[subego]

Unreserved +1 for The Wrong Trousers.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

Isn't trump british for fart?

That makes way more sense now.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

Isn't trump british for fart?

We have always loved shaun the sheep. There are dvds of the tvshow before the movie (and currently new ones also).

Have they seen Wallace and Gromit, especially The Wrong Trousers? A close shave introduces early Shaun.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_and_Gromit

I didn't care as much for the full movie Wallace and Gromit (curse of the wererabbit) but the early shorts are gold.

On a different note, we watched The Menu this weekend. At first it seemed a snarky sendup of old mysteries and culinary snobbery (knives out + cuisine) but things took a left turn. Excellent performances, visually interesting... no spoilers.

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

Great call on Coherence, really enjoyed that movie

The Menu

Let’s get it out of the way: the movie doesn’t make a lot of sense from a plot perspective. But come for the miscast Anna Taylor-Joy’s massive peepers, stay for the withering satire on fancy restaurants, art critics, rich people and internet super fans. Sip your fancy $200 bottle of red wine with that signature barnyard funk, ignore the nonsensical plot points, and have a laugh at the expense of even fancier rich people!

Didn’t I nail it? You’re welcome!!

Also, kids loved Shaun the Sheep TV show. Oddly enough they thought the movie was too scary….weirdos

[christ]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

Isn't trump british for fart?

Yes. And you can't imagine how much fun we had with that for four years.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by christ 

Yes. And you can't imagine how much fun we had with that for four years.

Just wait until you learn what double meaning “Johnson” has in American English

[christ]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

Just wait until you learn what double meaning “Johnson” has in American English

Yup: Luckily it happens that Johnson the johnson is tautological.

I guess that a big difference is that more than 50% of the UK population can name the President of the US of A, but the percentage of Americans that know the name of the British Prime Minister (or the leaders of other insignificant little countries) is considerably lower than that.

[subego]

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre

Very, very borderline. Doesn’t gel, except maybe a touch near the end. Chronically violates the rule of “show, don’t tell”. Lacks a lot of imagination. Worst Aubery Plaza performance I’ve ever seen, though she looks great.

With all that going against it, Hugh Grant hits a grand slam. The weak parts are worth it for him.





Barely

[subego]

The Artist

The premise is real life is like silent movies. It’s brilliant.

[andi*pandi]

Who'd have thought that hugh grant would turn into a serious actor.

[subego]

Terminator Genisys

Didn’t expect much so I wasn’t disappointed. Schlocky, but intentionally so. Stuff blows up good. Actors are weak except for Schwarzenegger, who’s playing the role for laughs and it’s a treat. Half-hour too long.

The writing stands out. They came up with surprisingly passable reasons for revisiting the earlier movies and Schwarzenegger being old. It also has good twists on the tropes of the Terminatorverse.

[OreoCookie]

I've just seen a few Youtube clips, and they did stir a big desire going out of my way to watch it. I noticed that it doesn't take itself too seriously, but in my opinion, only the first two Terminator movies give me a sense or horror. None of the other Terminators seems scarier and more capable than the T1000. The T1000 could imitate people and things, morph into weapons and pass through metal bars. It was as superior to the T800 as the T800 was to a human. Sarah Connor's horror of seeing the (friendly) T800 after being confined to a mental hospital is just perfect. Terminator 2 is one of the few movies where you can make a legitimate argument that it is better than the first part.

[subego]

I found Terminator 2 to be a massive disappointment in the writing department.

One of the best things about the first was the Terminator’s efficiency. The T-800 never killed someone without a straightforward reason.

The T-1000 seemed to like killing. Which is not how “without emotion” works.

What really frosts my ass is all it needed was one line of exposition of how they programmed the T-1000 with hate to make it a better killing machine and then it would have been perfect, but they just didn’t care.

[andi*pandi]

From a technology / craft standpoint, absolutely T2 was better. Acting also.

[Waragainstsleep]

Originally Posted by subego 

I found Terminator 2 to be a massive disappointment in the writing department.

One of the best things about the first was the Terminator’s efficiency. The T-800 never killed someone without a straightforward reason.

The T-1000 seemed to like killing. Which is not how “without emotion” works.

What really frosts my ass is all it needed was one line of exposition of how they programmed the T-1000 with hate to make it a better killing machine and then it would have been perfect, but they just didn’t care.

Its been a while, who does it kill out of pure spite? The stepdad? I'd argue that was just cold. Most others it kills so it can imitate without being caught out by there being two of anyone. Or am I remembering wrong?

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep 

Its been a while, who does it kill out of pure spite? The stepdad? I'd argue that was just cold. Most others it kills so it can imitate without being caught out by there being two of anyone. Or am I remembering wrong?

Same here, I thought the T1000's longer kill list was just a result of it wanting to impersonate whomever it killed. Killing the step parents was quite logical, I thought. In comparison, the T800's gratuitous violence in the beginning of the first movie, at the biker bar, seemed a bit weird. A cold, logical machine such as the Terminator should know to have kept a lower profile in the beginning.

The only obvious weakness in the story is the rabbit hole of time paradoxes you can fall into. But honestly, I always thought this movie was more enjoyable if you didn't ponder about those too hard.

