LTT Movie Club!

[Radium_Angel]

4 minutes ago, fpo said:

Didn't stop Trey Parker & Matt Stone.

Touche!

Though you bring up an interesting point, what if we, the fine folks in the LTT movie thread, were to band together and collaborate on a short film of some sort? 

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Touche!

Though you bring up an interesting point, what if we, the fine folks in the LTT movie thread, were to band together and collaborate on a short film of some sort? 

Spoiler

fan fiction? =D

 

 

I took a class on storyboarding.
Basically you write a script first.

Then as you move on from that script,

you draw little panels showing your scenes you want to make/shoot and write what actions will be.

 

There's a few story arcs one can follow.
in that class, the first task was to re-write the 3 little pigs using those characters, but you need a different plot.

Only 4 panels (images) were allowed.

[Guest]

Chinese comedies are fantastic. 

 

I previously saw kung Fu hustle. Pretty good. 

Now I heard about this movie called from Beijing with love and it looks great. 

[Spotty]

The Outfit was good. Would recommend.

 

Also watched Bullet Train. Was a fun movie. Reminded me a little of smoking aces where a group of assassins are all trying to kill the same target. 

[Spotty]

On 2/21/2023 at 10:31 AM, Radium_Angel said:

So, I need a movie suggestion. I'd like to watch something science fictionish.

Difficulty: Would like it to be set on a ship, or an alien planet

Bonus difficulty: Alien monsters should be involved

 

Double bonus difficulty: I've seen most alien monster films put out since the year 2000, both Hollywood and B-tier, so things like Alien, Predator, etc I've seen multiple times.

Have you seen Life? Set on a space ship with an alien monster.

Pitch Black has alien monsters in it I guess.

The Thing?

 

Not really monster movies but for set on a ship/space I would recommend

Sunshine

Event Horizon

Moon

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, Spotty said:

Have you seen Life? Set on a space ship with an alien monster.

Pitch Black has alien monsters in it I guess.

The Thing?

 

Not really monster movies but for set on a ship/space I would recommend

Sunshine

Event Horizon

Moon

Seen them all...

 

Like I said, this one is a challenge

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Spotty said:

The Outfit was good. Would recommend.

Ahh, finally, universe expanding to the people that make the suites in John Wick!! (Gunna check this out)

<edit>
Looks like there's a 1973 outfit too.
</edit>

1 hour ago, Spotty said:

Also watched Bullet Train. Was a fun movie. Reminded me a little of smoking aces where a group of assassins are all trying to kill the same target. 

Really?
I turned that movie off.

Felt a bit... "Seth Rogan-ey" so to speak if that makes sense.

44 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Seen them all...

 

Like I said, this one is a challenge

Last tries...
Paul
ET
Buzz Lightyear... The cartoon from like the 90s/early 2000s.
Lightyear, the new one... pretty good. Has Aliens.

[Radium_Angel]

Just now, fpo said:

Last tries...
Paul
ET
Buzz Lightyear... The cartoon from like the 90s/early 2000s.
Lightyear, the new one... pretty good. Has Aliens.

Buzz and Paul are more of comedy than serious, but I have not seen Paul, I'll add it to my list.

Cheers! 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Radium_Angel said:

Buzz and Paul are more of comedy than serious, but I have not seen Paul, I'll add it to my list.

Cheers! 

The early 2000s/90s buzz cartoon was fairly action packed iirc. ... targets kids lol.

Paul is, ... it's a movie haha. Probably watch it intoxicated for the best experience.

[Radium_Angel]

Just now, fpo said:

Probably watch it intoxicated for the best experience.

That'll be a trick as I do not drink, but I'll lower my expectations accordingly.

 

[Crunchy Dragon]

2 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

That'll be a trick as I do not drink

Drugs are also a possibility.

[Radium_Angel]

Just now, Crunchy Dragon said:

Drugs are also a possibility.

Ha, also true, but I don't do them either (nor caffeine)

Health reasons for all of the above, but feel free to do my share! I do not mind

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Drugs are also a possibility.

