The trailer is fine, but any excitement is based on nostalgia instead of giving something that would amaze on it own. The film probably will be the same, but as long as it's not something worse than 2 and 3, the fans will probably like it.

 

This movie needs to hit that Inception energy. When credits roll, viewers must not be sure what in the movie was simulation and what was the physical world. I want to walk out of the theater questioning which of these motherfuckers leaving the viewing with me is about to zerg out into Hugo Weaving and call me Mr Anderson.

But I'll settle for a solid action thriller that's more Christopher Nolan than Fast and Furious.

 

Really enjoyed the Matrix 4 trailer. Seems a good balance beteeen the philosophical and thrilling, and the setting and the cinematography seem gorgeous and top-notch respectively.

A lot of it is nostalgia, definitely, but I'm looking forward to be impressed all the same.

 

Just got back from Dune. Some stuff is cut, and I have a handful of gripes here and there. but otherwise there's a bevvy of otherwordly stuff awaiting you. I, for one, felt it was a perfectly fine use of my time and money. It might not be for everyone though - it's an ambitious attempt.

Spoiler

Very much a part 1 film, with the film ending semi-abruptly. I don't even think this counts as a full denouement, to be honest.

Villeneuve puts a good bit of effort into worldbuilding and if this film is not for you, it's not going to be for lack of trying on his end. Zimmer's found either the sub-Saharan or the tribal chants in his sampler and likes them a bit much, but otherwise is in fine form for music. Visuals are good, bordering on the occasionally mystical and semi-frequently half-confusing, but that's what you're signing up for when you try and tackle Dune and its plot. Chamalet fits the role just fine - if a part 2 is made I'm definitely interested in seeing how he deals with the character's changes.

I do think that you're probably best off not ingesting psychedelics ahead of this film, though.

 

Netflix has really upped it's game. Trailer for their new Western looks amazing

 

It's been a while since I've gone to the theaters, the last thing I saw was an awful Jarred Letto movie. This time we played it safe and saw the new marvel movie, Shang-chi blah blah.


A month or two ago I got a month free of Disney+ (they’ve hooked me, I haven’t cancelled) and rewatched all the marvel movies plus watched their new shows. The only stuff I have seen post Endgame are the three tv shows, which I found enjoyable but underwhelming. I didn’t watch the trailers for Shang-chi or Enternals, which I thought were the same movie.


So we saw the trailer for Dune, then 15mins of commercials, the trailer for Enternals which gave me Power Ranger vibes. And a trailer/ad? for the marvel franchise, that was super weird.


Finally the movie started and I would say I enjoyed most of it.


But it felt like two movies; A chinese fantasy epic and then a marvel movie. It was incredibly jarring. This is most felt in the titular character, Shang-chi, who in the marvel part of the movie is a witty everyman. But in the Chinese epic he's playing the assassin who's going through some heavy stuff. Now this would be fine if they weren't constantly cutting between the marvel movie and the chinese epic. There is also that classic marvel witt/comedic scenes that sometimes drag on and feel out of place. There were comedic scenes that did work, some funny editing, the character Kate was about 50/50, and all of Ben Kinsley scenes were great.


This movie would have been great if it wasn't a marvel movie. And if the main character had been the Father, his story was far more interesting and emotionally complex than his son's story. It also helped that the actor stole every scene he was in.


Another thing that stuck out to me was some but not all of the cgi looked really cartoony.


Overall I’d place in the mid tier of marvel movies, as it really does felt like two different movies mashed into one.

 

This.

I finally went to a theater after 2 effing years. And honestly, I think I would have enjoyed the Cats movie if that was the one I went to.
Having said that, I did enjoy Shang-Chi; Honestly more than I expected to.
The movie sort of attempts to run a tightrope between a Marvel/MCU movie and a WuXia/XanXia movie. And it slips up a lot of the time.
It has the Marvel lightheartedness in the camaraderie between Shaun and Katy, but it also has the 1000 year warlord who gave up power for love WuXia.
So while the backstory for the protagonist/Shang-Chi is decently fleshed out like in most Marvel movies. The antagonist/Dweller-in-the-deep/Soul-Eater is just a big-bad from WuXia.

