My last six Netflix movies. Nightcrawler, The Sting, Chef, Electric Boogaloo, I Love You Philip Morris, Goosebumps

Nightcrawler - 7/10 popcorns - An enjoyable look at sensationistic journalism and the ambulance chasing cameramen. Great performances and a great car chase at the end.

The Sting - 7/10 - Loved the visuals, music, art direction, costumes, and cast. It felt like going back in time to early 30s Chicago.

Chef - 6/10 - Fun and easy look at a Chef and his son's relationship. Great Cuban Soundtrack.

Electric Boogaloo - 8/10 - Very interesting and fun. Shows the B movie making side of Hollywood in the 80s from Cannon Films.

I Love You Philip Morris - 6/10 - Kind of forgettable but still amusing. It had a Catch Me If You Can vibe but without Spielberg's expertise.

Goosebumps - 5/10 - Despite the terrible CGI, I still had fun watching this. The Dummy was really great.

Thanks for the Downfall recommendation. I always wondered what movie that was.

Look Who's Back is on Netflix.

Thanks for the When Marnie Was There recommendation. I'm a big animation lover but still haven't watched any Studio Ghibli movies. Been wanting to watch Porco Rosso for the aviator pig.

If you want an animation recommendation, check out Song of the Sea. I really love that movie. I recently got into a discussion of what was the best animation of 2014 with most people naming How To Train Your Dragon 2 and Big Hero 6. I had to add Song of the Sea. It's that good.

Movies in theaters I've seen recently: Star Trek Beyond, Ghostbusters, Suicide Squad, The Conjuring 2, Batman The Killing Joke Rifftrax MST3K reunion, Secret Life of Pets

Star Trek Beyond - 7/10 - It was fun and definitely the best reboot movie yet. It did drag at the beginning a little.

Suicide Squad - 5/10 - The cast is great but a lot of unnecessary characters and unexplained instances. The editing and structure makes it crazy confusing. I had fun watching it though for the most part.

Ghostbusters - 3/10 - Pretty boring. Script and dialogue was terrible. Direction was nonexistent. The tech was cool at times and the CGI impressed occasionally.

The Conjuring 2 - 7/10 - Very fun and creepy. The first scary movie I've watched in theaters in a long time. I was glad it was daylight when I came out. I got goosebumps a couple of times.

Batman the Killing Joke - 6/10 - They did an admirable job with the added material but it ultimately fell flat, out of place, and unnecessary. The original story though was great and it was cool to hear Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy. I'm glad I went to see it. Big crowd.

Rifftrax MST3K reunion - 10/10 - I laughed so hard I cried. They must have saved their best stuff for this because very few jokes missed the mark. Shake Hands with Danger was the highlight. It may not play as well alone at home as it did in the theater.

Secret Life of Pets - 6/10 - Amusing but forgettable. Kevin Hart's bunny rabbit was the most memorable.

I'm looking forward to seeing Sausage Party, Hell or High Water, and Blood Father. Also I might go see Rifftrax Mothra.

Yep I could see giving it a six but I won't change it now. The soundtrack is what was missing for me. I expected a synth/thumping soundtrack like Drive and instead got a conventional one that didn't do anything for me. You're right about missed opportunity. Still one the best action sequences at the end though. Really unexpected which might have made so good.

All scores have a margin of error of +/- 1 point.

I refuse to bump the GB16 thread because that subject is done. So I'll continue about Ocean's Eight the sequel/reboot of Ocean's Eleven here.

The Clooney/Pitt movie is one of my all time favorites and the sequels are very good as well. Looking it up now though, it has some definite talent in the cast. Gary Ross writer/director is a little hit and miss and that's a big deal because Soderburgh was so instrumental in Ocean's Eleven's success. He's a great writer/director.

I need to watch that again. I watched it when I was younger and it didn't leave an impression.

Blasphemy!

I love how twelve flipped the script. They went from being very professional and state of the art to using second hand equipment and being on a budget. The ending did tie things up too nicely though.

Agree with you there. I hate hard reboots in general. Soft reboots are preferred if they have to do it. Create a new team but somehow tie it to the old movies. I am amused by the idea that they could make a bunch of Ocean's # movies and eventually fill in the numbers from 1 to 13.

An all female team doesn't seem like it would happen in real life because most people just want the best person for the job. They don't care about gender. If you're doing a con job it would seem like you would need different kinds of people as well.

That's a good list. I'm kind of embarrassed to say I've never seen Shawshank Redemption. It's seems like good comedies are always a good repeat viewing. Bull Durham is movie I love to watch over and over.

Yes and why in the sequels they added females to the team.

Man that was a disappointing movie. I loved the first and couldn't wait for the second. Then they take 9 years to make the sequel and recast Dwight with Josh Brolin.

I guess you haven't seen the movie because they do that in A Dame to Kill for but they just put prosthetics on Josh Brolin. If they would have cast Josh Brolin as the post Op Dwight that might have been cool. I just really liked Clive Owen doing an American accent from the first movie. It sounds unique and weird like Bob Hoskins from Roger Rabbit.

I had to laugh at this.

