Atreyu's age is never given). Rock Biter and Snail Guy never even get that far for no reason.

 

Second, the Swamp of Sadness seems to have the reverse effect. The horse inexplicably dies, but the swamp fails to take Atreyu in his mourning. So why was the horse sad again? Oh, right, because Atreyu and Bastian are the same person, and they're both a b—h, but the movie doesn't make this clear at this point. (There's really no proof Atreyu is any kind of great warrior. He's really just a kid.) And if you want to say the purpose of the earlier Rock Biter scene was to set the Nothing up, after all that talk of "that would have been something, this was literally nothing," then we see the Nothing is a scary storm... which is literally something.

 

Moving on, Falkor takes Atreyu 9.891 miles closer to the Southern Oracle, leaving a 13 year old boy to walk 109 miles for no apparent reason (after being patched up by the gnomes, naturally). Atreyu passes the test of the Sphinxes, which is originally stated to mean that he can't be too proud of himself. Then Bastian and the gnome scientist are telling him to have confidence. Which is it, humility or pride? Then it shoots him anyway, but he dodges it. Then there's the second test that is so much worse, but Atreyu sees Bastian and Bastian skips ahead so Atreyu doesn't actually have to deal with that. The Southern Oracle blows a bunch of smoke up his a–, which is then deciphered by Useless Wolf, who was sent to kill Atreyu, but has no idea what Atreyu actually looks like. Atreyu could have said "well thanks for the chat, hope you find Atreyu or whatever his name is" and the wolf would never have attacked.

 

I'm okay with Falkor flying and talking in space, but Atreyu? This is beyond silly. Fantasia has been blown up and there are chunks of it floating around. It looks like Fantasia was on Alderaan and the Death Star blew it up. Oddly, we were watching on Blu-ray, and it looked like there were active things happening on the chunks... not sure about that. And then the Ivory Tower is intact on this one chunk, because of course it is. Then we get the cool plot twist where Bastian in the real world has to name the Empress for some reason, and he decides to name her after his mother. Okay, but then he throws open the window and shouts "Moon Child." Was his mother actually named Moon Child? According to IMDb the script called for Moon Child, but there's a debate over what Barrett Oliver actually said. On the Blu-ray it's pretty damn clear he says "Moon Child." It doesn't sound like anything else. And without trying to be too mean, that's a pretty apt name for her.

 

And of course his first wish is to fly Falkor and chase the bullies, because of course it is. That couldn't be his second wish after putting Fantasia back in order and saving all those lives, could it?

 

I know, I know, it's a kids movie, but I had a lot of fun dissecting it night before last.

 

It's not a kids movie!  

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Blade Runner 2049. Loved every minute of it and I'm so glad it managed to escape the horrible results of many other sci-fi sequels which killed their respective series.

 

Really hope film 3 happens, but I don't want Leto anywhere near it.

[The Evil Overlord]

Cars 3

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3606752/

 

7.5/10 Very enjoyable,

The usual cars cast, Almost as good as the first movie, A passing of the torch tale, a brief history of the origins of NASCAR, about what you should expect from a Disney/Pixar family movie.

[HighwayGlider]

The latest spiderman.

Personally: 4/10

Kinda stupid, and looks like the spiderman is nothing without Ironman and needs babysitting.

[Mando]

On 10/20/2017 at 0:59 PM, Andrew said:

Blade Runner 2049. Loved every minute of it and I'm so glad it managed to escape the horrible results of many other sci-fi sequels which killed their respective series.

 

Really hope film 3 happens, but I don't want Leto anywhere near it.

it truly is a masterpiece huh  loved every minute of it. Im a huge BR fan (its my fav all time film) and dare i say it....it may even be better than the original....(omg did i just state that!) 

 

I watched Split over the weekend, very good 8/10 the boy did good  

 

 

Going to see Thor Ragnarok this week, looks very very good  

[patseguin Global Moderator]

6 hours ago, HighwayGlider said:

The latest spiderman.

Personally: 4/10

Kinda stupid, and looks like the spiderman is nothing without Ironman and needs babysitting.

Best thing about that movie was the cool Stark-made suit.

 

Last movie I watched was one called Frozen last night. About 3 people stranded on a ski lift. Not the best acting, but I really enjoyed it.

[Tuskd]

6 hours ago, HighwayGlider said:

The latest spiderman.

Personally: 4/10

Kinda stupid, and looks like the spiderman is nothing without Ironman and needs babysitting.

If you are nothing without ironman, then you shouldn't be spiderman. That's what the movie literally says 

[HighwayGlider]

23 minutes ago, patseguin said:

Best thing about that movie was the cool Stark-made suit.

 

Last movie I watched was one called Frozen last night. About 3 people stranded on a ski lift. Not the best acting, but I really enjoyed it.

True, although the suite was cool, its just Ironman all over again. Except its not metal. Even the web was programmed by Stark.