[Movies] Talk about the last movie you saw 2: Electric Threadaloo

Despicable Me 3

I've decided I like this movie. It feels much the same as the first two, so if you enjoyed the unoffensive, easy humor of the first two films then you'll probably enjoy this one. At first it feels like there are too many plot threads, but eventually they come together, each with their purpose in the film, and it all fits rather well.
 
Edgar Wright presents: Baby, the story of a get-away driver.

So, I saw this movie before and I feel like I liked it more when it was called Drive and had Ryan Gosling in it. Jokes aside this movie was hella fun. It's a great hiest/car chase/ Edgar Write movie complete with scene of someone walking a block and a half to a shop, making a purchase, and walking the same route back and things are slightly different because time has progressed.

There's a bigger world here though that I'd have liked to seen explored a bit more though. Most of the characters were kind of archetypes of crime/hiest characters that you may have seen in the past. There was the crazy guy who is too violent, or the smooth Mastermind and even Baby being cool and calm has all been done before.

It also bugged me how
There were a few points where he could have walked away and things would have been fine. For instance after Bats screwed up the gun buy! Like if Baby had said that things were too hot now and that they should do the job next week or something he could have escaped that night.

I also don't like those kinds of characters. Bats just HAS to kill someone every time? Really? None of these people can just do a job and walk away happy and rich? That always bugs me when there's the loose cannon guy that no one deals with.

Anyway. For sure a good movie and worth the watch. The characters fall flat a little, like the girlfriend is basically a prop but that's movies for ya! Wakka wakka! 7/10.
 

fade

Staff member
Moana

It was okay. There were some spectacular shots, like Moana standing up to the lava goddess. But there were issues, too. Pacing for one. Not enough story to fill out the time, essentially. Putting it on a tiny boat made it a small cast surrounded by literally nothing, too.

The other thing that happened was that I commented immediately that it sounded like Hamilton. My daughter who had already seen it, says, "That's because the songs were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda!" Well that explains it, but it also kind of means he's a bit of a one trick pony.
 
Moana

It was okay. There were some spectacular shots, like Moana standing up to the lava goddess. But there were issues, too. Pacing for one. Not enough story to fill out the time, essentially. Putting it on a tiny boat made it a small cast surrounded by literally nothing, too.

The other thing that happened was that I commented immediately that it sounded like Hamilton. My daughter who had already seen it, says, "That's because the songs were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda!" Well that explains it, but it also kind of means he's a bit of a one trick pony.
I said that too, about it sounding like Hamilton, and my wife got mad at me probably because it implied one trick pony status. I wasn't saying that was a bad thing; it's just an observation.
 
The other thing that happened was that I commented immediately that it sounded like Hamilton. My daughter who had already seen it, says, "That's because the songs were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda!" Well that explains it, but it also kind of means he's a bit of a one trick pony.
But would you be surprised if he was explicitly told by Disney to make it like Hamilton?
 
Moana

It was okay. There were some spectacular shots, like Moana standing up to the lava goddess. But there were issues, too. Pacing for one. Not enough story to fill out the time, essentially. Putting it on a tiny boat made it a small cast surrounded by literally nothing, too.

The other thing that happened was that I commented immediately that it sounded like Hamilton. My daughter who had already seen it, says, "That's because the songs were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda!" Well that explains it, but it also kind of means he's a bit of a one trick pony.

I liked the simplistic nature because it felt like a fairy tale, and I was fine with that. I also really liked Hamilton, so maybe I'm biased.
 

Dave

Staff member
Just got back from Spider-Man: Homecoming. First thoughts: Excellent movie. Second thoughts: Wow that was really, really good.

There were only a few things I didn't like. WAAAAAAY too much Tony Stark and Iron Man. The suit was too high tech. The movie completely played down Peter's "underdog hero" vibe. There were a few surprises that kinda came out of nowhere and that's a good thing.

Go see it.
 
I'm sitting in the theater for Spider-Man right now. (End credits). God, I loved this so much. So much Roosevelt Ave. Definitely go see this.
 
