Any Movie on Your Mind (or Silver Screen)

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  • I saw M. Night Shyamalan live a week ago on Comic Con Russia, he was talking about Glass and showed an exclusive piece of the movie with Jackson and McAvoy. I won't lie, it looked hella epic. He's also a great guy when you listen to him.

    AChicken posted: »

    Ooooh new Glass trailer.

  • edited December 2018

    Have anyone here heard of the new Black Mirror movie Bandersnatch? Trailer came out today, releases tomorrow (Dec. 28th).

    EDIT: So, it's out now. It's a choose-your-own-adventure as expected and people seem pleased.

  • I don't have a Nerflix account but Bandersnatch just leaves me no choice. Here comes my free trial!

    AChicken posted: »

    Have anyone here heard of the new Black Mirror movie Bandersnatch? Trailer came out today, releases tomorrow (Dec. 28th). EDIT: So, it's out now. It's a choose-your-own-adventure as expected and people seem pleased.

  • Has anyone here seen The House That Jack Built by Lars von Trier? Now it's stuck at the back of my mind and I can wholeheartedly call it one of my favourites this year. I don't remember the last time a movie affected me so much.

  • edited January 2019

    Since I missed it last year, I went out today to go see Mirai (or, Mirai no Mirai/Mirai of the Future) in the literal only theatre playing it in my city. [fun fact: it was out in big-box theatres during its Nov. release, but it was only there in extremely limited showings... only for half a week. Luckily my Film Festival-built theatre picked it up for these last few weeks of January.]

    Mirai is a movie by acclaimed anime director Mamoru Hosoda, whose previous notable works include The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Wolf Children, among others...
    It's the story of a 4-year-old boy Kun who is once spoiled with attention only to have that rug ripped out from under him with the arrival of his new baby sister, Mirai. After many emotional outbursts and much jealousy of his sister, he begins to learn various lessons from people across his family tree. Most notably, an older teenage version of his sister..
    The movie, and the character's adventures are a real World of Pure Imagination.

    My thoughts (spoiler-free, but it's a big block of text)

    This was a good movie. It's real, it's calm, it's funny, it's fantastic to look at and is a good gem of 2018. I totally didn't notice its nomination at the Golden Globes, but I say it's well-deserved.
    If you were to see this, I just want to advise you that it's a different kind of beast (no, not that beast) than that of other Hosoda movies. It's a small-scale tale and is structured more like a slice-of-life story rather than a grand adventure (as the trailers may make you think this). It's enjoyable to look at, and it's as real as it tries to be (I warn you, seeing a toddler's tantrum isn't any less awkward here through the lens of animation and fiction.)
    It's a great amalgamation of many of his previous films. Elements from The Boy and the Beast, Wolf Children, Leapt Through Time, and even some digital stylings of Summer Wars appear. The most fascinating thing to me were a few scenes in the boy's home. They use this interesting 3-D layering of animation to make fluid, 3-Dimensional-looking landscapes and effects.

    Personally, if there's one thing that I found a bit distracting it was the voice of Kun. Maybe it's just a cultural barrier -- as I have no clue what 4-year old Japanese-speaking child sounds like -- but to me it didn't sound very child-like. There are other children much older than Kun later on who I think sound younger than him or at the very least like actual children.
    But, I got used to his voice over time and it wasn't much of a problem.
    I also felt that the plot seemed to go two steps forward, one step back. Kun would learn a lesson, but then another flaw of his would appear or he didn't seem to have learnt it. My worries were soon dispelled as more was resolved and learnt by the end of the film.

    Apparently I had just missed a dubbed showing of the film yesterday, and looking at the English trailer it looks to be well-produced (and Kun's voice is more pleasing to me). To be honest, I realised as I left the theater that this was the first Mamoru Hosoda film I've seen in its original language. All others I've only seen in a dub format, and they're usually really well voice-acted. You could go either way with this one, and probably any others.

    On a related note: Go watch Wolf Children, that's probably my favourite movie of his.
    Mirai may also be his last hand-drawn animation production as he says that it's becoming less and less practical as more technological advancements take place.

  • I saw Halloween(2018). I wanted Michael to kill the baby too. He didn’t feel evil enough.

