Wish I had goon to see this today instead of seeing Suicide Squad. What a snorefest.

 

Oh man oh man, Kubo was a beautiful movie in every way.

What a pleasant surprise. Didn't know anything about it a few weeks ago.

 

Saw Suicide Squad and while there was a lot of stupid in it and didn't make a whole lot of sense in terms of plot, decisions, team composition, character interaction and development, character motivation and the conclusion, that it wasted a lot of potential and that it was beyond obvious that a lot of stuff was cut, I was never bored, I laughed a lot, had fun all the way through and thoroughly enjoyed the Deadshot and Harley Quinn Dynamic.

I can understand why people might not like it, it did have tons of problems but really, it was an enjoyable ride and it does seem the criticism is a bit too harsh.

Hoping for a sequel where a lot of stuff makes more sense and they pick and use their characters better.

 

I wonder what DC is truly doing? It seemed like they were going for the gritty realism theme with Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman and now they made this jokesque type of movie. I feel like the company as a whole lacks direction for their movies. It has been years since I felt a good DC movie has been released (Christian Bale's Batman) and it does not look like they will be able to compete with Marvel. Marvel has been so successful they have shot their character popularity up to absurd bounds. Ten years ago Iron Man was basically an unknown superhero and now he is up their in popularity with Superman, Spiderman, and Batman.

 

They're literally just trying to copy Marvel as that franchise chugs on without trying to do their own thing half the time.

 

At this point, it feels like DC is just half adding their attempt at creating a universe for their characters to be in. Their films all feel like solo films with "Guest Star A" coming in. Batman v Superman, their supposed universe building film, shows that DC lacks the ability to differentiate between foreshadowing everything in a rushed manner (which they did) and a true creation of something that will link their universe as one cohesive entity. It's almost as if somebody in DC watched Age of Ultron, then used that as their basis for how to set up later movies within the same universe, while ignoring the fact that Age of Ultron was overburdened and only worked because Marvel created other exemplary films previously to define their universe. It's a pity, since I've always been more attached to the DC universe than Marvel but they simply can't pull it off as well as their competitor.

 

They tried to follow Nolan's thematic of gritty realism. It tanked, badly. People are also tired of that kind of thing, see how they treated the latest X-Men movie.

They actually tried the same thing with Suicide Squad, but the reception was really weak, and when they saw how much people liked the more jokesque teaser, they went and reshot a lot of scenes.

Marvel's movies is successful because they are more comic bookesque thant any comic book since the 80s and the beginning of the Dark Age, same thing that made the DCAU so beloved. It's about fun, its about super people in tights, you can't take yourself too seriously, really.

In related movie news, in my town Suicide Squad is only available in 3D, I refuse to pay this huge extra and wear glasses that make the whole experience very uncomfortable just for what is almost surely a very sloppy and all around shitty 3D.

 

I'm not sure it's the DC movies' thematic angle that's the cause for their reception.

I feel like it has more to do with how everything is handled. I'm not sure on the specifics, but there was, what, four years between Iron Man and the first Avengers movie? Over half a dozen movies leading up to it?

I'm not saying the Marvel movies are the example of how things must be done. They did a good job building their heroes and a pretty poor one building their villains - all that over time.

It just feels like WB wanted to shortcut their way to where Marvel is now, and it's not like Marvel did an amazing job in the first place (though they look brilliant by comparison...).

Imagine how cool Suicide Squad would have been if it starred the villains of six previous DC movies, rather than ones they pulled out of their ass?

 

I also don't think it has anything to do with gritty vs. humor.

DC has a major character issue. Outside of Batman's local universe I can't see assets with real depth and a gimmick which doesn't require some Deus Ex Machina effect to neutralize.
Superman itself is just dull because he's so overpowered, Lex Luthor(as an antagonist is an auto fail for me) and Green Lantern's gimmick is literally wish full filling.

That works for a quick comic fix.

The whole idea of Batman vs. Superman was stupid from the get go. But the idea to do an OOC reboot just a few years after Nolan made the defining trilogy for this generation was even worse. Sony/Marvel's Spiderman reboot didn't fail that badly though but still quite forgettable for maybe the same reason.

The X-Men "reboots" are far smoother as the feeling of the movies are the same and the personal isn't completely replaced. Furthermore Marvel's characters have more depth and fit better into a movie dramaturgy.

DC looks like a business which has all these comic assets and is pressured to use them without any kind of long term strategy nor any story vision how to do it. I consider Nolan's Batman trilogy was solely Nolan's vision.

If you look at Suicide Squad it looks like they try to introduce characters in a quite stylish way which worked for me. But then it just breaks together as there's no real plot or content. They just walk through the area and the few star actors throw some gimmick lines while the rest just grunts or stumbles along the way.