Liked Vulture a lot.

LOVED

Mac Gargan being played by Michael Mando. He's so fucking good everywhere he goes. He's going to be an incredible Scorpion if it ever happens.

I also liked that it allowed Spider-Man some freedom from Avengers stuff at the end. Good. Spider-Man is better on his own.
[DOUBLEPOST=1499495930,1499495764][/DOUBLEPOST]Negative side, what was his theme? Can you hum it? No. Other than the use of the 60's theme in the beginning the music was completely forgettable, again. It's super depressing how bad Marvel is at memorable scores.

Oh and to anyone thinking about seeing it. Stick around till the end of the credits. Best stinger ever.

Fuck post credits stingers.
 
Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes double feature. (minor spoilers)

Man, that was a lot of drama for one evening. I don't buy movies that often anymore, but I'm so glad I picked these up when each came out on Blu-Ray. I've watched the first one a few times, though this is my first viewing of the second one since it was in theaters.

Rise has the most appropriate title. You get so engaged in what's going on and invested in Caesar's character arc and the plight of the apes that the overall film gets you frustrated, and then uplifted as Caesar outsmarts those around him, human and ape alike. Andy Serkis is brilliant. Some of the CGI hasn't aged too hot, but the weaker special effects moments weren't exactly too strong back in 2011. The important parts were given the right amount of CGI attention and are still solid. And that's really pointless to worry about because the overall film is just so damn good. My only complaints are the couple quotes from the original Heston film, and that I really wanted to see what happened immediately after, and sadly the next movie jumps ahead 10 years.

Dawn switches directors, but that's okay because the tone switches too and both directors did excellent work. Where the first one is uplifting, this one feels like wall-to-wall stress as the situation gets worse and worse because unfortunately that's how people can be when fear runs them. The first movie was a revolution--this is a war drama. Both get a lot of credit in the science fiction department for their exploration on what being human is, but the characters are what shine.

This feels like such a risky movie. A lot of sign language and subtitles, most of the screentime devoted to apes. You look at the Transformers series which is all about the humans and figure that's what would happen here, but no--I know the apes' names. Maurice, Rocket, Blue Eyes, Ash, Koba. I barely remember the humans' names, although that doesn't mean their characters are weak, just that they're the secondary ones. Dawn pays loving devotion to Rise, either because both movies shared a lot of the same people working on them or because the second movie's team paid close attention to the first one. Rise excels at planting and payoff; it jumps out at you on repeat viewing. Dawn is careful to work with the prior movie's elements. Obviously the dynamic between Caesar and Koba had its seeds planted by the end of even the first movie, but it's little touches like Caesar's window, the camera zooming into Caesar's eye/eyes, showing how Caesar acts when he goes back to Will's house and it's clear this is the first time he's been back since he was taken by animal control in the first movie.

Even the idea of rebooting a beloved film franchise sounds like an awful idea, and this one from nearly 50 years between first movies. Hell, we've seen how bad that can go with the Tim Burton film. And yet, these movies are up in the realm of masterpieces. I saw the Rise trailers in 2011 and scoffed, thinking how dumb an idea this was. Then everyone on hear spread good word of mouth, calling it the best movie of the summer, and I thought, "What the hell, I'll give it a shot." And I was just floored by how amazing it was. We're getting big budget, intelligent science fiction films ... I guess for all the shitty movies we put up with, we deserve it :p. And now I honestly feel these are better than the original films.

It was a blast rewatching these. I'll be at War for the Planet of the Apes either opening night or at the early screening the night before.
 
Doctor Strange (2016)

Was coerced into seeing this movie tonight via peer pressure. Cranky finally got tired of waiting for Kati and I to watch this movie so he announced he was tired of "saving" it for when we were ready (he hasn't seen it yet, either) and was going to watch it tonight whether we were ready or not. Kati got out of bed this morning at 5am, which was right as I was going to bed, and I spent the day driving and doing physical labor. Both of us just wanted to go to bed. But we watched it anyway.