  • Awww you beautiful cultured man, you

    Hancock. What a great film. Always have fond memories of it. I mean, not perfect, but I really enjoyed it last time I saw it years ago.

  • I'm still thinking about Roma a month after i've watched it. This is just a beatiful film with one of the most shocking scenes I've seen in years and one of the most intense and beatiful moments i've seen in years.

    A lot of people will disregard this movie because of the subtitles, but everyone misses out by doing so. For me, personally, this movie is as perfect as a movie can be.

  • I've seen this movie as well. The beach scene is the best scene of the year. So powerful.

    GSSalvador posted: »

    I'm still thinking about Roma a month after i've watched it. This is just a beatiful film with one of the most shocking scenes I've seen in

  • If you haven’t already seen the Netlfix original Tallulah, see it now. Im not an emotional person at all and this movie made me sad?. Very good movie.

  • I may have cried a lot during the beach scene.

    That scene in the hospital, though. Holy fuck.

    I've seen this movie as well. The beach scene is the best scene of the year. So powerful.

  • Okay, so I saw Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck it Ralph 2 today :tongue: and... it was okay. The first one was definitely better.

    This just kind of felt like they had a few ideas, mashed 'em up together and that was the movie. I don't know... I enjoyed what they did, but it didn't feel like it was a movie for the sake of being a movie about the internet.
    It's something like:
    Hey, look it's Ebay! OH have you ever seen Ads personified? [The Slaughter Race bits were pretty good, having characters seeing and interacting with actual 'players' was cool to see, and I like the jerky and stiff movements they give all the internet users. Interesting design choice.] Next up, Disney tackles memes. It was enjoyable but... hmmm. Next, Disney gives themselves a pat on the back (though I will say that having Disney own all these properties and then they use nearly every one made for some cool moments we wouldn't have seen ever.) And then... as a finale it's this awkward if slightly touching King Kong parody centered around Ralph's insecurities about being alone and his friends distancing themselves from him. Pepper in logos and product placement during every internet highway scene and there you go. While I didn't care much for the climax's sudden shift to a monster-movie, the underlying morals and heartwarming/tear-jerking moments afterwards was a nice and kind of unexpected touch.

    Disney obviously changed plans with this movie sometime during its development, as I remember soon after the first movie came out when they announced the sequel, writers mentioned how they wanted to tackle online games like World of Warcraft and the like. But, they veered away from the games and focused more on the internet.
    sigh I need some time to process it, but I'm a bit disappointed with it, I think. Like... they tackled aspects of the whole internet (memes, marketplaces, online game (singular), video sharing sites -- memes, the Dark Web, Disney's monopoly of entertainment, internet comments/cyber bullying)... I quite like these characters and the universe they inhabit so... where would a third movie go?


    The post credits scene was gold though. Wow I didn't expect Disney to pull that one on us.

  • I watched Rat Race for the first time last night and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The ending sucked balls and not every joke worked, but the ones that did had me in stitches.

  • edited March 2019

    I just got back from watching The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.
    Minor-to-Big spoilers ahead.

    It was fun, it was enjoyable, I liked it.
    The first one's better though. It's a better-built package designed to be a tongue-in-cheek way of playing with the concept that it's a 2 hour advertisement for LEGO. And it works, even as a film. In this new one, it continues the plot from the last one (literally starting off where the last one ended which was a tiny bit jarring as an opening to a film), but I've got to say... It's become what it sought to make fun of, but that may have been unavoidable from the start based on how big the first film property has become. Phil Lord and Chris Miller are still writers for this film, and their comedy still works for the best like the last time, though with a few moments that unfortunately fell flat for my theater.

    Don't get me wrong, this sequel is still at times very entertaining and interesting, with some fun jokes, new and old running jokes taken from the previous film (that I also recently re-watched), cool visuals, souped-up Lego special effects, and even some fun and catchy musical numbers (yup, they turned this one into a semi-musical.)
    But, I think the plot takes quite a few liberties in getting away with things -- sometimes literally.

    There's a scene in which there's two characters stuck in a jam, and one of them brings out this device called a CBD. A "Convenient Plot Device" that they actually name drop. Which literally gets them out of the problem they're currently encountering and on to the next plot point.