You heard it here first, @Radium_Angel. The LTT Moderators suggest snorting a fat line of blow and shooting up a sick dose of heroine for the optimal movie watching experience.
xD

I don't like to watch movies intoxicated cuz I don't like to watch bad movies haha.

[Radium_Angel]

40 minutes ago, WildDagwood said:

@Spotty threw out a bunch I would have, but seems like you're seen them already.

 

I'm assuming you've probably seen some of these as well, but here we go anyway.

 

Pandorum

The Last Days on Mars

Solaris

Pitch Black

Starship Troopers

Apollo 18

The Dark Side of the Moon

Cube (never really confirmed where it takes place, though)

 

Haven't seen a lot of them in ages, so I don't recall how good they were, to be honest, and some, like Starship Troopers, aren't to be taken too serious.

Yup, seen them all. The Cube series is pretty good. Pitch Black and the sequels are good as well, though the last one is kind of a rehash of the first, it's grown on me.

ST 1, 2, 3 and the animated flicks are all, if nothing else, an amusing watch.

[Radium_Angel]

15 minutes ago, WildDagwood said:

High Life

I hadn't heard of that flick, the IMDB page lists one of the keywords as "horror"...can you elaborate?

The others I have seen.

Sphere was a neat read, and fairly faithful to the book when they made it to a film.

What I am primarily looking for is horror set in space. Pandorum was brilliant until the end, though the film has grown on me with repeated watchings. Ditto films like Sunshine.

 

I do appreciate your suggestions however, but yes, I've seen virtually everything (it seems) that's science-fiction (that's my drug of choice)

[Spotty]

16 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

 

I do appreciate your suggestions however, but yes, I've seen virtually everything (it seems) that's science-fiction (that's my drug of choice)

Yeah, but I bet you haven't seen Spaceballs. Checkmate. /s 

 

What is it about sci fi/space films you like? Maybe we can recommend something outside the genre that you might also like.

 

2 hours ago, fpo said:

Really?
I turned that movie off.

Felt a bit... "Seth Rogan-ey" so to speak if that makes sense.

Stupid. The term for Seth Rogan-ey is stupid.

It has that Netflix formulaic put big stars in a movie add some CGI and keep everything safe and simple for mass consumption. It's like eating a Big Mac. Was still a bit of fun though. The scenes with the girl were pretty cringey and annoying though, and I think Michael Shannon sucked trying to play a Russian villain. The banter between the two brothers and their dynamic with Brad Pitt was entertaining. 

[Radium_Angel]

3 minutes ago, WildDagwood said:

Dark City

Fantastic film! 

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Spotty said:

Stupid. The term for Seth Rogan-ey is stupid.

It has that Netflix formulaic put big stars in a movie add some CGI and keep everything safe and simple for mass consumption. It's like eating a Big Mac. Was still a bit of fun though. The scenes with the girl were pretty cringey and annoying though, and I think Michael Shannon sucked trying to play a Russian villain. The banter between the two brothers and their dynamic with Brad Pitt was entertaining. 

I think I only got to the part where

Spoiler

A guy or girl kidnapped the other gender and called someone on the phone to threaten something and said like "if I don't call back in X time, kill person"

And idk... I can kinda see that but I don't like mediocrity. Almost prefer nothing haha. 

 

But yeah Seth Rogan movies usually make half the jokes "let's smoke weed and get high" like we're 12 haha. So it's not quite a good word for that movie. 

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, Spotty said:

What is it about sci fi/space films you like?

The isolated nature (sort of like one-room horror films, like the Cube trilogy, or Fermat's Theorem) 

 

As to suggestions, Here are the themes I like in movies:

 

Realistic endings (I hate tacked on stupid hollywood happy endings, especially to films that built up to be dark and hopeless. Pandorum comes to mind as a prime example. Brilliant film until the end of sunshine and rainbows.)

 

Character growth/changes/arcs. Like Edge of Tomorrow, main character was a self-centered jerk that in the end became better for the trials he had to go through.

 

Monsters/Aliens: Tremors, Aliens, Predators. Putting a simple human up against an advanced being, and seeing how it plays out.