It wasn't bad.

I can see why people were all, "You need to see it in 3D!" about it, but what struck me most was how dark the movie was, and I mean Batman Begins/Diablo III kind of dark, where you have to adjust your screen in order to make out what's going on in so many of the scenes. Benedict Cumberbatch presents a very convincing imitation of Dr. Gregory House, which was very distracting (since that meant I kept mentally replacing him with Hugh Laurie) but which also worked well to reinforce the character's ego and talent. Tilda Swinton does her usual great job of simultaneously being otherworldly yet casual. Chiwetel Ejiofor looked really familiar and this bugged me to no end until I realized he's the same disquieting guy I see in the Serenity trailers (still haven't seen any other movie he's been in except this and Salt). Wong gets the best lines. Mads Mikkelsen manages to keep a straight face the whole time and pulls off both competency and menace whenever he's on screen. Rachel McAdams does a splendid job of carrying a pair of X chromosomes on screen without otherwise being remarkable. The dialogue does a good job of being campy yet entertaining, just like you'd expect from a Marvel comic. The story itself moves forward rather well and stays mostly within its own lines (which I appreciate). You can watch Strange add points of WIS as the movie progresses, and the finale reminded me a lot of Superman II (though not in a bad way) and culminated in a classic Dr. Strange v. extradimensional entity gambit.

All that said, I'm almost disappointed I saw this movie. I've been debating posting in the "favorite movie per year" thread, and up until now I could've legitimately said I saw no movies that were released in 2016. Now I've seen one.

Maybe now I can convince everyone here to see the 1978 version in all its 70's glory.

--Patrick
 

fade

Staff member
They Call Me Jeeg

Excellent take on a superhero story. Lowlife thief Enzo gains superpowers and uses them for petty crime until coming full circle with the help of his somewhat insane neighbor. Easily one of the better superhero movies I've seen. 5/5
 
Gil Spidermen: Homeowner

I liked it! Everyone in it did a good job. This is certainly on par with my memories of spiderman 1&2 (2002) but in different ways. This one had more character and heart, I felt, though lacked a lot of those feelings of true heroism that the early movies had. I would have liked to see him do a little more of that mid-range superheroics like stopping a disaster or saving people while still aspiring to more Avengers level stuff.

There are some cool Easter eggs peppered throughout the film which was really cool. Plus I was super impressed that they made The Vulture actually work out in a movie and be cool.

I also like how Peter actually felt young and like a kid in over his head. He went into situations head first and it resulted in had things happening but not in a dumb way. It felt like he just didn't have the training or experience to know what he was really doing.

I also really enjoyed that no one died. Vulture can totally come back along with scorpion and I guess Shocker 2 (oh yeah RIP shocker 1) and Vulture's computer chair guy. They also hinted at other characters like Miles Morals!

I'm a little confused about how Tony was supposed to be mentoring Peter. Like he gets the suit and obviously there is a training program in place but Stark never really does anything with it? I can understand him not wanting to train someone so young right away but it still seems weird that he was willing to bring him to Berlin.

Stark also mentioned that these high profile hiests that utilities alien and advanced technology was...below the avengers paygrade? C'mon man. This is exactly what y'all are for.

I also want to say that I had heard that the after credits was amazing. With start clearing out Avengers tower I was really hoping that the after credits was going to be a reveal of it being renamed The Baxter Building. Still though, 10/10 troll.

9/10 for sure. Some small things here and there but probably the best Spiderman movie despite no J.K. Simmons needing pictures of spiderman!

Oh but that after credits scene? So much hype. I almost clapped which is something I always thought was weird to do at movie theaters.
 
First of all, it's pretty funny your Friends reference also had Happy Hogan.

Oh but that after credits scene? So much hype. I almost clapped which is something I always thought was weird to do at movie theaters.
Well, clearly
you have patience. :rofl:
It did get a big laugh in my theater, too.
 