    There's also a few concepts of world-building that this movie expands upon from its predecessor like
    the real-world visions and sequences,
    but in my opinion the way in which it uses them at times really breaks the logic of the fiction we see on the screen, even just the plot itself.
    Now, the film does wave this away a bit, easily claiming that it's just "an expression of the destruction of imagination within an adolescent", but even that doesn't sit right with what the world has established.

    Big spoiler:
    This is also a movie that even has a twist villain, but that's something I still don't have a fully-constructed opinion on. In retrospect, it's a bit interesting and makes a bit of sense in how they explain it, but again, with the world they've set up in the previous film, this feels like it contradicts and breaks stuff within the fiction of the world.

    I liked it though. If you're a fan of the first one, go see it and you'll probably enjoy it.
    If I were good at rating things I'd give this a 7.5/10.
    After some consideration of the spoilery points below, I've decided to boost the film up to an 8.0. The plot I find still a bit contrived and less tight, but the messages behind the film and its characters did have a good impact on me, I just failed to see the full picture.

    EDIT: OKAY... After having the day to think about it, look up things I may have missed while watching the film, and seeing other people's impressions on it, it's a better movie than I originally thought. It's just one of those deals where you have to think about how each strand of info in the film ties into the whole product. (there's some foreshadowing and hidden meanings that I kind of missed)
    So, if I've got this right...

    Now, the main problem I had with the film was how the twist villain seemed to come out of nowhere and didn't sit right with me. Just felt weird to introduce in the final act and I felt it didn't explain that much. So, Rex is Emmet from the future -- the hardened, "mature" Emmet. He went back in time to make Emmet mature because he spent years in isolation, seeing the evil Sister take the Brother's toys and play with them. He wanted to prevent that so he went back to breed Emmet into being cold and a rugged person.
    Weird, but, (1) this was apparently foreshadowed in an earlier vision in the film, where the Brother tells his sister that "he's doing this complicated time travel story", meaning he can't play with her, and (2) keeping in mind that most of this movie series is about the adventures this young boy puts his toys through as well as a metaphorical representation of things going on in the real world, this aspect of the story represents the Brother's want to be more mean and serious because he can't understand that his sister just wanted to play with him and his toys just like he did himself alone, or with the Dad in the previous movie. It doesn't really fit into the picture of the Fictional world of Lego here (as there's the real-world scenes that interfere with that), but it does for the real world on its own.

    This partially leads into the next point about how the whole movie is about the Brother's struggle to get his own toys and possessions back from his sister, not comprehending that his sister just wants to play with him. In the beginning, we are shown Emmet giving the Duplo aliens a Lego heart as a sign of peace. Apparently he says that they're "special" because they can make this whatever they want it to be". Cue them disassembling the heart and taking it with them. This is later revealed to be Queen Whatev'ra Wanabe… But, in the real world, this aspect represents the Sister taking the heart as an gift and as act of love making it her own. She then tries to play with her brother -- and her being like 4 or 5 at the time has no sense of control or carefulness, so she does more bad than good. This creates the idea in the Brother's head that she is the antagonist, meant to destroy his stuff and take it for her own. Despite the sister's attempts to convince him otherwise (shown in the song "Not Evil"), he isn't convinced. He wants to maintain his serious persona -- possibly because he doesn't want to play with her "girly" Lego -- but mostly because he still doesn't trust her. That's why in the end, Emmet and Rex are the bringing of Ar-Mom-ageddon. It's the representation of him unable to cooperate and trust his sister with his possessions (and also the uniting of his toys with her toys -- Batman marrying a girly thing), leading to this rift in their relationship -- and subsequently their toys.

  • Really need to get a copy of The Man with the Golden Gun. Haven’t seen that one in awhile.

  • I saw Jordan Peele's Us and I liked it. Although, the twist makes less and less sense the more you think about it.

  • New Detective Pikachu promo.
    Man, the switch to semi-realistic designs for the pocket monsters has made a few of them as cute as they should be, and others total nightmares.

    Aipom is the biggest nightmare-shift. He goes from an adorable monkey to a terrifying abomination.


  • The new Star Wars trailer was just shown and episode 9 looks extra tight ??

  • It's also called 'The Rise of Skywalker'... Odd choice since

    Luke is dead

    Unless the teaser explains it a bit... I haven't seen it yet.