 

Using your wits: Like good heist films where the hero is perhaps reluctant, or in over his head and has to think his way out. Heist, Inside Man (2006), Ronin, the Italian Job, stuff like that

 

Action-oriented Post Apocalypses:  Max Mad (natch), Wyrmwood, Dawn of the Dead series

 

Really unsettling (but non-jump scare stuff, because that's a cheap cop-out) horror films, like Grave Encounters.

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

The isolated nature (sort of like one-room horror films, like the Cube trilogy, or Fermat's Theorem) 

Phone booth? 

9 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

As to suggestions, Here are the themes I like in movies:

 

Realistic endings (I hate tacked on stupid hollywood happy endings, especially to films that built up to be dark and hopeless. Pandorum comes to mind as a prime example. Brilliant film until the end of sunshine and rainbows.)

 

Character growth/changes/arcs. Like Edge of Tomorrow, main character was a self-centered jerk that in the end became better for the trials he had to go through.

 

Monsters/Aliens: Tremors, Aliens, Predators. Putting a simple human up against an advanced being, and seeing how it plays out.

 

Using your wits: Like good heist films where the hero is perhaps reluctant, or in over his head and has to think his way out. Heist, Inside Man (2006), Ronin, the Italian Job, stuff like that

 

Action-oriented Post Apocalypses:  Max Mad (natch), Wyrmwood, Dawn of the Dead series

 

9 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Really unsettling (but non-jump scare stuff, because that's a cheap cop-out) horror films, like Grave Encounters.

The conjuring series? Except nun, that was retarded. "Let's throw a whole baseball sized vial of Jesus Christ's blood" like wtf...

Don't care about spoilers for people it's a crappy movie you shouldn't see. 

 

Sinister is another good series that's tense but not jump scarey

[Radium_Angel]

4 minutes ago, fpo said:

Phone booth? 

Brilliant film, I love how all the main character's sins are basically forced out. 

 

5 minutes ago, fpo said:

conjuring

I had dismissed them based on the trailers making them seem like unending jump scares, but perhaps I have have to revisit this 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, WildDagwood said:

One of my favourite horrors, from recent history. Spent more time on building the creepy atmosphere/background, and it paid off.

 

Can't remember if I saw the sequel though.

Sequel is good imo. 

[Monsterkater]

43 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

I had dismissed them based on the trailers

The first one is well worth a watch IMO, the rest of the series falls into category "meh" for me. Watchable with a group of friends where it's more about being together than about enjoying a movie.

[Spotty]

Finally watched the latest James Bond film No Time To Die. I have some pretty mixed opinions about it.

 

! Spoilers !

Spoiler

The villain's motive wasn't established well. It's established that Safin's family was killed by Spectre and he's out for revenge, and half way through the movie he completes that goal. Then for the rest of the movie his motive isn't really clear. He kidnaps Madeleine and her daughter, but why? What does he achieve by doing that? The whole interaction he has with the little girl is just weird and then he just doesn't care and cast her away at the end anyway. He's selling the poison, but why? It wasn't really established why he would be mass producing the poison and trying to sell it. His motives were personal and driven by revenge at the start at the movie, he wasn't motivated by money. Then his motives just flip and it's not personal and he's detached from it and he's just doing it for profit. It betrays the character's motives. I think the only reason they added the final act where he's trying to sell the poison or kidnap the woman is because the screenwriters needed to give Bond a reason to go after him and ultimately sacrifice himself to destroy the lab. It just seemed sloppy. It could have been solved by having Safin explain that the reason he killed Spectre was not because of personal revenge but because their organisation was standing in the way of him selling the weapon, making it a business decision to cut out the competition or those standing in his way.

The whole idea behind the nanobot virus seemed silly to me. It's shown that with just skin on skin contact nanobots can be transferred from one person to another and within seconds they are dead. The nanobots work by attacking cells, but a small amount of nanobots isn't going to be able to destroy cells fast enough to kill somebody so quickly. With skin to skin contact the nanobots wouldn't be able to enter the blood stream as skin provides a natural barrier to pathogens and would similarly stop the viral nanobots.
It's explained in the movie that once you get the bots they will be in your body for ever. It's also discussed how they can be programmed to attack entire races of people. It's never established that the nanobots can self-replicate so if one person is infected with a small amount of bots then each time they transfer to a new person only a fraction of the nanobots will be transferred, until they are no longer effective. Also from a viral standpoint because they act so quickly upon meeting their target it's unlikely they would spread throughout an entire population as once the first target person is infected they would be dead which would reduce the ability for it to spread further.
If it was just a "normal" virus (not a nanobot) virus then it would at least allow the host bodies to produce more of the virus and explain how it can be spread on to other people.
Also if it is nanobots then shouldn't there be a way to deactivate them? Like remotely reprogramming them to make them benign, or just disabling them through something like an EMP pulse, like the EMP bond was given to use as a gadget.

