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[Lady Artifice]

^ I will probably watch anything with Chris Pratt until the end of my days. 

 

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- Speaking of which, Steelcan already posted my absolute favorite comic book film of all time, and my favorite scene from that film--though there is also Groot. I Groot. 

 

 

I also think there's a lot to recommend about the two Avengers films. I think that's one of the best examples of an ensemble cast used to a genuinely, relatively, balanced effect. Which isn't surprising, because that's one of Whedon's talents. 

 

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- Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Two films by Guy Richie that are so worth watching if you like/don't mind very dark humor, a lot of swearing, and violence. 

 

 

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Hot Fuzz is my favorite comedy of all time, followed just after by Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland. 

 

[Sifr]

And oddly, Ben-Hur. I've also read/listened to the novel several times. I am not a Christian (or anything else), but I really enjoy the older Biblical epics; the whole title of the novel is Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. But even though both the novel and movie are bookended by events concerning Jesus, it's not about him, but rather how he is experienced by others (in fact, you never see his face), so it's not really the same as the numerous other Jesus movies, King of Kings, and so on. The entire middle section of both novel and film -- Judah Ben-Hur's struggle and quest for revenge -- is the best part for me. I like this movie and character so much that my canon Inquisitor's name is Judah, after the main character.

 

I don't know why they felt the need to remake this movie, Ben-Hur was perfect already. It'd be like remaking cinematic classics like The Great Escape. Even if you got another all-star cast to fill the roles, what was wrong with the older film before that requires making it again?

 

Incidentally, The Great Escape is one film I'd highly recommend as well. That movie had great characters, an amazing cast of actors, is a (mostly) true story and was a lot of fun to see how they go about enacting the plan and try to figure just how to get 250 men out of a POW camp in a single night.

 

Tagged for spoilers best avoided by those who've not seen it yet;

 

Spoiler

Even the downer ending when it comes to the fate of the 50 is still a pyrrhic victory of sorts, because the plan was never about getting home, but rather to serve as a massive act of defiance. And in that regard, they definitely succeeded.

[Undead Han]

The Last of the Mohicans might be my favorite movie of all time. It's got probably my favorite ending to any film at least. 

 

[nightscrawl]

I don't know why they felt the need to remake this movie, Ben-Hur was perfect already. It'd be like remaking cinematic classics like The Great Escape. Even if you got another all-star cast to fill the roles, what was wrong with the older film before that requires making it again?

 
I choose to pretend that this upcoming remake doesn't exist. It also seems like they're making it more actiony and bringing the focus to the revenge angle, rather than it being 1/3 of the actual story.

[Sifr]

 
I choose to pretend that this upcoming remake doesn't exist. It also seems like they're making it more actiony and bringing the focus to the revenge angle, rather than it being 1/3 of the actual story.

 

Didn't I already see the action-packed, sword-and-sandal revenge tale featuring a huge scene in an stadium that involved chairiots, back when it called Gladiator?

 

With how much that movie owed to Ben-Hur, I guess cinema has come full circle it seems.

[Hellion Rex]

Ooooo, so many good theads in this group!

 

Some of my all time favorites include:

 

Star Wars (the prequels mostly, as my mother and I always watched them together when I was little.)

 

Spoiler

 

Lord of the Rings was also a long time favorite. My mother read the books to me when I was little, and we loved watching the films together. However, my absolute favorite of the three is The Two Towers - absolutely fantastic dialogue, such powerful symbolism, and Helm's Deep always brought forth a sense of awe in me. That final part when they charged down the hill with the light at their backs always brought me to tears.

 

Spoiler

 

As others have said, I'm also a big Miyazaki fan. I really liked Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. 

 

 

I am also a really big Tarantino fan, with Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Django being my favorites.

Spoiler

 

Lastly, I'll mention that I'm a really big comic book fan, of both DC and Marvel (love both equally). That said, Marvel movies win hands down, in my opinion. Of the Avengers universe, I'm a big fan of Captain America: the Winter Soldier. Also, on the other hand, I'm really a big fan of the newer X-Men movies. 

 

Spoiler

[Lady Artifice]

I'm outrageously excited for Keanu. Key and Peele are my favorite.

[nightscrawl]

Spoiler

 

AHH!! I can't wait for this! I sat there watching with the hugest grin and started getting teary-eyed. It looks gorgeously done, the casting for both is great, and it will be a full-on musical just like the original. Eeeeeeee!!

[Sifr]

Spoiler

 

AHH!! I can't wait for this! I sat there watching with the hugest grin and started getting teary-eyed. It looks gorgeously done, the casting for both is great, and it will be a full-on musical just like the original. Eeeeeeee!!

 

Any hints yet on what the Beast will look like, or are they going to try to go for the same awesome Chimera-esque design he had in the original animated film?

[nightscrawl]

^ No clue whatsoever. I'm curious as well. I'm hoping they go for a blend between cartoony and real. I know she falls in love with what's on the inside, and all that, but I don't think they can make him look too horribly beasty or else there will be too great a disconnect for the audience. But I don't think they will go for a direct 3d representation of the animation, either, because that would be just too cartoony and unreal.