    Melton23 posted: »

    The new Star Wars trailer was just shown and episode 9 looks extra tight ??

  • I have a few theories for the title.

    Kylo will become the new Luke Skywalker, seeing as he is the only remaining blood relative who can use the force, Luke’s ghost will fulfil what Luke couldn’t do and rise from the ashes where we last seen him or Rey may or may not be related to Luke or smthn, idk people are always related in these things.

    I think this one will be good, in all honesty I’m really loving the sequels so far and with the things I’ve heard from this one it may just be the best of the trilogy.

    AChicken posted: »

    It's also called 'The Rise of Skywalker'... Odd choice since (Spoiler) Unless the teaser explains it a bit... I haven't seen it yet.

  • edited April 2019

    I heard there was another theory that they are going to go back with the whole Rey has no parents thing and change it so emperor Palpatine found out how to create life like Darth Plagueis and the reason "Rey has no parents" is because their going to go down the road of Rey was created by Palpatine. The Skywalker part is that she is based on like Skywalker DNA or something, so shes some weird semi clone, unless the plot of ep 9 is fucking Avengers End Game and its litterally "The Rise of Skywalker" as they try to make Luke come back to life lmao

    I kinda feel like the Palpatine thing maybe in the right direction seeing as they are bringing him back.

    Melton23 posted: »

    I have a few theories for the title. (Spoiler) I think this one will be good, in all honesty I’m really loving the sequels so far and with the things I’ve heard from this one it may just be the best of the trilogy.

  • I've seen people theorising that Skywalker might be the new term for a force user as a way to let the name live on.

    Melton23 posted: »

    I have a few theories for the title. (Spoiler) I think this one will be good, in all honesty I’m really loving the sequels so far and with the things I’ve heard from this one it may just be the best of the trilogy.

  • That’s low-key badass

    lupinb0y posted: »

    (Spoiler)

  • Yeah it sounds cool and I wouldn't mind if they did that, but I feel like reactions to this would be a little divisive if it does happen.

    Melton23 posted: »

    That’s low-key badass

  • edited April 2019

    Hahaha look at all these fucking dislikes and comments oh man "The Saga comes to an end"
    yeah thank god.

    There's not much to say about the trailer i honestly felt nothing watching it,Palpatine coming back somehow is a desperate attempt to have people watch their new movie after how fucking trash The Last Jedi was. Oh and it looks like Miss Badass at everything is going to beat up a tie fighter with a lightsaber epic.

    Honestly not surprised the Last Jedi was so awful that it's pretty much impossible to recover at this point so it's a good thing they're ending it.
    Thank god we still have Dave Filloni personally i'm more interested and hyped for the Mandalorian live action tv series coming out in November than this shit.

  • Why is Palpatine back?
    Also, Lando

    iFoRias posted: »

    Hahaha look at all these fucking dislikes and comments oh man "The Saga comes to an end" yeah thank god. There's not much to say about

  • Makoto Shinkai (Your Name.)'s upcoming movie just got a Japanese trailer released.

    The movie is called' Weathering With You', but since the trailer is Japanese with no subtitles, the only thing westerners can do now is watch. At least it looks gorgeous.

    The band RADWIMPS is back for another ride scoring the film.

  • edited April 2019

    You do realise that there are still more likes than dislikes, right? If you’re still not convinced, how about we look at the actual official teaser’s like/dislike ratio.

    Now take a look at the comments. This is on the official Star Wars YouTube channel, know why? Because it’s used by people who actually like Star Wars rather than only shitting on it just to hurt the reviews instead of doing something better with themselves.

    People who still enjoy these movies are in the vast vast majority, and it’s honestly both painful and hilarious to know that some people actually think that the haters are in the majority because they happen to be louder, but virtually every Star Wars celebration proves otherwise, when you have a room full of fans cheering for Rian Johnson and TLJ, whereas you have a few hundred online saying they disliked the way Luke gave up and is a hermit, despite the fact that Yoda gave up and is also a hermit, as well as the fact he also refuse to train Luke at first...it’s soooo retarded.