Despicable Me 3

I've decided I like this movie. It feels much the same as the first two, so if you enjoyed the unoffensive, easy humor of the first two films then you'll probably enjoy this one. At first it feels like there are too many plot threads, but eventually they come together, each with their purpose in the film, and it all fits rather well.
Spouse and I saw this today and I very much agree. The overall plot suffered a bit from having at least 3 different story threads running at once. Also, most of the best bits were shown in trailers and commercials, so there was little that caught us off guard and really made us laugh. Still, was enjoyable and recommended for families or people who really liked the first two. Though waiting for it to come to video or on demand would not be terrible. I do have to say that Trey Parker's Balthazar Bratt was the highlight of the film, even if the voice did remind us strongly of Randy (Stan's Dad from South Park).

Bratt.jpg
randy.jpg
 
I forgot to mention that I saw Spider-Man: Homecoming on Monday. I quite liked it. Not sure where I'd place it with the other Spider-films, but definitely above Amazing 1 & 2 and Spider-Man 3. I haven't seen the Raimi films in a LONG time, though, so I don't know how I feel about them now.

Anyway, I liked some of the things they did to separate it from the others. For example, this one really felt like a movie set in Queens, not just New York. It wasn't all Times Square and all that. It was definitely Queens, which was a different departure. It gave Spider-Man different locals to work with, especially since there weren't as many tall buildings. Although, that also meant too many scenes showed him running instead of web-slinging, so that's a point against it.

Keaton as Vulture was phenomenal. Finally, we get a good Spider-Man who's just in it to make a buck. No building a new sun like 2's Doc Ock, no creating an army of lizards, no...whatever the hell Electro was doing. And come to think of it, what were Green Goblin's plans in 1? Did he have one? But here, it's Just a dude trying to make a living. No grandiouse plans. Just a petty guy using science for his own selfish reasons. That's a good Spidey villain.

Really liked the high school setting and I think it works best in this one compared to others, even the Raimi films. A lot of the high school stuff in the other films were more of an afterthought rather than a strong focal point as it was here.

I wasn't crazy about the super close-ups for some of the actions sequences. I found some of it hard to follow.

Overall, I dug it. I wouldn't call it a "perfect" Spider-Man movie (I'm still waiting for one), but I liked it. For me, the bets rendition of Spider-Man in decades still belongs to the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series.
 

Dave

Staff member
I watched Hacksaw Ridge last night and really liked it. When I first saw the trailers and that it was by Mel Gibson I audibly rolled my eyes and was like, "Talk about a bullshit story." Then I heard it was a true story, so I scoffed and went to the internet...and damned if I wasn't 100% wrong. So I watched the movie and then at the end they had interviews with some of the real life men from the movie including Desmond Doss.
 
War for the Planet of the Apes

I'll have to post more detailed thoughts later, possibly tomorrow. I don't know if I'd say this is best of the trilogy, but it's certainly its own thing and goes in unexpected directions. Andy Serkis really should get some industry recognition.
 
War for the Planet of the Apes

I'll have to post more detailed thoughts later, possibly tomorrow. I don't know if I'd say this is best of the trilogy, but it's certainly its own thing and goes in unexpected directions. Andy Serkis really should get some industry recognition.
Okay, now that I'm home, I can get into this. Spoiler-free stuff first:

I think they should've gone with a vaguer title like the last two, because Dawn was more of a war movie than War. That's not really important, just a thought on the movie's overall content.

Over the course of the trilogy, the apes become more and more the central characters. The first one focuses quite a bit on James Franco and dealing with what's happening to Caesar, while also following Caesar's story. The second movie, the apes are clearly the main characters, but we're still following human plot threads and there are good and bad people on both sides. The third movie, it's all about the apes. The humans are the source of conflict and don't really have their own stories that go on in the movie. And the apes are perfectly capable of carrying the movie.

The effects have only gotten better over time. There's a point where Caesar and a few others are sitting with a human actor, and I could swear there wasn't any CGI. I know perfectly well it was CGI, but it was seamless there. Really amazing work. It's crazy to think Gollum was once a new plateau in CGI creatures, and yet was still clearly not there with the human actors. So many scenes here, that just isn't the case.