[subego]

The moment from the first movie which solidified the T-800’s efficiency for me is when he steals the truck at the end. He simply tells the driver to “get out”, and because the driver complies, nothing happens to him. I don’t recall the bar scene well enough to remember if he kills anyone who doesn’t get in his way.

I (total) recall the T-1000 killing people for no particularly good reason, but it’s been awhile since I’ve seen it, so I’d need to watch it again to be sure… which I’m not going to do.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by subego 

The moment from the first movie which solidified the T-800’s efficiency for me is when he steals the truck at the end. He simply tells the driver to “get out”, and because the driver complies, nothing happens to him. I don’t recall the bar scene well enough to remember if he kills anyone who doesn’t get in his way.

That's true.
Although it seems to me the shooting in the club (Tech Noir, nice name, so 1980s!) could have been avoided. Ditto for the police station.

However, in terms of the story, I think e. g. the shooting in the police station served the same purpose as the T1000 killing John's foster parents — to show how scary Terminators are. It's why the movies are good in my mind.

Originally Posted by subego 

I (total) recall the T-1000 killing people for no particularly good reason, but it’s been awhile since I’ve seen it, so I’d need to watch it again to be sure… which I’m not going to do.

I'm sure that once we nitpick, we could find lots of gratuitous and superfluous deaths in either film. Although I think some of the scenes serve a purpose other than telling the most logical story, e. g. evoking the right feelings and show how ridiculously overpowered Terminators are compared to the guardian (i. e. Reese or Arnie).

It is also why later Terminator movies don't work as well for me. The Terminators are not as scary (relatively and absolutely speaking). They tried to justify it, but I don't think they were particularly convincing. Plus, the later movies do try to open Pandora's box and try to make sense of the contents vis-a-vis time travel.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

I completely agree on that being one element.

Another important one might be going from James Cameron as director of the first two movies to a menagerie of….. not James Camerons

[Waragainstsleep]

Originally Posted by subego 

I don’t recall the bar scene well enough to remember if he kills anyone who doesn’t get in his way.

So the bar scene is actually the T-800 in the second movie, and while I don't think he kills anyone, he messes a few people up to the point they will have permanent damage of one kind or another, which seems OTT to acquire clothes given none of them can really hurt him.

The clothes-stealing scene in the first one is three street punks (including Bill Paxton), at least one of which he eviscerates I think. But this would be done in part to garner rapid co-operation from the survivors, and in part to show the audience the level of cold ruthlessness they were dealing with.

[subego]

Isn’t there a scene from the first movie where the T-800 finds Sarah Connor in a bar? The memorable part for me is he pulls out a giant revolver with a laser sight, and you get a POV shot of the laser pointing at you.

In the punk scene, doesn’t he kill the one who says “fuck you, asshole”?

[andi*pandi]

In other news, Dungeons and Dragons was quite fun.

[subego]

Oh, good!

I’ve stayed away from the previous entries based on bad word-of-mouth, but I’ve heard they finally “get it” this time. I like Chris Pine too.

[subego]

I, Tonya

Brilliant.

[subego]

One More Time

Groundhog Day meets Peggy Sue Got Married meets Sweden. Made me nostalgic for music from the early aughts. Light way to pass an hour-and-a-half. Has parts I’m not sure they thought through.

[subego]

From back in 2016

Okay, this wasn't found on GIS, but it wasn't what I was looking for, and is interesting nonetheless.

I was looking for this...



Which is the movie Tag.

Amazon doesn't carry it, so it helpfully suggested Zombie Ass as a substitute.

Even without having seen Zombie Ass, I can kinda guess where an algorithm might get confused. Tag is Japanese, horror (after a fashion), exceptionally gory, and involves schoolgirls. Past that, it's also a surreal art flick about the nature of existence (and quite brilliant). I assume Zombie Ass is shit jokes.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Decided to look again and it’s now available on Prime. You want “Tag (2015)”.

[andi*pandi]

Puss in Boots the Last Wish was surprisingly entertaining, even for our "older" audience (ie, big kids and adults).

[subego]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

In other news, Dungeons and Dragons was quite fun.

I’m halfway through and I’m not liking it. I have a feeling it’s going to be impossible to satisfy me with something like this.


I’m not a huge fan of the Forgotten Realms. My only real connection is Baldur’s Gate.

The effects and monsters look cheesy and cheap.

This is supposed to be SERIOUS BUSINESS.

It has aspects of the game itself which make for an unsatisfying narrative structure.


I can see the reasoning behind these choices, so I’m not blaming any of them, but they still don’t sit right with me.

[andi*pandi]

Even my hardcore D&D player enjoyed it, but as more of an adventure movie with nods to the game, rather than a real campaign. Not SERIOUS BIZNESS.

Like, we all cheered when a certain mob obstacle showed up, and was useful to the plot.

[subego]

I got the full-on campaign feel from the constant stream of defeated enemies who say “your Princess is in another castle”.

[subego]

Stowaway

Good, but can’t fill the shoes of Gravity. Speaking of which, the (plausibly generated) artificial gravity in this movie seemed there only so they didn’t have to pay for zero-G effects. Comes up with an interesting dilemma, but I felt they kinda railroaded the solution rather than take the risk of letting it be morally ambiguous. Worth watching, but no rush.

Toni Collette is awesome.