 

I'm very late to the party, but a week ago I was able to see The Neon Demon in a cinema in a different town.

I can see why the reviews for this movie were so polarizing, but I loved every minute of it.

The soundtrack was incredible, especially during the "show" at the club. The cinematography was outstanding, every frame was like a painting.

Elle Fanning was very good and made me believe that she is this beauty that everyone sees in her in the movie.

All in all, 5/5 I recommend it.

Trailer.

 

I once had a chance to meet the director - he was one of the weirdest brilliant guys I've ever met. Nobody makes movies like Refn.

 

That's pretty cool!

I heard good things about Drive, so that's the movie I'm gonna watch next.

 

I figured I'd offer my own two cents on the movies of this year.

Suicide Squad​

I acctually work at a Cinema but only got a chance to see Suicide Squad yesterday despite the staff having an advanced screening a few days before the movie released.

My branch is also the only one that has 4DX so I got to use that for free. The 4DX was also 3D so there was that as well.

The movie was pretty good in comparison to Batman V Superman. Before the movie released, I didn't even know it was set int he same universe. The only reason I knew was because our plot summary for the movie was something along the lines of "After the death of Superman the world is in..."

I'm gonna have to agreee in that I think that most of the scenes were reshot from a gritty style to a more comedic style.

In comparison to the Marvel movies however, I say that it would be at the lower end of the spectrum. Sure, Guardians of the Galaxy managed to pull off something similar but they were more...organsied (?). Not quire sure what the correct word is.

I think the sets/scenes were pretty bad in that the majority of the movie was just them in a ruined city. If they had spent a little more time in the prison, I think we could have experienced their characters a bit more.

Also, I'm pretty sure the only reason Captain Boormerang was in the movie was for the Flash cameo. He adds nothing to the movie and should have been killed in the manner that the climbing dude (No idea what his name is) was killed in. Climbing Dude should have also been cut completely from the movie as his sole purpose was to demonstrate that the threat was real.

There is a mid credits scene but no end credit scene for this.

Finding Dory​

Easily funnier than the original. Some jokes were meant for the parents in the audience while others for the kids which I quite like. The actual plot wasn't as good as the original but it was still pretty good. I'm not a big fan of Dory herself so I was more focused on the supporting characters who all had distinct personalities and interesting in their own way.

By the way, there is an End Credits Scene.

The Neon Demon​

This tanked so bad when it was first released. I remember in the branch that I worked at the time, we only sold 10 seats for the first showing. We quickly dropped it halfway through the second week.

According to some of my coworkers though, it seems to be making some sort of comeback and some cinemas have started showing it again.

The Secret Life of Pets​

A pretty average Kids movie. Not as good as Zootopia but still something worth taking your kids to if you have nothing else for them to do. If it's a kids movie you're after though, you're probably better off going to see Finding Dory, or better yet, Zootopia.

There's no end credits scene per se, but there is asome audio of a dog saying "Alright, Party's over."

Central Intelligence​

Pretty funny. Maybe not laugh out loud, but still quite enjoyable if not memorable. Kevin Hart pretty much carries the movie and Dwayne Johnson's character is likely to give you whiplash with the way his mood changes in this movie.

Trolls​

This looks like it's going to be a pretty good kids movie, one that parents can enjoy as well. I suspect it's also going to do quite well with teenagers and other young adults. If you haven't watched it, I encourage you to watch the trailer as it's quite good. Even if I didn't have four younger sisters to watch the movie with, I would still go to it by myself jsut to watch it.

Dloctor Strange​

We're actually gonna have an advanced Staff Screening for this one which I'm pretty pumped for. This will actually be the first Marvel Movie to have actual magic in it and not just Mutant powers or Asgard Science. The posters for it also look pretty sweet and a few of us have already called dibs on them once their no longer needed.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them​

For some odd reason, we don't seeem to have any posters for this one despite being the Flagship branch of our Cinema Chain. Anyway, the movie looks pretty good and it does seem to depart from the tone that the Harry Potter series set. I'm also quite curious to see if Dumbledore (Or even Hogwarts) make a small cameo.

Assassin's Creed​

I don't really have that many positive thoughts on this one. I just wanted to share the poster. I was walking past and noticed it. At first, I thought it was upside down and nearly changed it but I realsied just in time it was supposed to be like that.

 

It seems pretty strange to me that no-one here has mentioned Don't Breathe yet. It's pretty good for a horror film, especially in light of the recent spate of terrible ones that have been released. The premise is pretty simplistic, but the stellar acting, excellent dialogue and all-around brilliant movie making just make it one outstanding film.