As for the story told with those characters and effects, this movie is often pretty miserable. I wasn't thrilled with the inclusion of a comic relief character, but he serves a couple of important plot insinuations, and also this movie really frigging needs a little levity. The movie never gets bogged down; for 2 hours and 20 minutes, it goes fast. But still, it's stressful and sad and eventually gets to a point where things just keep getting worse and worse. That's not a knock against it, just be prepared going in that it can be an unpleasant sit at times. I also feel this was a less intelligent movie than the prior two, less involved in its themes and ideas, but that seemed to be intentional. As one character says more than once, "so emotional!" This movie was more about emotion than ideas, and there is some intelligence in there. I just didn't think it tackled the kind of heavy questions that Rise and Dawn did.

Okay, onto spoilers. Like big-time, in-depth, don't read if you haven't seen the movie:

Right off the bat, this movie isn't pulling punches. In the first movie it was a long wait to see any apes die, and when they did it was terrible. Well, that's how the movie starts and then ...

Well, I guess I just didn't want to see any named apes die, but I was frustrated to see Blue Eyes be killed off-screen early in the movie, after he'd gone through so much in the second movie. It didn't turn me against the movie, but it felt kinda wasteful of his character. I wanted to see what he'd be like when grown, seeing how pensive and observant he was.

This was where the movie threw a curveball on my expectations, because I didn't expect Caesar to send everyone off to the promised land and then head off on a journey to hunt down the man who killed his wife and eldest son. I was glad to see Maurice and Rocket pull up to join them, and then they brought a new gorilla, Luka ... whose fate I kinda predicted because he wasn't from one of the earlier movies. The other surprise to me was how much of the movie is spent with the apes in captivity at the control of the colonel. I'm sure parallels can be drawn over how the apes are used as labor, or how some apes work willingly with the humans against Caesar.

But to say the movie went in unpredictable directions doesn't mean it was entirely without predictable stuff. One of the big plot points is something I'd predicted back when the first movie came out. The virus that made the apes more intelligent was lethal to humans, intended to be a cure for Alzheimer's, so I expected it was going to do something nasty to the brains of survivors. Second movie came, didn't address this, so I figured that plot point was being abandoned. Nope! Comes back here with a vengeance. The little girl and some other people hint at what's happening, but it's the colonel who confirms it--the virus has mutated and, as he calls it, turns people "primitive." Now he worries that mankind will be animals and apes will rule the world.

This gets to what I mentioned above, with "so emotional." At the point where he's gotten to by the time we see events in the movie, the colonel has become what he feels to be wholly objective. His actions are to be based on logic and rationality so heavy that it becomes an irrational holy war. What does that have to do with the virus? Well, he tells Caesar about how he had to kill his own son who was sickly, and that in that moment his son was still full of love for the colonel. The colonel sees no value in this, really, and so misses the broad strokes of what's going on with the virus.

This is touched on in the second movie. One character laments that the scary thing about the apes is that they don't need electricity. No one points out that humans got on fine for thousands of years without electricity or gas or oil, etc. The sentiment is the same in both movies--what we know or bust. Either we get to have things the way we're familiar with or we're screwed. There's no room in that mentality for finding a different way of life. In that sense, the colonel can't see that his son's new state of being is not "primitive" as he calls it. It's different. We see this plainly with Nova. She can't talk, but that doesn't make her stupid. She still shows emotional, crying over the death of an ape she's close to, or over Caesar's torment. She shows empathy, kindness--things the colonel isn't capable of in his hyper-logical state. And for being supposedly "primitive," she picks up on Maurice's sign language awful fast. The advanced virus isn't making people brainless or animals, but it's changing them.