Make sure to go see Star Trek. It's a shame it isn't doing better because I thought it was the best new Trek movie.

Small town sounthern movies reminds me of Mud with Matthew McConaughey. I remember really liking that movie. Reminded me of 80s coming of age stories like Stand By Me. It's been so long though I can't give it a rating. I love movies that show a glimpse of the world that's only known if you've lived there a lifetime.

Just watched Adventures in Babysitting. Fun movie. I loved that the little girl was a Thor fan. I miss how it seemed like every other 80s movie was set in the Chicago area in winter. 7/10 popcorns

So stinky and less explosive.

Anybody go see Ben-Hur?

Just watched The Nice Guys. Fun movie. It was wrote and directed by Shane Black who's written some movies that I really like. 7/10 popcorns.

Another Shane Black movie I'll recommend is Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Robert Downey, Jr., Val Kilmer being his charming self. Awesome funny movie more people should know about. 9/10

These two are very similar movies. Both involve private investigators looking for dead girls in L.A. I would give the edge to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang because it's actually laugh out loud funny and Val Kilmer steals the movie. I like Kilmer a lot better when he's a supporting character rather than a lead. Tombstone and Top Gun are good examples.

I watched Bad Boys 1 not too long ago. It was very boring and felt like a rejected Lethal Weapon movie. I've heard Lawrence isn't the easiest to work with so it is impressive they got him to come back. Bad Boys 5/10 popcorns. I should watch the second because I've heard good things.

I think that's what made me stay away from it initially. I can't stand bloated movies. I'm sure I'll give it a try sometime though.

Just watched Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau. Crazy story of the production of the mid 90s movie. It was interesting if you like stories about the behind the scenes of Hollywood. 6/10

"Crocs are something you wear to take a picture of your penis." Brett Favre reference.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Is this a twenty point scale now?

A FORTY POINT SCALE?!

This thread has gone completely off the rails. Drained.

I wasn't talking about Casino. You said the scale was from 1-10 but now you've added half points which makes it a 20 point scale from a ten point scale. Then you said quarter points which makes it a 40 point scale.

But mostly I'm just joshing with ya.

Casino's a great movie. One of my faves from maybe my favorite director. Top 3 Scorcese movies. Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Aviator.

I'm planning a theater trip tomorrow and going to try and see 3 movies. Don't Breathe, which I'm very excited for, Sausage Party, and Kubo. I've heard Kubo is very good and it's a shame it isn't doing better. I've always loved stop motion films and this comes from the makers of ParaNorman and Boxtrolls, which I haven't seen, and Coraline. Coraline's a great movie.

Why do you have an apartment? Is your house too far from work?

On another topic, how's the weather down there?

Oh yeah I recall a picture of you with some booze on a balcony. That was probably your apartment.

I had someone tell me that it was pretty cold down there right now. We had a pretty warm day Friday. It was over 100F heat index. I got a little hot at work at the end of the day. Cold chills, shakiness, soreness. Better now though. I was doing a lot of heavy work and I'm probably getting out of shape. I think I need to start exercising...someday.

I went to watch 3 movies today. I had pretty good luck with all of them.

Don't Breath was advertised as a horror movie but I felt it was more a thriller. It was tense. A couple of jump scares that were stupid. Enjoyed it for the most part. It reminded me of Panic Room with Jodie Foster. 3 people trapped in a house with a blind military man they were trying to rob. I wish they would have left the 3 burglars and the blind man morally ambiguous rather than paint them as right and wrong. It feels like a test audience gave some feedback and they did some reshoots. 7/10 popacorns

Kubo was next and ,oh boy, what a great film. Everyone should go see it and marvel at the time it takes to move all of these characters one frame at a time. A really great movie with great performances from Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey, and Ralph Fiennes. It had a little lull in the middle but I very much enjoyed it. Special recognition for a awesome cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" played with a shamisen. 10/10 Orvilles

Last I went to see Sausage Party. Pretty funny and inventive. I hope that the ending leads to a sequel that makes the characters live action or stop motion. I would deeply enjoy that. Nick Kroll was the standout character of the movie. He has done a great job as Ruxin on The League and I was pleasantly surprised to find out after the movie that he did the character of the dudebro Douche. Oh and +1 for the food orgy sex scene at the end. 8/10 popakernals

That's a movie I'd still like to see.

Welcome to Earf.

I've heard a lot of good things about Apocalypto but I haven't seen it yet.

EoT was so good. I didn't know anything about that movie when I saw it. A friend wanted to see it and I was like sure. Really, really fun.

Apocalypto made me think, what is the best director that is an actor besides Eastwood? They have to have acted in major roles of films they didn't direct or were an actor before transitioning to directing. So Scorcese, Hitchcock, or Tarantino don't count because of their cameo roles. There's a lot of good candidates. Redford, Gibson, Costner, Howard, Stallone, Reiner, Penny Marshall, Favreau. I'm interested to hear others opinions. I have a soft spot for Devito's dark comedies Throw Momma from the Train, War of the Roses, and Death to Smoochy.