    If you don’t like a movie, or a series, then don’t watch it, simple as that. It’s a bit weird that you always like to talk about and closely monitor things you hate, which is normally something an actual fan would do...

    iFoRias posted: »

    Hahaha look at all these fucking dislikes and comments oh man "The Saga comes to an end" yeah thank god. There's not much to say about

  • edited April 2019

    "A few hundred online" he said lol,literally most people were disappointed about the Last Jedi including me and that movie divided the fans and for good reasons it was literally the worst Star Wars movie ever made that's what happens when you don't plan your trilogy and just make up shit as you go along.

    Even fucking Mark Hamill didn't like it and the way they handled his character and he's been very clear about this,even gave us hints before the movie came out saying things like "if you think you're gonna recapture your childhood again by watching this movie you're gonna be disappointed" even fucking Tom Kane recently just went off at the star wars celebration saying that Ackbar should've been the one saving the fleet and shit.

    You know your movie is fucking terrible when even the actors can't defend it.

    If you don’t like a movie, or a series, then don’t watch it, simple as that. It’s a bit weird that you always like to talk about and closely monitor things you hate, which is normally something an actual fan would do...

    Lol what a pathetic argument,if i'm complaining about it it's because i actually care about it and it's honestly sad seeing Disney ruin such a great franchise with fucking clowns like Kathleen Kennedy who doesn't care about the fans or the story but her own agenda.
    But yeah have fun eating up whatever's mediocre shit they'll make,while real fans will get hype for the new Clone Wars season and that Mandalorian show you know,actual good Star Wars content.

    Melton23 posted: »

    You do realise that there are still more likes than dislikes, right? If you’re still not convinced, how about we look at the actual official

  • edited April 2019

    Boi it’s pretty much a common known fact that haters make their voices louder and are driven purely by nostalgia. I can think of multiple things that the originals did horribly or similarly to the sequels that “fans” turn a blind eye to, either out of stupidity or ignorance. Mark Hamill has said many times that he was disappointed in Luke, but not once has he ever said that TLJ was a bad movie. He’s said it didn’t live up to his ideals, but never has he ever said it was bad, and never has he ever said anything to disrespect Rian Johnson, quite the opposite, being that he’s said quite a few times that he respects him as a director and as a friend.

    No you don’t care about it, you hate it, that’s a pathetic argument if ever I’ve seen one. If you cared for your child, you wouldn’t absolutely rip into them at every turn, would you? Caring for something is holding a deep passion and love or someone or something, which is the exact opposite of what you are doing. So don’t talk to me about bad argument if you can’t even get the definition of “care” right ??? boi you claimed to love Witcher 3 and didn’t even know it had multiple endings so I don’t think you’re exactly in the position to be judging movies correctly ?

    iFoRias posted: »

    "A few hundred online" he said lol,literally most people were disappointed about the Last Jedi including me and that movie divided the fans

  • edited April 2019

    Please it's obvious Mark didn't like the Last Jedi it's not complete "hate" obviously but he didn't like where it was going he gave us hints before the movie came out i also remember him talking about the Transformers movies and making a comparison to the new SW movies basically saying that they're just made for money and that they don't care about the fans. So if you have a smart brain and put two and two together you get the picture.

    And yes i do care about this franchise i've played the fucking Kotor games watched all the movies,prequels and sequels the Rebels show and am currently watching Clone Wars so yes i care about it a lot but the new movies are just not good especially The Last Jedi.

    Most people hated The Last Jedi and for a lot of good reasons.
    The Truth is JJ never planned anything The Force Awakens was basically a reboot rehashing some bits here and there from the other movies to appeal to the nostalgic fans and it worked more or less,they had a solid foundation then The Last Jedi happened and pretty much ruined the trilogy now JJ is back and trying to salvage something from this mess.

    I might be wrong but this is probably just going to be another dumpster fire,at best it'll be a 6/10 movie there's not much they can salvage from this mess they're so desperate to gain back their most loyal fans that they're even bringing back Palpatine now.

    Boi you claimed to love Witcher 3 and didn’t even know it had multiple endings so I don’t think you’re exactly in the position to be judging movies correctly

    Uh i knew the Witcher 3 had multiple endings,not sure why you're bringing that up here that has nothing to do with the movies.