One plot point that isn't really explored is Bad Ape. He's a small, balding chimpanzee that Caesar and co run into on their journey. He talks almost as well as Caesar, and more frequently, but he wasn't from Caesar's group. He escaped a completely different zoo than the one Caesar raided in the first movie, yet shows all the signs of advances from the AZ-113 virus, and tells a story of how sick humans killed the other apes. It gets into one of the elements I noted in Rise, that likely the virus had spread from Caesar's group into the ones from the zoo. Likewise, humans who had the virus were spreading it to other apes. So there's a possibility that there are other colonies of apes from zoos, or loners trying to survive, or even societies of apes out in Africa and Asia, where apes are naturally occurring. Again, this isn't explored in the movie--I was really hoping that the outside attackers at the colonel's base would turn out to be apes--but it's something worth thinking about.

I was really glad Rocket didn't die. He kept putting himself on the line for Caesar, as he did in Dawn. I've really appreciated his relationship with Caesar and character arc, how that's evolved from his being Caesar's bully when introduced in the first movie, then his tentative ally, to one of his most trusted friends.

Finally ... I figured this was going to be the Caesar trilogy. There are intentions of making more movies if War does well, but Caesar's story is done. He goes from revolutionary, to leader, and finally here essentially a Moses figure of what will undoubtedly be mythological proportions should the series continue. After escalating climax of bad to worse to worst, the apes make a long journey to the promised land that Blue Eyes found, where they can start again. The family has been hurt, but it will rebuild. It's stranger than it was, now having a mute human and a talkative outsider ape, but that's a good thing. Strangeness can mean adaptability, and willingness it accept difference. It's the last thing Caesar sees, and can only hope the last thing he could give the apes would be enough.

I was surprised how many kids were in the theater. And I don't mean just 10 or older. I know PG-13 isn't as strict as an R, but that doesn't mean bring your 4-year-old. There was a point in the movie where one kid near the front was crying pretty hard, and while that also happened when we saw Moana, I can't really say kids that little belonged at this the way they did at Moana. Then again, when I left the auditorium there was a woman hugging her husband and saying in tears "I can't believe Caesar died." So it's not like it only takes a little kid. We spend these movies watching from the day he's born, his childhood, all the things he's been through and done. To see his end is a big deal. I'm glad it wasn't a violent one; that the last thing he sees is his son playing with a human child, that at least in that moment, the future is bright for his people.


Well, with that seen, I think Spider-man will be a much-needed change of pace this Sunday.
 
Listening to Matt Reeves talk about the future for the Planet of the Apes franchise--I know he'll be off to Batman now and not as involved in future movies, but I can't help but get a little excited.

(War for the Planet of the Apes spoilers)

A big point he notes is that there would be other communities of apes out there who haven't had the benefit of Caesar's leadership, that their presence might in part explain the zealous nature of the humans' attitude, and we have no idea what they're like. I could almost see a future movie where Caesar's group, re-established to the strength they were at when Dawn started, end up happily meeting other apes, and then end up fighting them because they treat the infected humans with them ... well, the way Koba did.
 
Rogue One

Finally got around to seeing this.

Short review: I liked it. It's a bit heavy on the fanservice, cramming in references to the original trilogy every chance it gets, but it's also got enough of its own character to stand apart.

Other thoughts in spoilers, just in case there's someone with even more of a delay than me.

I really liked how the movie got me to care about the characters. I suspected it would end with a TPK, but throughout the movie I found myself really hoping that at least some of them would make it out, and that the reason we didn't see any of them in the OT is because the survivors went into hiding. But nope, everyone dies. And that's tragic, because so many of them had lost so much, and you just want something to go right for them for once, for them to enjoy some semblance of a happy ending. There's Jyn, who lost her entire family and her childhood, there's Cassian, who's been fighting the Empire since he was six, there's Chirrut and Baze, who lost their life's purpose when Jedha was destroyed... the list goes on and on.

And even better, everyone's death meant something. There was no ass-pull death anywhere along the line just to tug at heartstrings, instead everyone who sacrificed their life did so for a good reason. This is how you do heroic sacrifices right, I tell you.