I loved Oblivion's score and look. It sold the movie for me. Tom Cruise's movie output since Ghost Protocol has been really great for me. I've enjoyed every one of his movies he's put out. Ghost Protocol, Rock of Ages, Jack Reacher, Oblivion, Edge of Tomorrow, Rogue Nation. I hope he can continue that streak.

I saw the first and second Hunger Games. Then I lost interest. The second was almost a repeat of the first and that was disappointing. The first seemed pretty original and it's subject matter was right in my wheelhouse. Post-apocalyptic/future movies are my jam. I wanted to read the books because I've heard they have a harder edge than the movies. I did read Battle Royale which people claim the Hunger Games stole it's main idea from. It was pretty good and definitely more gratuitous in it's violence and language.

They all seem to be products of Harry Potter's success. There are so many other failed franchises based on young adult books besides those three. Here's my impressions of Young Adult movies released since Potter.

Chronicles of Narnia had 3 movies I think but I only saw one and was bored.

City of Ember was pretty good. Mostly for the art direction and wardrobe though Bill Murray has a great role. It's set in a cool steam punk world.

I enjoyed The Host. It almost had a 60s sci-fi/Body Snatchers vibe.

Warm Bodies was at times humorous and at times boring. It was the kind of movie you walk away from mildy amused but forget the next day.

I love the first How to Train Your Dragon. The second was a major let down.

Hugo was a fun movie that places you in 30s France. It did get slow in places but was a fascinating watch.

I saw quite a few, maybe all, of the Twilight series. The first one was an interesting take on vampire movies but they devolved into utter shit. I think the last few in the series I watched with a Rifftrax commentary track playing.

Goosebumps I gave a review in this thread but I enjoyed it for the most part.

Coraline is a great movie. Good stop motion animation and good storyline.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is a movie I genuinely love. I saw when it came out in theaters and it still holds up today. I guess it didn't do the best box office but it would have made a great franchise and Jim Carrey seemed enthused at the possibility.

These are all Young Adult movies I skipped. Probably the main criticism is they all look generic and similar. Are there any I should have given a chance?
Beautiful Creatures, Mortal Instruments, Maze Runner, Percy Jackson, Divergent, Eragon, Beastly, The Giver, Blood and Chocolate, The Seventh Son, I Am Number Four, The Golden Compass, Alex Rider, Jumper, Tuck Everlasting, Ender's Game, Vampire Academy, Stardust, Cirque du Freak, Inkheart, Nancy Drew (2007), Sisterhood of Traveling Pants, Holes, Spiderwick Chronicles, The Seeker

http://www.indiewire.com/2015/11/ranked-every-ya-movie-franchise-since-harry-potter-104593/

Nope. Anybody watch Outland? Someone gave me a recommendation for it and the description was "space western starring Sean Connery". Sign me up.

I was a big Matrix fan growing up. I watched it over and over coming out of high school but that was a couple of years after it was released. I was pretty hyped for the sequels. Reloaded was a let down. Zion was not what I was imagined. The action scenes while bigger in scope don't hold up as good as Matrix because they are filled with CG. With my expectations in the gutter, Revolutions I thought was a little better storywise but it went full blown CG on the Neo/Agent Smith fight scene. At the time I remember thinking that felt like a Dragonball Z episode.

I also watched the Animatrix and played the Enter The Matrix game on PS2. Animatrix is a mixed bag. Some really good episodes and some pretty bad. Enter The Matrix I bought day one at Wal-Mart and played all the way through and enjoyed it. I tried to pick it up since then and it's pretty bad. The extra movie footage made for the game is why I guess I was motivated to play it the first time.

The Matrix still holds up very well. I think a lot of people forget how good it was because the sequels tarnished it's image. It's really a great movie with some depth to the story and exciting practical action scenes.

I really like There Will Be Blood. It's a multi watch for me. The director has stated he took some influence from Kubrick on the film and it shows.

A movie like that for me was Requiem for a Dream. An amazing movie that was a singular experience. I'll probably never watch it again but I would recommend it to anyone who likes harsh reality type movies.

I got the hankering to watch Demolition Man. It had a pretty good setup, very good production value, and a solid cast. As a kid I liked the future stuff and that holds up well. The vulgarity fining maching, the way they have sex, the cars all are still pretty ingenious. The dialogue isn't terrible but is probably elevated by the good performances.

It just feels so bland most of the time. I think it's the lighting and set design. Plus it had a first time director who has went on to do nothing. I imagine if it had a more talented director like Paul Verhoeven or Richard Donner it could have been something special. The ending fell terribly flat. Amusingly the song playing over the credits was a song wrote by Sting called Demolition Man for the movie. A funny, awful, bad song.

I give it a middle of the road 5/10 for the cool future stuff, Taco Bell, action set pieces, and three sea shells.

I had the urge to watch it for awhile and about a month ago I did. It's pretty great. Moves at a fast pace but doesn't feel like it skips over anything. It ends abruptly but I kind of like that. With no end credits it feels like an old Hollywood movie while ushering in the new Hollywood. I really can't think of anything negative to say about it. It's just such an easy watch but it's tense and builds to a great climax. 10/10

The US Shin Godzilla trailer released a couple of days ago. I've watched it a handful of times already and I'm getting pumped. I really love the old style music and camera work.