The trailer can be found here, and if you enjoyed movies like Lights Out then you're definitely gonna enjoy this one.

 

My bro has been bugging me the last couple weeks to go and see Jason Bourne and I finally took him.

I was satisfied.

I would of been happy to wait for it to come out on a stream or such to watch it, I rarely wait for movies I actually want to see that fit the 'must see' list but Jason Bourne didn't take quite tick that box.

I was content to wait for Bourne. However, because my bro was annoying the shit out of me I took him and I wasn't disappointed I spent the couple extra bucks to see it at the movies.

It was all I expected it to be for a Jason Bourne movie. Nothing special, just mindless action that is expected of the franchise.

If you've seen the previous installments for the Jason Bourne series you will be satifsified with the latest one. If you haven't and you are expecting some mind blowing plot you will be disappointed.

Want some mindless good action? Watch Jason Bourne. Want some riveting plot? Don't watch it.

You get what you pay for.

 

Went to see Suicide Squad. After all the reviews, I was expecting a turkey. I got something that wasn't good enough to actually be enjoyable, but wasn't bad enough to be interesting. Just bland and dull. Oh well.

 

Is anyone here going to see "Snowden"when it come to theaters? I think I'm probably going to wait until it comes to DVD myself.

 

Is this the same biographical film about Edward Snowden? If it is (which it most likely is) I'm planning on watching it soon myself. There are so many intriguing ways that they can spin this movie and I do hope that they do it well. If they fail at that, then it'd just go to show how much movie-making capacity has deteriorated over the years.

On another note, I've seen a pretty interesting looking film recently. Deepwater Horizon is the name, and by all accounts it should be pretty enjoyable when it hits theaters. A teaser trailer was released back in March, and it's only gotten me even more hyped. Biographical disaster films may not be DLP's cup of tea but I'd recommend it.

 

It is indeed about Edward Snowden.

 

Saw Suicide Squad today. It was kind of incredible. It's the the first movie I've ever seriously entertained the idea of walking out of the theater because I wasn't sure if I wanted to waste 30 more minutes watching it.

Spoiler

I'll start with what I liked, because that's gonna be quick. I think the cast did a good job with the material they were given. Batfleck was awesome. I liked the look of the squad, the prosthetics on Killer Croc were next level stuff.

The bad: of course the finale had to be in darkness and pouring rain because that's never been done before. Once they go into the city, I could barely make out what was happening. It was mostly dark-dark-dark and muzzle flares from 12 million guns.

I simply didn't like the gangsta bling Joker. Jared Leto went so tryhard I actually facepalmed.

The movie happens because of the Enchantress. She's the villain, the reason the squad is assembled and sent out. She was the one element that needed to work and she's just stupid. Bear with me. Amanda does the Admiral Beckett thing with controlling the witch with the heart and as a demonstration she has the witch grab some super secret documents from Tehran. So, let me get this straight. You have an uber powerful witch at your beck and call, you're morally corrupt and you're NOT using the witch to, I dunno, steal nukes from North Korea, kill terrorists or any number of things? Wat.

We're shown that the witch can show up without being summoned, she teleports into Mandy's apartment and steals an idol in which her brother is imprisoned (very smart, by the way, keeping it on a shelf). The witch frees her brother, Amanda stabs the heart, Incubus zaps Enchantress with power and the heart stabbing doesn't seem to hurt her anymore. And why not just steal your heart back when Amanda's sleeping? Or teleport it out of the suitcase or whatever it's being kept in? Seems like a stupidly arbitrary limit on the witch's powers given what abilities she demonstrates.

Why did the villain have to be a supernatural threat? I thought the point of the squad was deniability. Send them into a war zone where the US shouldn't be, they succeed, great, they don't, deny deny deny. But if you go supernatural, what's the point of Harley being on the squad? Or Boomerang? Deadshot is shown to be kind of impossibly good with guns, but then you have a chick with a soul-stealing sword, a guy who does fire and a super strong reptile man. The others aren't metahumans. Harley hits things with a baseball bat, but she's not super or anything. Boomerang is a bum who throws sharp things very well. And how did Slipknot ever manage to become a specialized assassin if he falls for Boomerang's painfully obvious attempt at finding out if the bombs are real. Boomerang is like "hey, mate, the bombs are fake, let's bolt." Slipknot is like, "Okay." Head assplode.

And people cried that BvS was style over substance. What a joke. Compared to Suicide Squad, BvS is a 10/10 film. SS is a horrible, disjointed mess. The first half-hour is flashbacks, exposition and backstories delivered in one giant infodump, just sloppy.

3/10