And what English WuXia movie would be complete without Michelle Yeoh as her usual wise aunt. XD

Personally, I enjoyed the interaction between the characters a lot more than the action. Shaun/Katy was pretty spot on. The semi-villainous dad was absolutely brilliant acting. The little sister was kinda meh for me but I think some people might like that.

My biggest fear going in was that it was going to be a generic Kung Fu movie with a marvel title. Which is why the "heart of the Dragon" stuff was pretty damn cringe for me. So was the interaction between Shang-Chi and his aunt. The fight scene was especially so. The little smirks, the shrugs, the tai-chi lite stuff? Yeah I've seen better. Done by better people in better settings.

6/10 mebbe 7 from me.

 

Bond: as with so many examples of blockbuster media, neither the triumph nor the disaster different quarters have labelled it (media for the former, friends for the latter). I don't think it justifies its nearly 3 hour run time, the emotional arc didn't really work for me, and the plot was...well, it would probably have fitted in quite well with some of the other Bonds, but by the standards of the Craig era it's nonsense.

All that said, on the whole I quite enjoyed it. The setpieces were thrilling, most of the humour got a chuckle, decent performances all round, and while the plot was daft, it didn't strain logic the way others have, to my mind. Also, definitely the most surprising Bond film I've seen in - well, probably ever.

Spoiler

I did not see them killing Bond coming at all. Not sure whether it's effective or not at the moment, going to need to think about that.

 

Not exactly upcoming in 2021, but they just put out a trailer for the Black Adam movie coming out next year:

 

Why does this make me think of X-men: Apocalypse? Other than the woman who stumbles on an ancient ruin and the sudden appearance of an indestructible bad guy. Oh wait! Hopefully there will be a different plot other than killing a bunch of people and wanting to be the ruler of whats left.

 

Is Black Adam just evil Shazam? He seems to have the same lightning symbol on his chest.

In any case, I am surprised that the Rock is playing a villain. Gotta be the first time since his face was on that awful CGI in the Mummy, right?

 

Basically just evil Shazam yeah. But since the mid 2000s, he's been more a morally bankrupt antihero than outright villain, and it's been confirmed they're going with that take.

 

I know nothing about Dune, and i feel kinda great that my first experience of the universe will be through Villeneuve's lens...

 

I’ve got tickets for Saturday

 

The digital HD copy of Dune is already out and about on the interwebz for the erm... endeavoring viewer.

It was, in a word, excellent.

The visuals are just constantly jaw dropping, and the acting is top notch. Chalamet and Ferguson acted the shit out of their roles, and even the notoriously weaker actors (i.e. Momoa and Zendaya) still gave very good performances.

As for actual story content, I think if you don't know the source material, it'll still be enjoyable, but you may find the pace dragging severely. There is just a lot of seemingly superfluous lucid dreaming and exposition going on. You'll recognize it as being a big setup for the next movie if you're familiar with the story, but without context you'll largely be left either scratching your head or going on a Dune wiki binge. Definitely a movie made for book fans.

I'll definitely be watching it again on my big ass TV once it's out on HBO max. Really hoping it does well enough in the box office to warrant a sequel, despite the near simultaneous home release.

Also, more Harkonnens please.

Any of the Skarsgård sons for Feyd would be fun. They've all got that creepy edge and they all look sorta like their dad.

 

No judgment from me considering my own history but now that I can afford to do so, I would rather support the artists (and I'm a big fan of the director) so I shall be waiting with annoyance instead.

 

Am I having a stroke? I could swear I have had conversations with people that watched Dune in theatres weeks ago.

 

It's only coming out in the USA tomorrow.

 

Huh.

Handing over the largest market to the pirates seems like a strange decision.

 

It is the same situation as HBO being unconcerned that millions of people were pirating every season of Game of Thrones. Getting your brand/content into the headspace of the consumer has real monetary value. Pirates increase revenue by increasing word of mouth. If all anyone in the US can talk about for the next month is Dune, they've recouped a portion of their production budget.

I mean, I pay for HBO, so I have literally no qualms about viewing it online a few days earlier than the official HBO release.