I enjoyed Nice Guys alright but it is very similar to Shane Black's other film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I actually prefer Kiss Kiss Bang Bang because of Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer versus Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. Their plots are very similar revolving around P.I.'s in L.A. looking for missing girls.

That's really become cliche now to use an old logo for a period movie. Superbad, Zodiac, Indiana Jones 4, Drag Me to Hell, Kill Bill are movies that come to mind.

I watched Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) starring Donald Sutherland with Jeff Goldblum. It was really great. A lot of nifty practical effects that reminded me of Alien but it came before Alien. I wonder if it had any influence. It's a slow burn movie that ramps up at the end but is tense throughout. I also loved seeing 70s San Francisco.

8/10

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I also watched Honeymoon on Tommy Skinner's recommendation. Man that was a great movie. Very creepy and slow build to a crescendo. It has an ambiguous ending though which may leave you disappointed with unanswered questions.

8/10

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I'm sure you already know he was an actor on the original Predator. His movies range from mediocre to great but none have been bad for me. He's really good writer of dialogue and structure.

I saw Sling Blade for the first time. I loved the setting and the soundtrack. I laughed many times and was almost to tears when Carl puts his arm around the boy towards the end. I really enjoyed it. 8/10

I was reading about Billy Bob's directing career and it seemed his second film, All The Pretty Horses, had a troubled production. He had a longer cut and wanted to use the same composer from the Sling Blade but the studio wanted a two hour epic with a string score. I'd be interested in seeing a director's cut of that.

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The long national crisis is over. A new Plinkett review has been released.

I'll give Criminal a 6/10. There were moments I really enjoyed. The opening shot with the thumping soundtrack had me excited. It ended up being mediocre with moments that were nifty.

I went to the theater and saw three movies today. I really only wanted to watch Hell or High Water but there was only one late showing so I saw two movies leading up to it.

First movie was Magnificent Seven.
Kind of a disappointment. It had a pretty good cast. The cinematography was gorgeous but the plot was weak. I love westerns so it would have been easy for me to like this one but I felt there were too many action set pieces and the action was shot the standard way of today. Quick cuts with slow motion. It just made it so blah. Soundtrack didn't do anything for me either. The standard mediocre background music. Again the cast was good. Pratt was his standard self, nothing extraordinary there but Denzel was solid. D'Onifrio was memorable. I liked the character moments in between the fights, when they were setting up the town for the fight. 5/10

Second movie was Sully
Wow. I'm so glad I went to see this. I had seen the trailer earlier in the summer and thought it looked good but kind of lost my urge. Eastwood directed it and he did a wonderful job. The numerous flashbacks can get confusing though with the cutting back and forth between reality. Some of the sequences aren't flashbacks but dreams or imaginings of what happened. That's the only negative I can think of though. The music was great, almost soft jazz-like. Actors were incredible with Hanks, Eckart, Linney and numerous character actors I remember from other places. This movie surprised me with the biggest crowd of the day. It was a small theater but over half full. Almost went 10/10 but for the flashback confusion I'll go with a 9/10.

Third movie was Hell or High Water
Fun movie set in Texas. I love movies that transport me to a place. That's why green screen movies don't have much of an effect on me. There has to sets or locations most of the time. Sully and Hell or High Water did that. They made me feel like I have seen that part of the country. Chris Pine and Ben Foster are very sympathetic characters making me root for them despite their robbing and killing. The Dude was The Dude. His interactions with his partner were humorous and fun. The soundtrack was also very good with an included Waylon song that's one of my favorites. 8/10

Oh good, you've made me remember the nun in the corner. More nightmares for tonight.

Don't post that picture! Man I'm trying to go to sleep over here.

I thought this was a pretty funny Cinema Sins on The Conjuring 2.

It's not meant to be negative. It's meant to be funny. I think they are fans of a lot of the movies they do but understand that little plot holes and lack of logic are funny. That said they can definitely have some valid criticisms and good opservations of what the movie industry is like today.

I liked The Conjuring 2 but being a horror movie sequel can lead into camp. Most horror series can't keep up the same quality or tone with a sequel. The scene where Patrick Wilson pulls that tangled little girl out of the utility closet was pretty humorous when I watched by myself. I was glad they pointed it out. There were other things I found hilarious after watching Cinema Sins. Their point of the demon being grossly overpowered was a good observation. The film going out of it's way to show us how British England is was funny.

I usually only watch the Cinema Sins if I'm a fan of the movie. I thought this one was one of the funniest ones recently. Stupid movie even managed to jump scare me a few times in the Cinema Sins video.

I actually watched that again recently. It's so fun. They've said they might make a sequel someday. I hope so. I like Tucker and Dale's dynamic.

Just watched Man vs. Snake The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler on Netflix. It's about the quest to break a billion points on Rockola's arcade game Nibbler. Very fun watch. Just as fun as The King of Kong. Pretty neat game as well. 7/10

I really love watching documentaries about old video games. Atari Game Over is another good one.