I also liked how this movie fleshes out the Rebellion, and showed how desperate they are. In the OT, the Rebellion's desperation is something of an informed attribute, because we see them stand against the Empire in battle many times. But here we see the Rebel leaders panicking when they hear of the Death Star, we see the small-scale attacks they resort to against Imperial forces, and we see that while the Rebellion are ostensibly the good guys, good is definitely not nice.

If I had to pick some flaws, Tarkin fell well into the uncanny valley for me, and James Earl Jones sounded like he phoned in Vader's lines. Though that final Vader scene made up for it, I guess. We finally see exactly what would happen when a Sith Lord is matched up against rank-and-file troops.

All in all, very good movie.
 
Rogue One

Finally got around to seeing this.

Short review: I liked it. It's a bit heavy on the fanservice, cramming in references to the original trilogy every chance it gets, but it's also got enough of its own character to stand apart.
That's what makes the fanservice so frustrating. The movie stood fine on its own, so these pointless cameos just distract and devalue it.

And even better, everyone's death meant something. There was no ass-pull death anywhere along the line just to tug at heartstrings, instead everyone who sacrificed their life did so for a good reason. This is how you do heroic sacrifices right, I tell you.
You can say Joss Whedon. ;)
 
Got back from Spider-man: Homecoming a little bit ago.

This is going to sound really weird, but it kind of felt like six episodes of a TV show crammed together. I could cut where each episode would end. And something even weirder--that wasn't a bad thing! The tone of this movie is unique; there's no other MCU movie that feels like this. I want more of that, more movies in the MCU that feel distinct, because I feel like in the short-term of each movie's release they'll be fun, successful spectacles, without a sense of individuality they're not going to be remembered the way Deadpool, Logan, and Wonder Woman have good chances of standing the test of time.

There's a part of me that feels like I didn't need to see this in theaters--especially with a couple action shots being close-up, blurry, frantic, and poorly-lit--but I feel that's more my brain going "you just watched War for the Planet of the Apes, you're full, you don't need dessert."

It was funny, at times adorable. It stayed pretty grounded to Peter Parker; never felt like there was this big over-arcing plot or anything. I'd really say the movie's atmosphere was one of its big accomplishments. Tom Holland didn't just feel like Peter Parker/Spider-man, the movie itself felt the way a Spider-man story should feel. The beginning phone camera stuff was a perfect way to open up the movie. On the climax ...

I know people say Vulture made a stupid decision, but he really was screwed no matter what and I understood he made the decision out of desire to get something so his family would be taken care of. His suit was going to explode. If he'd killed Peter, he would've exploded in mid-air and there would've been no one to save him. At that point, nothing was going to work out for him. Which kinda sucks, because I felt for the guy. Damage Control really screwed them over--if only Tinkerer had made something besides weapons? I think if Tony Stark had been the protagonist of the movie, I kinda would've been rooting for the bad guys. Or maybe that's just because of Michael Keaton's performance. He was excellent. And the twist ... that's how you do Parker Luck.

Was surprised to see Gwyneth Paltrow. Really thought she was done with these.

The last shot of the movie was perfect. Aunt May finds out, and ... they technically could've gotten away with a genuine F-bomb, but it was funnier to cut it there.

And that after-credits scene might've had the biggest laugh in the movie.

Overall, I had a good time. Kinda wish I'd seen it before Apes like everyone else though.
 
War for the Planet of the Apes was great. Loved it. Best summer blockbuster of the year by far. It was gripping all the way through and even managed to make me shed a tear or two at MULTIPLE parts of the movie. Andy Serkis deserves some real recognition for managing that kind of performance without being seen. Hell, even Steve Zahn was great.

My only gripe is that the military was pretty dumb.

They REALLY weren't watching their entrance, and when ordered to do a sweep, missed the underground entrance Maurice and Bad Ape were using...despite it being about 40 feet away from the main entrance.
 

fade

Staff member
Rogue One

Finally got around to seeing this.