Just seemed there were too many conveniences and holes in the way the weapon worked, and coupled with the muddied motivations of the villain it made for an overall underwhelming threat. The threat might have been there but I just didn't really care.

Something that annoyed me was near the end of the film Q in the C130 plane was 'buzzed' by a couple of Russian MIG fighter jets and the jets are contacting them over the radio demanding to know why they're in the disputed air space. Q asks M what to do and M's response is to just ignore them... And... Then nothing more comes of it. It's like the screenwriters forgot about the jets. It's failing the Chekov's gun principal. If you put fighter jets in the air and make a point of establishing that they're going to intercept you then something needs to come of it.

If you're going to have the jets intercept the plane then they should have at least turned the plane around and told Bond that they having to leave the airspace and that they'll be out of radio range and he's on his own and they won't be able to assist him further. Then you could have had female 007 (who had already left the area by boat) be the one to make the tough decision to call in the missile strike on the island. Then the death of her predecessor on her conscience maybe would have at least added some depth to her character and given her something that she would have to come to terms with in any subsequent films she appears in. (Like how Daniel Craig's version of Bond was dealing with Vesper Lynd's death and how that gave more depth to his character).

 

I didn't really like the female 007 agent in the movie. I don't think she really added a lot and most of the movie that she was in she was just used as almost like a sidekick character to Bond. At least they avoided the modern trope of making her better than the man at everything like most female characters these days, and in some scenes Bond even shows her up thanks to having more experience and a less by the book approach.

And that brings us to the death of Bond. Pretty disappointing that they decided to end Craig's run like this. I guess they had already established that Craig's Bond was *the real* James Bond and that James Bond wasn't just an alias that MI6 used for their 007 agent, so they couldn't just replace the actor and carry on like they had in the previous films. I preferred the ambiguity and letting the audience decide if it was supposed to be the same character portrayed by different people or if it was a different character adopting a codename.
With James Bond dead I'm not really sure what the future Bond films would look like. As somebody who has been a Bond fan since I saw my first Bond film as a kid it's kinda disappointing that I'm not really looking forward to what comes next.

I think it took too long for Bond to be shown at the start of the movie. It was about 15-20 minutes before Bond was shown and the opening title scene wasn't shown until almost 30 minutes in to the movie. I paused the movie 5 minutes in just to double check that I had clicked on the right movie to watch and that I wasn't watching something else.

I had completely forgot that Madeleine's character was in Spectre and only realised when I looked it up on IMDB and saw her credited in Spectre while writing this. 

Ana De Amas was absolutely stunning.

 

The action scenes were fairly decent but nothing really stood out as a big memorable or impactful action scene that some of the other Bond films have.

 

Despite those mixed feelings it was still a Bond film and it's not a terrible one at that. There's definitely some things that I didn't like about it but the movie is still enjoyable.

 

With Craig not reprising his role for any more Bond films it makes it difficult to see where James Bond will go from here. I really hope that it won't just be Lashana Lynch taking the role and being the new 007. I wouldn't mind if she appears in smaller roles in films as another 00 agent with little cameos here and there to mix up the dynamic a bit with other 00 agents but I don't think she could carry an entire movie as the lead. My pick would be for Henry Cavill as 007. He's British, he's definitely got the action star background, and he's proved himself in other spy films like Mission Impossible and Man from UNCLE. I think he could pull of the suave gentlemen spy of 007. He's only in his late 30s so they could easily get a few films out of him over a decade or more to keep the franchise going.

[Radium_Angel]

There hasn't been a good Bond film since Goldeneye.