I really really wanted to watch it but the closest theater showing it was 2 hours away and they weren't showing it today. I'm going to have to wait till it comes out on disc but it looked really good.

Wrestling documentaries are some of the best because there is a lot of behind the scenes drama within wrestling. I know some people who aren't into wrestling but love the behind the scenes stuff. A lot of the WWE produced stuff is one sided though.

Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows is another really good one. It used to be on Netflix but not anymore.

I checked.

The local theater is showing Young Frankenstein on Tuesday. I may try to catch that.

Oh man, that Kurt Cobain doc was pretty good. I'm not sure any of it's true but it was a nice conspiracy theory.

I don't know if you guys are like this. After seeing a documentary like that and then talking about it with friends, I get a little paranoid and think maybe I shouldn't be talking about this out loud. Like someone's gonna hear and take me away.

Joust? I've never really thought of that as rare but I guess there aren't too many around.

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I always kind of dismissed it because it wasn't the other Joust. After looking up the playfield after your original question, the layout does look fun. I'll have to keep my eye out for that one. Thanks.

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It's a Coen brothers movie so be ready for weird characters. It's their fourth movie so still pretty loose in it's structure. Barton Fink (John Turturro) is an accomplished playwright from NY in the 30s. He goes to LA to write for the pictures but gets a bad case of writer's block. In LA he stays in a hotel and lives next to a jolly insurance salesman played by John Goodman.

It's very slow with a lot of literary references. If you are caught up on your Faulkner, Shakespeare, George Pappas, Marshall Swain, and John Keats you may catch them. I did not.

I did enjoy it though. It's very dream like and cerebral. Turturro and Goodman's performances are very good as are the supporting cast. It's not one of my favorite Coen brothers movies but may climb up there after repeated viewings. I love the poster.

7/10

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As a fan of the comic it was a little disappointing. V was more villainous and not as righteous as he was in the movie. I like characters that aren't black and white and the movie seems dumbed down for American audiences.

V for Vendetta was written by an English writer, Alan Moore, and set in England with criticisms towards their politics on both ends of the spectrum. The movie was still set in England but tried to critique American politics. It was very heavy handed and the author wasn't fond of the movie.

I loved Sin City when it came out. Watched in theaters, bought the big special edition DVD. Really enjoyed it. It's bolstered by the performances of Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Rosario Dawson, Powers Boothe, Benicio Del Toro, and Nick Stahl. The stories were the best of Sin City's comics (these were comics not graphic novels. "Graphic novel" is movie code for comics). The original theatrical cut also wove the stories in an interesting way where That Yellow Bastard and The Customer Is Always Right book-ended the movie. 8/10

I was really hyped for a sequel...10 years ago. By the time A Dame To Kill For came out, my excitement was severely dampened. I didn't even know this movie was being released till it was gone from theaters. A Dame To Kill For was one of the best stories though from the comics. Clive Owen as Dwight was one of my favorite characters from the first movie. I was a little disappointed with Josh Brolin as Dwight. He's missing the swagger and stylishness Clive Owen gave the character. He's more a brute force like Mickey Rourke's character, Marv. Eva Green is the highlight of the movie. She's deliciously evil. The other stories were forgettable. 4/10

I would agree with that. Neither are as good as the comic but both aren't bad. Watchmen is amazing visually but somehow I was bored throughout. I'm not sure how that was possible.

I asume you read the wikipedia article on Graphic Novel.

"It is distinguished from the term "comic book", which is used for comics periodicals."

Did you go further down?

Criticism of the term

Some in the comics community have objected to the term "graphic novel" on the grounds that it is unnecessary, or that its usage has been corrupted by commercial interests. Writer Alan Moore believes,
It's a marketing term... that I never had any sympathy with. The term 'comic' does just as well for me... The problem is that 'graphic novel' just came to mean 'expensive comic book' and so what you'd get is people like DC Comics or Marvel Comics—because 'graphic novels' were getting some attention, they'd stick six issues of whatever worthless piece of crap they happened to be publishing lately under a glossy cover and call it The She-Hulk Graphic Novel...."
Author Daniel Raeburn wrote,
I snicker at the neologism first for its insecure pretension—the literary equivalent of calling a garbage man a 'sanitation engineer'—and second because a 'graphic novel' is in fact the very thing it is ashamed to admit: a comic book, rather than a comic pamphlet or comic magazine.
Writer Neil Gaiman, responding to a claim that he does not write comic books but graphic novels, said the commenter
"meant it as a compliment, I suppose. But all of a sudden I felt like someone who'd been informed that she wasn't actually a hooker; that in fact she was a lady of the evening."
Responding to writer Douglas Wolk's quip that the difference between a graphic novel and a comic book is "the binding", Bone creator Jeff Smith said:
"I kind of like that answer. Because 'graphic novel'... I don't like that name. It's trying too hard. It is a comic book. But there is a difference. And the difference is, a graphic novel is a novel in the sense that there is a beginning, a middle and an end."

That is sad. He did some pretty good work with Garth Ennis. I also enjoyed his work on Wolverine: Origins.

We can talk about movies whenever. I hardly ever get to talk about comics.