    You know what forget it,it doesn't matter anymore you have your opinions about these movies i have mine there's no point arguing about this i won't change your mind and you won't change mine either.

    Melton23 posted: »

    Boi it’s pretty much a common known fact that haters make their voices louder and are driven purely by nostalgia. I can think of multiple th

  • edited April 2019

    Yeah, I told you that he didn’t like the last Jedi as much as the other films, but unlike most he doesn’t obnoxiously rant about it 24/7 despite the fact that it’s nearly been out for 1 1/2 years. Goes to show how little the internet has to offer in terms of discussions these days. And I’m well aware that they’re Andre for money, what movie isn’t? If you had half a brain you’d realise that, it’s a growing industry, no one produces movies and expects to gain nothing but love and respect, as long as it’s enjoyable it’s fine. Coming from someone who has relations with, and is also training to be, an entrepreneur, I understand that every business/Organization/company wants to maximise profits as much as possible. In terms of the movies, directors want to express their creative vision because it’s their movie, and they know keeping the exact same formula is not going to go down well with audiences, therefore Rian tried something new with the last Jedi, and unfortunately it didn’t work for some people, though a vast majority still enjoyed the movie; just because their voices are louder, doesn’t mean that their numbers are many, and it’s about time people start to realise that.

    I know you have your opinions and I have mine, but truth is I know there are plenty of things wrong with TLJ, but when there’s someone who claims Leila looked like Mary Poppins, which I mean really? Have u even seen Mary Poppins?

    Who also say that they are in the majority...it’s just hard to believe that they have a clue what they are talking about and it infuriates me to some degree. Ik this was a bit irrelevant to the discussion, but the point still stands that ppl who say the Lydia scene looks like Mary Poppins don’t have a clue what Mary Poppins is. Though seriously, a lot of the time I feel like some people only exist to kill the good vibe. Most of the time, people nitpick the pointless things, rather than focusing on the obvious. For example, I’m not sure if there’s a canon explanation for this, but how the feck do coordinates work? Do planets not orbit their suns in Star Wars? Cos if they do, I find it highly unlikely that they’d have the exact same coordinates when it comes to entering hyper speed.

    iFoRias posted: »

    Please it's obvious Mark didn't like the Last Jedi it's not complete "hate" obviously but he didn't like where it was going he gave us hints

  • edited April 2019

    Last night I saw Penguin Highway with a couple of friends. [spoiler tags aren't spoilers. just hiding images]

    It's a fantasy/sci-fi movie about a group of kids who team up to solve the mystery involving penguins who have randomly appeared in the suburbs.
    The main character, a young kid named Aoyama, is a 4th grade genius, studying and writing about all sorts of sophisticated topics, he's practically an adult already! (He's even made a countdown of days until he becomes one.) He's very mature for his age, though not with a few... sexual interests of a kid his age, too. Joined by him is his best friend, Uchida, a shy and generally scared kid often used for comedy relief, but my inner shy kid of old times resonated with this guy.

    It's a really whimsical and imaginative movie when it gets to the more fantastical elements of the story, and at the same time features some great entertaining characters to follow around. The plot itself gradually goes from normal-cute adventure involving kids to mysterious-thought-provoking imagery and answers to the penguin mystery. But, it's a fun and humorous movie in the first 2/3rds. This is one movie that will make your brain think, and where you can come up with a few answers of your own on the interpretation of the clues. I really enjoyed that part, as talking with my friends afterwards, we each had some differentiating opinions on what went down.
    The animation produced here is really cool as well, with some nice character designs for the characters and great design on backdrops and environments.
    The penguins in question are absolutely ADORABLE.

    It's currently out in the U.S. and Canada as special limited screenings, as at least for my area we've got it for the next week (unless they add some more dates as they have been for the past 2 days). If you've got time and want to see some heartwarming -- albeit weird -- sci-fi, mystery stuff, then go check this out.

    PRO TIP: If you want to find more info on this movie, go watch and read some reviews about it. Don't watch the trailers, they really, really don't do the movie justice and give you a jumble of information out of context that means practically nothing. You don't even know what the main character's name is!

    review in 5 minutes

  • Just finished watching A Silent Voice on Netflix. It's a pretty good sad drama anime.
    The plot follows a young boy called Shoya Ishida, who once bullied a deaf girl -- Shouko Nishimiya -- in elementary school. After Shouko transfers out of the school, it's not until high school that they encounter each other again, and Shoya tries to redeem himself and make things right.

