Saturday, April 1, 2023

Weekend Open Thread

16 comments:

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  2. Creed 3 is a huge step up from the previous one. A very good start as a director for B. Jordan.

    Did not finish Avatar 2. I was bored to tears

    John Wick 4 is very good, but very long. I don't think it needed to be this long. But we got a very cool night club scene and an awesome reference to The Warriors.

    All in all, that was a week of sequel, because that's the world we live in now 😵‍💫

    P.S. new tv will be here soon 🎉

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  3. I also saw Avatar 2 and John Wick 4 and my thoughts on them are pretty similar to yours. I don't want to go to far into detail on Avatar 2 because it's great that Patrick and others love the franchise, but I just didn't really get the plot of this one. Jake and his family are in danger and don't want to put their people at risk so they... go and join up with a different tribe, predictably putting them at risk instead.

    Haven't watched much other than that because the I've been playing the remake of Resident Evil 4, and they updated an older, great game and somehow made it better. Don't know where they go from here with the remakes because there's only bad games left unless they remake RE1 again.

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    1. It's funny how many good games they remade in recent years, and somehow made them better. Dead Space is the one i want to get, but haven't yet

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    2. Haven't picked up Dead Space yet but I do want to get it at some point. This is actually looking to be a solid year for games, although much like the movie industry there's a lot of sequels and remakes. New Zelda, Street Fighter, Diablo, Baldur's Gate, Spider-man, and Final Fantasy (and a Final Fantasy VII remake/sequel) games this year. Starfield at least is a big new original IP (from the makers of Elder Scrolls and Fallout). We've got a kind of fun looking Killer Klowns from Outer Space game coming.

      There are long periods of time where I kind of lapse as a gamer, but there's a lot I'll probably play this year.

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  4. Lots to review today!

    John Wick 4 (Cinemark XD). Wow. Wow. wooooooow. Im far from impartial as action movies are my fav and i find the John Wick flicks endlessly rewatchable. I loved it. Its long and continues the "making up rules as we go" but i reallly embraced the new characters (Yen! Adkins!) and revisits with our regular Wick crew. Also it rewards fans with an unbelievably lengthy 3rd act action set piece unlike any other.

    Dungeons and Dragons Honor Amongst Thieves (2023 theatrical). A fine but kinda by the numbers CGI fantasy flick. Good cast...decent world building...charming (but maybe not as much as it thinks it has)...fine D.n.D setpieces. Dont think ill remember much nor revisit much down the road. Suggest waiting for streaming.

    Sin City and Sin City A Dame To Kill For (blu 2009 2014). Hadnt revisited these for a while. They are REALLY good in that they started with a bare bones visual comic source, managed to create a movie that looks unlike any other, and infuses a lot of dark, dank, depressing, noir. I think two movies for the series feels right..the 2nd isnt as tightly written but provides nice revisits with key characters and story wrap ups. Amazing casting and visuals..on this revisit i really paid attention to the comic panel art of it all. LOVE it.

    The Wild Bunch (blu 1969). Amazing. Ive got tons of gaps for classics and classic directors. After listening to a Movie Drafts podcast for Peckinpah i figured it was time to catch this one. (its been on my radar for years due to the Dusk Till Dawn quote "I WILL TURN THIS PLACE INTO THE WILD BUNCH"). Its incredible. Absolutely immersive - everything feels 100% authentic western. Two hours with a rag tag band of criminals trying to figure out one last score. Incredible set pieces broken up by moments of reflection and camaraderie vs conflict. The kind of discovery that makes me giddy to think what else is out there. GIDDY!

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    1. That's a good reminder that I have to finish watching Peckinpah's filmography. I have 2 of his later movies remaining, and then have saved The Wild Bunch for last.

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    2. Peckinpah's films are definitely worth diving into. The Wild Bunch was a controversial film when it was released, but it has long since become his masterpiece.

      There is always something new to discover in the realm of cinema. That is what has kept me watching films over several decades.

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  5. Since the Empire Records podcast I was really wanting to see DUTCH (1991) again with Ethan Embry and Ed O'Neill. It was a childhood favorite. Finally it came available on Cinemax streaming a few weeks ago. My sister has been playing it on repeat, so we've probably seen it upward of 25 times recently. It's such a good movie (in our opinions). Ethan Embry was FANTASTIC as the poor, delusional spoiled brat. I remember seeing him later in a handful of roles in teen movies - including Empire Records, and feeling like they were all way beneath his acting abilities.

    Also saw THE HUSTLE (2019) with Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is another one of our family staple films. I enjoyed the remake. It's more *interesting* to see the gender roles reversed than *good*, I would say. I really appreciated that they went away from the "Rupret the Monkey Boy" character, which felt like making fun of people with special needs. I mean, of course they couldn't go that way in the remake - they'd be in so much trouble - but it actually looked like they had a lot of fun with figuring out a fake female character who could really freak men out. I laughed out loud at some of their choices.

    FALLING FOR A DANCER (1998) has the worst name, I know. But it's set in Ireland and if you say it with an Irish accent, it sounds a *little* less terrible. This is a TV movie about a young woman in the 1930s who gets pregnant and instead of going into one of those Mary Magdalene nightmare laundries, she chooses to marry an old widower in the Irish country, disguise the pregnancy, and adopt a different life as a wife, mom and stepmom. The story is about her trying her best. The actress is Elisabeth Dermot Walsh, who I could look at all day, she's so pretty. She looks like a doll and her red hair is the real star of the movie. Anyway, lots of endearing parts with her, her women friends and step daughters. It reminds me a lot of Little Women. I THINK Colin Farrell, the young kid who falls in love with her, may be "the dancer" from the title. I can't figure out who else it could be. Colin Farrell's young in this but you can tell he's going to be a star. He pops off the screen with intensity and emotion.

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  6. The lone watch this week was a blu-ray from Netflix that had been sitting around here too long. THE SWORD OF DOOM is a 1966 Japanese film set during the time of the collapse of samurai rule in the 19th century. Ryunosuke is one of many who finds himself becoming a hired killer, but what sets him apart is his skill with a sword and cold-blooded temperament. The script is messy, full of sub-plots that are never resolved, but the visual aesthetics and set-pieces are very striking. The final sword battle is an epic and gory (for the time) one-man fight against a horde of enemies. Recommended.

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    1. The Sword of Doom is one of a handful of samurai movies I've bought but still haven't gotten around to watching. I should dedicate a whole week and just watch them all at once.

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  7. In the lead up to watching John Wick 4, by kids both watched the first one while on a road trip, and then we watched 2 together. I had forgotten how good that one is. I've seen the 3rd, but have no memory of what happens in it, so I'll revisit it before going to the theatre for 4.

    Just have to not delay it in case they suddenly yank it from theatres after a couple weeks like they did with Babylon.

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