You said you listen to comics podcasts. Do you have any suggestions for good ones? Maybe history of comics would be good since I don't read too many current comics. I used to listen to Cape Crisis but that was more for current comics.

I was introduced to Darick Robertson when I bought an issue of Wolverine #59 when I was in my early teens. It had such an awesome cover. He only did a two issue run on Wolverine right after much beloved Marc Silvestri left. I remembered his name though.

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I really liked his early stuff a lot. It was detailed and different from the rest at the time. He kind of got lost in the shuffle in the 00s when other detailed artists came along. He did another run with the start of Wolverine Vol. 3 and while his art was good (Marvel had some other guy do covers which was weird), the writing wasn't very good.

I never read Transmetropolitan but I've heard it's good. I've never understood the love for Warren Ellis but I think it's because I haven't read his most popular stuff.

It sounded to me like they were pretty happy with the way it turned out. $135 million worldwide on a $19 million budget. I don't think it could have been cleaned up because it was written by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg. These two are responsible for Pineapple Express, Superbad, and This Is The End. R-rated comedies with lots of language.

I went to see Hacksaw Ridge on Sunday. Pretty awesome movie. I'm not into war movies. (The last recent movie I saw was Fury and I wasn't impressed by it. I watched Apocalypse Now for the first time a couple of months ago and thought that was really good.)

Mel Gibson is a great visual director. The camera work and lighting was so good in this movie. The score seemed nonexistent and the dialogue seemed standard. The performances were really good though and the production design was impressive.

Some people are saying that it glorifies war and that it demeans and is racist toward Japanese because they are just faceless foes. I don't think every war movie has to give equal time to each side. There are movies that show what it was like for the Japanese like Letters for Iwo Jima. This movie is trying to tell the Desmond Doss story. Some of it feels cliched or outlandish but it was based on a true story. Mel Gibson in an interview said that he had to cut some true things out because he felt the audience wouldn't believe they happened.

9/10 and I will probably watch it again which is a true compliment.

Sorry just caught up a couple weeks worth of posts. It wasn't Mr. Pepper but Mr. Pibb, the Coca-Cola equivalent of Dr. Pepper. I laughed out loud at that too.

I went to see Fantastic Beasts last weekend. Very entertaining. I've never been impressed with the director, David Yates, though. He directed the last four Harry Potter films. He's competent but doesn't really influence a film like really good directors. Fantastic Beasts is probably his best Harry Potter movie if you want to lump it in with them. I wasn't expecting the surprise at the end. 7/10

I haven't heard of this film but anything Keaton interests me. I'll have to watch it.

I went to the theater and watched Arrival. Really good movie. It reminded me of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I was really impressed with the direction from Denis Villenueuve and the screenplay by Eric Heisserer. After looking up Villenueve's filmography, I'm going to have to check out some of his previous films. The music was also really good and odd at times (in a good way). It reminded me of a Kubrick film score in that sense. 9/10

I watched Tomorrowland by Brad Bird with George Clooney. Mixed feelings on this one. The story had potential, the effects were cool and the direction was solid. One of the problems were the performances. Child performances are tough to get right and I think all of the ones in this movie just weren't very good. Then there was Britt Robertson. A 25 year old woman masquerading as a teenager. I think she's going to play another teenager in the Mars movie, A Space Between Us, which I saw a trailer for. She just wasn't very believable as the character but part of that problem was the dialogue. It was so stilted and weird.
The ending was pretty bad as well. For a movie trying to push intelligent thought, the solution to the problem they had for 30 years was to blow it up. I'm giving it a middle of the road 5/10. They definitely should not have spent $190 million on it. Disney isn't very good with original movies' and their budgets.

I went to see Dr. Strange. Pretty good. It did a lot of things different from Marvel movies. The effects weren't just good but inventive as well. The ending was particularly good with the hero actually being smarter than the villain instead of having to blow something up. The catchy pop music was a little annoying and felt like they were trying to make it more like Guardians of the Galaxy. 7/10

I watched Driving Miss Daisy recently. The story was really good with some great performances. The production design was very good also to see Georgia through the years. The soundtrack was horrible. I've read that some people liked it because it didn't use a single live instrument. It just felt lifeless like every made for TV movie score I heard growing up. I wish it was better because it could have really elevated the film. 6/10

Did I miss something about Arrival? I mean I just took it as an alien story. Is there some missing subtext that I'm not seeing?

I understood all of that watching Arrival. RD must be a little slow

Maybe the specifics were different but I felt the movie was following the same template as many other alien landing/sci-fi movies/tv shows. Aliens are misunderstood and attacked by humans is an often used storyline. TZ was doing it for many years. The interesting twist on the formula was the time travel language and the nonlinear storytelling (though even that has become somewhat cliched.)

Geez when will they stop doing that? I've been over that since Tron Legacy and T4.

I watched Saving Private Ryan the other day and they made good use of another actor playing an older Matt Damon. Surrogates also did a good job making a young Bruce Willis but I think that was less cgi and just airbrushing away the wrinkles

I want to see it but I'm supposed to wait till Christmas weekend to see it with the family. Maybe I'll go secretly today.