Short review: I liked it. It's a bit heavy on the fanservice, cramming in references to the original trilogy every chance it gets, but it's also got enough of its own character to stand apart.

Other thoughts in spoilers, just in case there's someone with even more of a delay than me.

I really liked how the movie got me to care about the characters. I suspected it would end with a TPK, but throughout the movie I found myself really hoping that at least some of them would make it out, and that the reason we didn't see any of them in the OT is because the survivors went into hiding. But nope, everyone dies. And that's tragic, because so many of them had lost so much, and you just want something to go right for them for once, for them to enjoy some semblance of a happy ending. There's Jyn, who lost her entire family and her childhood, there's Cassian, who's been fighting the Empire since he was six, there's Chirrut and Baze, who lost their life's purpose when Jedha was destroyed... the list goes on and on.

And even better, everyone's death meant something. There was no ass-pull death anywhere along the line just to tug at heartstrings, instead everyone who sacrificed their life did so for a good reason. This is how you do heroic sacrifices right, I tell you.

I also liked how this movie fleshes out the Rebellion, and showed how desperate they are. In the OT, the Rebellion's desperation is something of an informed attribute, because we see them stand against the Empire in battle many times. But here we see the Rebel leaders panicking when they hear of the Death Star, we see the small-scale attacks they resort to against Imperial forces, and we see that while the Rebellion are ostensibly the good guys, good is definitely not nice.

If I had to pick some flaws, Tarkin fell well into the uncanny valley for me, and James Earl Jones sounded like he phoned in Vader's lines. Though that final Vader scene made up for it, I guess. We finally see exactly what would happen when a Sith Lord is matched up against rank-and-file troops.

All in all, very good movie.
The thing that gets me about the team wipe is that there was no real need. You could easily play it off that they were somewhere else during the original trilogy, in some other theater. This is a GALACTIC empire after all, so presumably there's more going on than just the Death Star.
 
The thing that gets me about the team wipe is that there was no real need. You could easily play it off that they were somewhere else during the original trilogy, in some other theater. This is a GALACTIC empire after all, so presumably there's more going on than just the Death Star.
There is one reason and it is the best reason: the story. They wrote several version of the script where the main characters survive the end and none of it played right (too convenient, too rushed, etc.)
 
War for the Planet of the Apes was damn good. However, while understanding the need for levity in a pretty heavy story, Bad Ape was like Jar Jar levels of annoying. Which is unfortunate because I certainly found him endearing initially.
 
War for the Planet of the Apes was damn good. However, while understanding the need for levity in a pretty heavy story, Bad Ape was like Jar Jar levels of annoying. Which is unfortunate because I certainly found him endearing initially.
Bad Ape was in the movie so sparingly and I actually laughed a couple of times at his antics that it's hard to compare him to Jar-Jar, who was in nearly every scene of Episode One after being introduced.
 
Bad Ape was in the movie so sparingly and I actually laughed a couple of times at his antics that it's hard to compare him to Jar-Jar, who was in nearly every scene of Episode One after being introduced.
That's true. I'm being hyperbolic for sure. I laughed at most of his quips they just felt oddly placed at times.
When Little Child is crying for Caeser in anguish, then it cuts to Bad Ape with the binoculars backwards.
 
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I was super against that character when I realized his purpose in the movie, but he won me over just for how heavy stuff was. His placement was awkward here and there, but I didn't find it intrusive. In the wrong hands, he could've been a disaster.
 
I went way too far with the comparison to Jar Jar admittedly. My thoughts on him more closely mirror @Zero Esc 'S. I don't think he even hindered the movie necessarily. It just felt oddly placed at times.
 
I went way too far with the comparison to Jar Jar admittedly. My thoughts on him more closely mirror @Zero Esc 'S. I don't think he even hindered the movie necessarily. It just felt oddly placed at times.
You aren't the first to mention Jar Jar. The Cinena Snob Midnight Screenings said he could've easily turned into that and hobbled a great film. Fortunately, restraint was used.

I love these movies so much. The world feels so dense that I wish there were books to read for it.
 
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