[Duelist]

There's going to be a Roberto Duran biopic.
As a fan of his, I'm not sure how I feel about this.

Also, Creed. Awesome movie and I can see why Stallone got an Oscar nomination for it.

[nightscrawl]

I finished watching all of The Hunger Games movies (I have not read the books) and found them surprisingly good. I don't usually go for these teen-centric films. Katniss was teenagery about some things, but I did think she was well-rounded and believable for the most part. I was also surprised at how many strong women were in it, and so many actors that I'm familiar with.
 
 

Also, Creed. Awesome movie and I can see why Stallone got an Oscar nomination for it.

 
OH thanks for reminding me about this. I've been meaning to add it to my Netflix queue.

[Jorji Costava]

 

In this companion piece to The Act of Killing, director Joshua Oppenheimer continues exploring the mass killings that took place in Indonesia during the late 60s; under the auspices of anti-communism, over 1 million people were slaughtered. The perpetrators were never brought to account. Instead they rose to power on the backs of these atrocities and many still hold power today.

 

The Look of Silence follows an opthalmologist named Adi Rukun whose brother was murdered in the mass killings; Rukun confronts many of the perpetrators, often while conducting medical examinations on them, and the resulting confrontations are often tense and deeply disturbing. A recurring theme in both The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence is that when you've won, there's no need to be shy about your misdeeds. After all, they made you a hero. Thus, we get footage of perpetrators often gleefully describing their horrific acts; some of this footage is almost nausea-inducing, despite the fact that it's just people talking.

 

The film is structured around the theme of historical memory--the film is loaded with more eye symbolism than any movie since Blade Runner, but it's not about the eyes as the "window in the soul"; rather, it's about the idea of bearing witness. Many of the killers insist that "the past is the past," Adi's father is unable to remember anything, including his murdered son, and propoganda about the "cruelty" of the communists abounds as a way of rationalizing the killings (After all, the communists slept with each other's wives! How can you blame us for killing them?).

 

The Look of Silence is not for everyone; it might be a bit of a slow burn for some and the subject matter is deeply unsettling--nobody wants to be reminded that the bad guys usually get away with it. But it's absolutely a worthy successor to The Act of Killing, and easily the best movie I've seen this year. I strongly recommend both films to anyone who cares about cinema.

[Duelist]

While I was never a big fan of Disney even as a kid, Duck Tales and Lion King aside, I'm liking the look of Moana so far.

While I suspect the characters are likely to be a mish mash of different Polynesian cultures, I can see some pretty clear Maori influences in Maui at least.

[Lady Artifice]

X-Men: Apocalypse is a lie.

 

Spoiler

The Ororo Munroe I know wouldn't knowingly try to help destroy the world.

 

But Jean being The Phoenix was pretty at least, even if she had an annoyingly dumb establishing character moment. If they want us to believe a character has this magnificent, powerful mind, showing them look at someone with a bandage over their eyes and tell them to "Watch where they're going," is not an especially clever way to go about it.

[SardaukarElite]

I just watched most of John Carter.

 

Spoiler

It was really bad. 

[nightscrawl]

^ As someone who likes the Barsoom novels, I appreciated the movie for what it was. They changed some things, and also combined some things from other novels. Willem Defoe as Tars Tarkas (big green dude) was the best part, and I enjoyed the friendship as it played out in the movie. The novels are very entertaining; Edgar Rice Burroughs did some incredible world building.

 

The character of John Carter himself is somewhat Mary Sue-ish, so that is a bit tiresome. Also, 2.5 of the first three novels (basically a trilogy) revolve around his rescuing his (initial) love interest and (later) wife, despite the fact of Burroughs continually going on about how badass Martian women are (because they have to be on the harsh planet). That is a bit tiresome as well.

 

The best thing about the novels is the fantastic world building and the action sequences. The film also had to necessarily fabricate a method of his transportation to Mars, since that is never explained. In the novels, Carter (on Earth) looks up at Mars in the sky and has an odd sensation, then is mysteriously transported there. And... that's it. It's very weird. Also weird is the description that Carter has no memory of his childhood and never appears to age. I don't really know or understand why ERB never explained these two things and I consider their lack of explanation to be the greatest failing of the series.

 

The reason for the aging likely has to do with the fact that Martians live for hundreds of years, so it would be rather a bummer to have these characters fall in love and then have Carter die in basically the blink of an eye to a Martian. But I think ERB should have either come up with an explanation for it, or, failing that, should have done something else.

 

But I do recommend them if you want a fantasy-western-sci-fi-pulpy romp and a nice amount of romance, especially the first three.

[SardaukarElite]

^ As someone who likes the Barsoom novels, I appreciated the movie for what it was. 

 

I did actually enjoy it, but at the same time it wasn't well made. I love swashbucklers for how swift and clever they can be, and yet John Carter was mostly clumsy when it came to action and dialogue.