I love the first Cap. I didn't believe they would have the cajones to set a modern superhero movie in WW2 but they did and it was awesome. I often forget how perfect Hugo Weaving was as Red Skull. It was a great Cap movie that ended perfectly with Cap in modern day talking to Nick Fury.

I think the Cap movies are my favorite Marvel series. Iron Man has the awesome RDJ but little else. Thor is enjoyable but forgettable. Cap's movies are treated more like ensembles and feel like comics come to life.

Well I guess differing opinions...

I think Unbreakable is his best movie partly because it doesn't have much of a twist which keeps it from being stupid on repeat viewings. I love the music. I love Willis' understated performance. It may be my favorite superhero movie.

The Sixth Sense doesn't hold up as well because of the twist. I watched it a couple of times and don't need to see it again.

Signs is about like Sixth Sense but brighter and dumber although I kind of prefer watching it.

Everything he made after Signs is pretty awful.

The Happening is terrible but in an awesome way. Wahlberg is at his worst here. His acting never changes much but he was at his most annoying. Watch the OSW Review of The Happening. It's hilarious.

Split was pretty great for me. MacAvoy's performance was so interesting and fun. It drove the movie. I didn't really notice the PG13 rating till afterwards when I was thinking about it. It didn't have a twist ending either but a build till we see the monster which I loved. The ending also made me think we may see a Shyamalan extended universe

I saw La La Land. I'm not sure what the hubbub's about. I liked it well enough but it's not Academy Award winning (but we'll get into that later). 6/10

Been watching a lot of older movies lately because I got a CED Videodisc player.

Used Cars 6/10
Six Pack 5/10
Neighbors (1983) 6/10
Longest Yard with Burt 7/10
Starting Over 5/10

Anybody want to give their opinion on who should win the Academy Awards this year from the available nominees?

Best Picture
My three faves of this category were Arrival, Hacksaw Ridge and Hell or High Water. The first two were spectacles worth seeing on the big screen. The last one reminded me of a 70s movie with it's low budget, location shooting. Music was great too.

When pressed I'd probably go with Arrival for best picture. It's close between it and Hacksaw Ridge for me.

Best Director
Easy pick for me. Mel Gibson. His direction of action, the look and lighting of the film, it was amazing. I went expecting another basic war movie but it was visually appealing as well as a interesting movie.

Best Actor
I can't pick this one. I didn't get to see three of the films and Denzel and Viggo are usually top notch. Andrew Garfield was great though.

Best Animated Feature
For me it was Kubo and the Two Strings. The animation was exciting. The music was great and the story was interesting. I loved it. It won't win because of Zootopia which I thought was formulaic but oh well.

Why did you pick those two to compare it to? I consider both of those lower tier animations anyways.

Lego Batman was pretty fun to me. I loved the many references to previous Batfilms. It surprised me with how heavy it pushed it's message but that was cool. The beginning was the best when it was just more of the Batman we saw from The Lego Movie. 7/10

I was talking about them as a whole as well. Despicable Me is decent but I was disappointed that they advertised him as a supervillain but he's not much of one. It was pretty standard overall. I actually prefered Megamind because his and Metro Man's story is pretty interesting.

Despicable Me 2 was garbage. It was shocking how bad it was. Like Cars 2 bad. Minions was OK. Probably about same good as the first one.

The Incredibles is great. One of the weaker Pixars still makes it better than most everything else.

I'm kind of an animation nut. But I prefer movies that don't talk down to kids. The Secret of Nimh was one of my faves when I was just starting grade school.

I'm going to have to check that one out.

I put The Incredibles with the other solid Pixar movies. For me Wall-E, Up, and Toy Story 3 are above everything else they've made. They were a perfect melding of a meaningful, moving and daring story with some comedy and wonderful animation.

I've yet to see Inside Out and Dory though.

I teared up watching 3 but I consistently forget how good 2 is. I'm pretty sure 3's the best but I should rewatch 2 to be sure. I love 1 but the animation doesn't hold up as well. It's still great though.

I love a kid's movie that pushes the boundaries of what kids can see. I just watched the Kenny Rogers vehicle Six Pack. It's not very good but it was admirable how one kid named Mouth would say bitch, shit and bastard. I like lessons to be taught but not at the expense of realism. By realism I'm talking about the way different people act everyday.

Did anybody notice Emma Stone's husband in La La Land was Tom Everett Scott who played a jazz drummer in That Thing You Do?

I thought that was pretty neat. It's a favorite of mine. It must have been known to the director who previously directed Whiplash.

It was a Fox movie. Don't know if that makes a difference.

I'm a lifelong Wolvie fan. My first comic I bought was a Wolverine #79 in '94 in the toy aisle of Wal-Mart. I was 10years old and that Adam Kubert cover was the greatest thing I ever saw. I collected comics from then till around '97. In that time frame Wolvie had bone claws and was very vulnerable. He also always seemed to be on the road because he quit the X-Men for a time.

This may be why I loved this movie so much.