    It was a really heartwarming/breaking anime film, with a lot of sad moments, dramatic moments, and some nice, fun moments, too. The really interesting bit to me is all the sign language that gets exchanged between Shouka and her peers. There aren't any subtitles for that, so you have to pray that the character being spoken to reiterates what was just signed. "What...? You didn't expect to meet me here...". Sometimes characters speak through writing or texting, so this is a film you won't want to look away from for too long.
    There were a few scenes in the film that I thought were a bit confusing in how the dialogue was laid out or maybe weren't properly translated (I watched the dub version) but all in all it was an enjoyable, memorable, understandable film.

    The English voice cast actually has a deaf voice actor playing the part of Shouka, which I found interesting.

  • I thought the decision to x out the faces of any character the protagonist doesn't have a close connection with was really clever and strangely relatable.

    AChicken posted: »

    Just finished watching A Silent Voice on Netflix. It's a pretty good sad drama anime. The plot follows a young boy called Shoya Ishida, wh

  • edited June 2019

    Oh yeah, that was a really cool design choice in showing how he's closed himself off to everyone.
    Loved it.

    The use of piano only used during any scenes or moments with Shouko was a nice touch, too. (unless it's used elsehwhere, and I only noticed it in those specific scenes, heh.)

    ralo229 posted: »

    I thought the decision to x out the faces of any character the protagonist doesn't have a close connection with was really clever and strangely relatable.

  • So, my family took me out to our cottage this weekend. It's nice so far.
    We just went to our local Drive-In Theater. The double bill? 2019's The Lion King and Aladdin.

    Lion King was good. And it was simply that. There's nothing new here to see, and it's practically a shot-for-shot Remake of the original anomation. I'm not one who would call it "live-action" as, really, it's still CGI animation. However, it's very well made. The animals themselves look fantastic, with the only caveat that it's hard to make out emotions on their faces.

    Mufasa's death was as heartbreaking as it should be. Still hurts.
    Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner's chemistry and ad-libbing as Pumbaa and Timon respectively was very hilarious. All the other actors playing the Lion's share of characters do a good job with their roles as well. Nothing particularly notable. Just sounds like The Lion King.


    As for Aladdin, well, we only saw about half of the film before we had to leave. It was getting to be 12:30am, and we've got some early plans tomorrow.

    But, from what I did see, I did like. This is probably the one movie of the two that I was more excited about, since they would have had to get real, live people, build some sets, and choreograph them all in real life.
    And, I think they did a good job.

    The recreations of songs are nice, the environments are cool, it just brings a lot of nostalgia to my senses. They made something recognisably different using the same parts.

    Will Smith. Is he a good Genie? Yeah. He's not Robin Williams level of good, but he does his own thing. They've got him singing, doing a bit of rap, and the tons of special effects they put the Genie through is very impressive and makes up for the lack of vocal character range that the original Genie had.

    The one bad thing I can probably point to at this point is the character of Jafar. The person they hired for this, or the costume they made for him... I don't know, I just don't have any feel of menace from the guy playing him. They don't have his iconic thin goatee!

    I'm only halfway through the film though, and will have to catch the other half some other time. But, as I said, I liked what I saw there.

    Other stuff: There's some notable expansions and maturity to the storytelling. The Sultan gets into a debate with Jafar about invading another kingdom, something I really don't remember from the original. Abu the monkey is CGI, but the CGI is pretty good. I kind of feel like since they had that new Lion King technology behind them, they managed to use that for this film too.

    Final point: while I was unsure of this film when going into it, they do recreate the opening song, and -wow I was getting goosebumps hearing that track again!

  • Right, so...
    One movie on my Silver Screen thanks to TIFF, is 'Weathering With You', the new film by Makoto Shinkai (director of the fantastic 'Your Name.')
    I enjoyed it a lot, but I'd say it's like two steps below YN.
    I'm not sure if it's the director's style, but this movie is once again about a love story between a boy and the older girl he meets. Due to this, and maybe to the similar way the story is told (boy meet girl, discover supernatural elements, try to live with it), some aspects feel very derivative of his last work. I don't know, maybe all his movies are like this, I've only seen two of them now.