The X-Men movies have always been a disappointment to me. I was happy to see them come to life but they were never that faithful or showed much love for the source. Singer always screwed them up though DOFP is fun. Vaughn really had something special going with First Class but didn't get a chance to build on it. Mangold's The Wolverine was really good until it veered into schlock with the mech wearing silver samurai. Deadpool is the only great movie to come from the franchise... until this one.

I was unsure if the R rating would work. I was unsure if X-23 would work. But it was amazing. The R rating is used to perfection. The very first line was Fuck and hearing that come from Xavier was jarring but acceptable from this world. The storyline is compelling with surprising twists and moving moments. There were many times my eyes misted up. This was the character I loved as a kid.

Jackman ,while the best thing about the X-movies, was never good enough for me. He was too big and had too many speeches for a character of few words. But as the years wore on he got better along with the scripts. He was perfect in this movie. Reluctant until the very end to help this girl he didn't know.

Patrick Stewart was also very good. He was finally given something meaningful to do. X-23 was great as well. Speaking no words at the beginning and then making her action brutal was the right way to win the audience. I also thought the actor who portrayed Donald Pierce was a standout. While a throwaway character in the comics, he was very cunning and charismatic.

I give it 11 out of ten popcorns. It may be the best comic book movie. It's up there with Dark Knight and Deadpool. It transcends the genre and hopefully more studios will give filmmakers a chance to do something different with their super hero movies.

I also thought Johnny Cash was very fitting at the end. My parents loved it. I may have to see it a third time.

I wouldn't be against it but I don't think that's what they have planned. There's a different New Mutants movie in development.

I think it would be neat if they called a movie involving these kids The Runaways but fans of that comic probably wouldn't like it.

Mangold has said he wants to do an X-23 movie so I'm thinking Fox doesn't have any plans for any of the cast of Logan right now.

You should grab the trade for Old Man Logan. It's pretty good and written by Mark Millar who did Kick Ass and Civil War.

If I remember correctly I don't think X-23 or the rest of the kids were in Old Man Logan. It also included more of the entire Marvel universe with Hulk, Daredevil, and Red Skull having major roles.

Part of me is glad they don't worry about getting in line with the other movies but that they only worry about telling a good movie. That said I don't think they were any inconsistencies with the other movies. DOFP reset the timeline so the fact Xavier was vaporized in Last Stand and Wolvie was without Adamantium after The Wolverine doesn't matter.

I thought John Wick 1 was slightly better than 2 maybe because it was new but I would give them the same rating of 8 out of 10.

It's been awhile since I saw one and I don't think it's necessary to see it before two but you will get more references if you do.

I thought it was kind of funny. About half the theater stayed looking for a stinger. I did a quick google search and then left.

I'm glad it didn't have one as it wouldn't have been right for the tone of the ending.

Anybody seen Kong yet? I'm thinking about going.

I saw Ghost in the Shell. Pretty good visually. It tries to be a whodunnit mystery but the plot is pretty basic. CG Scarlett was distracting. Put her in a nude suit and call it a day. I loved seeing Beat Takeshi. 7/10

I'd like to rewatch the anime to compare.

I've been watching a lot of 70s and 80s movies since getting into CEDs and VHSes. Enough to where when I watched Kong a few weeks back I told my brother Alison Brie's wardrobe wasn't period correct because she was wearing a bra.

The Anderson Tapes-6/10 Basic 70s heist movie with a subtext on police surveillance methods that were pretty new to the time. Quincy Jones electronic based soundtrack is the highlight.

Into The Night-5/10 The movie is stylish with 80s beauties Goldbloom and Pfeiffer but the plot is nothing and boring. B.B.King soundtrack is awesome.

Dr. Giggles-8/10 Really enjoyed the satirical humor in this one. Last of the slasher movies for awhile, the Doctor constantly spews medically related puns while killing people in different and unique ways.

Don't forget he can always return to making Riddick movies and stretching his acting chops in Guardians.

I watched A Stranger Is Watching with Kate Mulgrew before Star Trek and Rip Torn. It was directed by the director of the first Friday the 13th so I was hoping for something good but it was pretty bad. The stalker/killer guy was so bumbling and inept it was funny. The ending was also trash.

3/10

It's right on topic to me.

I've been reading about HDR and it sounds pretty cool. I've been a fan of OLED for awhile and I'm going to make that my next screen purchase. I'm not in a hurry though so hopefully the price continues to drop and I can get one for cheap.

I love watching old movies in HD. Black and white is even better.

Colossal

Anne Hathaway is this lady who likes to get drunk a lot. So much that her boyfriend throws her out. So she heads back to her home town to live in the abandoned family home. Here she meets her old schoolmate Jason Sudekis. Seemingly unrelated a giant Godzilla like monster starts appearing in South Korea.

I liked this movie. There are some weird things like how the monster is created but it's fun and unique. I didn't know much going in except the poster was cool and it got decent scores.

8/10

That's pretty high praise. Winter Soldier is still my favorite.

I just rewatched Iron Man 2 and 3 and thought they weren't as bad as people say. I actually like them better than the first one. The first drags in Afghanistan and Jeff Bridges villain is kind of unbelievable.

Unbreakable is still my favorite superhero movie.