    The general plot is about a young boy: Hodaka, living on his own in a Tokyo under constant rain. He's at the end of his wits when he meets a girl who can control the weather, bringing sunlight to push away the clouds. They learn to help each other and bring sunshine to other people's lives, both metaphorically and literally, often at the same time.

    However, there are some aspects and plot elements that I find were a bit jarring compared to the rest of the film.

    The thread of Hodaka finding a gun, keeping it, and him seriously consider using it against another person in a fist fight felt very... sudden? Selfish? Cruel? I don't know, maybe this is the reaction the director is hoping for, but it certainly didn't sit right with the rest of the supernatural plot. I'm also annoyed with the ending, as the characters seem to choose love over the well-being and safety of others, doing a pretty selfish act, IMO.

    There are also some plot threads that don't go anywhere despite the tease that they will, and other threads seem way too shallow and not delved into enough.
    Either because Hina uses her sunshine powers, or because of the strange never-ending rain, early in the film people begin to notice odd things like fish-shaped droplets of goo falling from the sky, or watery-looking shadows hanging over the streets. The former appears early then the movie forgets about it until the end of the film, and the latter appears once and is never touched upon again.

    Hodaka is a runaway, and mentions that he never wants to return home again. One would assume it's because he's had a bad experience -- abused, neglected, or something of the sort -- but in reality it seems that he became bored with his town? Not exactly where I expected it to go...

    Despite all this though, it's still a good film. The plot is weird, interesting, and fun. There are a lot of humorous moments that play off well (one in particular revolves around an elementary school boy being quite the ladies' man, as he's regularly surrounded by girls of his age, completely infatuated with him.)

    The Soundtrack as well is very enjoyable, with RADWIMPS coming back to lend their talents. Some moments in this film (much like the last one) have their vocal tracks overlaid on various moments of the film, and in this particular film I think it wasn't used in the best way. Certain scenes' impacts were compromised by the sudden addition of vocals to the music.
    What I think interests me the most in particular about the music is how RADWIMPS seems to have reused/repurposed a track from Your Name. Listen to these two and hear how similar they are...

    Your Name -- Visit To Hida

    Weathering With You -- First Visit to K&A

    (Ah, yes, and in an unexpected jammin' moment, there's a chase scene later in the film. This sweet techno-synth tune is played and is unlike anything else in the soundtrack but I love it.)

  • edited September 2019

    I feel like I'm the only one on this entire planet that finds Robin Williams performance of the Genie not perfect. Don't get me wrong, I think he did great as the Genie, but it's not an "masterful performance". I find Will Smith just as great as Robin.

    AChicken posted: »

    So, my family took me out to our cottage this weekend. It's nice so far. We just went to our local Drive-In Theater. The double bill? 2019'

  • The franchises that I'm thinking of right now are Alien, Terminator and Predator. I rewatched the first Terminator films and Predator last year, then the first Alien films recently. I feel like those franchises are being ruined by modern Hollywood, even with actors/directors/producers making a comeback.

    In 2017, Alien Covenant came out and it was directed by Ridley Scott who also directed the original film. It's a pretty divisive film due to delivering more plot holes to the lore and the characters were cliched with horror tropes but it's still had that amazing choreography from its predecessor, Prometheus. But it doesn't take away the fact that this movie never reached the same level of greatness from the first 2 films.

    In 2018, they finally decided revive Predator after the last movie, Predators, which came out 8 years ago. Having Shane Black to direct it nonetheless. Mostly because he played Hawkins in the first Predator film and they probably thought he could really do it. The Predator came out and it was just a plain disaster. The main flaws of the film is out-of-place comedy tropes, uninteresting characters and just like AVP2, they decided to have a kid as main character to the story for some reason.

    In 2019, the next will be Terminator Dark Fate to reach its destiny, I think. The trailers are boring, the new main characters aren't convincing enough to be part of John Connor's story and the new villain looks completely miscast. Other than the original cast reprising their roles as their beloved characters and James Cameron producing and writing this film, there isn't anything to be excited about this film. So much for kicking all the post-T2 films out of the canon.

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