[ComicGuy89]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matrixbeast

I remember in the dub he was a whiny bitch. I hope that's not the case for the subbed version

Ah you're watching the subbed version. That might be better, I've only watched the English one.

And dear me, how Arceus has fallen. I like it though, so people can slow down with the god-Arceus memes.

[Paladin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ComicGuy89

I don't remember the cameo, what was it about?

the Savior of the Universe.

[Matrixbeast]

Watched "The Shining" tonight.
T'was nice. I enjoyed it.

[Locke]

So I watched Ender's Game. Ender's Game could have been a good movie but thanks to the pacing, it ends up being a lot of pretty visuals wrapped in a muddled bunch of plot twists. And sadly since a lot of point of Ender's Game is to be a subversion of the genre, and be built more on the tactics and reasoning behind the violence more than the violence itself, the visuals are usually pretty for pretties sake, rather than truly providing purpose.

The focus of the movie is in all the wrong places and some of the most crucial moments are brushed over or forgotten about leaving you momentarily dazed and unsure of what is happening. That wouldv'e been great if intentional, but the film isn't that smart. I guess you can't criticise the film for being 'unoriginal' given how old the book this is based on is, but doesn't make the more stupid sci-fi trappings feel any less well...stupid. Which is lucky for us I suppose, as it's impossible to be confused for long.

[Locke]

So I've been trying to get back into movies again, so I decided to check out the Man of Tai Chi. I'll be honest, I've...never heard this, and as a lover of martial arts movies and this being Reeves (an actor I greatly admire) directorial debut, I'm surprised it was able to sneak up on me in the way it has.

Just because a film is deliberately slow, doesn't somehow make it any more interesting because of it. When The Man of Tai Chi comes together, when the camera zooms out and we see the big picture, it's an impressively jaw dropping moment. But my God is it a slog to get there.

Tiger's opponents are near consistently entertaining, bringing a wide range of styles into the fights, all of which are very entertaining to watch. Tiger himself sadly, isn't nearly as interesting. The whole point is Tiger fights with a style built on control, not intended for offence, and as the film progresses he loses the control his style is built on and descends into greater and greater brutality. This is fine from a storytelling point of view, but visually, you have to wait until nearly the hour mark hits before Tiger gives us a truly impressive fight.

Probably the biggest problem with the action though is a lack of consistency, the film bobs and weaves with no sense of reason or purpose between the fantastical and the real, as characters defy physics and use superpowers before switching back to statically, slowly fighting like we're watching a live martial arts match before going back into crazy wirefu. This blend just doesn't work, it makes the fantastical elements feel more ridiculous while the more realistic elements more boring.

However, the greatest problem with this film is its lack of originality. The core, bigger picture story, of the loss of innocence is solid and beautifully crafted flipping some of the most tired aspects of the genre on its head. But it seems unnecessary to bog down the film with so many clichés. These were obvious, intentional red herrings, but much like with the pacing, just because it's intentional doesn't make it any more interesting for it.

Even Reeves plays it safe with himself, giving his character zero emotions to try and act around. Hell at some points he even wears an extra, expressionless mask, that I can't work out if it is meant to be tongue in cheek humour or not.

[Locke]

James Wan is a great director. His work on the Saw Franchise, Dead Silence, Death Sentence, Insidious, all great movies, so when the Conjuring was released, I was hella excited to go see it. Sadly, as often with these things, life gets in the way...until now.

What makes The Conjuring so enjoyable is its approach to the material. Firstly, it's the time period, its the 70s so our ghost hunters are limited to the tech and the resources of the time, this is basically window dressing but it helps the ghost hunting feel fresh even though it isn't doing anything new.

Although most importantly is its approach to the supernatural. Many similar films will waste a long chunk of their movie being sceptical of their own story, questioning the reality of the world in which their film inhabits. The Conjuring does no such thing, within the opening moments of the movie it's established that ghosts, demons and the whole shebang are the real thing with no hint of irony and then moves on. The film never questions itself, and never gives the audience enough time to question it either.

It actually has a lot of fun with this approach as well, like when Ed claims he 'doesn't believe in vampires' while trying to piss demons off with religious paraphernalia. or the way Lorraine jokes about the sceptics before the Warren's go to a house to prove it isn't haunted at all, it's just the wind and floorboards.

The strong writing also continues into the continuity, the filmmakers have a firm grasp on their internal logic and cause and effect, meaning no matter how small, if something feels out of place, it's only a matter of time before the purpose is explained. It's strange for a film like this to feel thought out.

Sadly though, that still doesn't excuse just how unoriginal this films plot is. When it's not enjoying itself talking about exorcisms in the same way someone would tell you to use febreeze to get the smells out of your fabrics, it just sort of feels like it's going through the motions.

This feels especially true of the scares which are cheap and tired, featuring lots of 'oh it's gone silent all of a sudden, better take my headphones off before the noise starts blaring' moments that made films like Sinister such a chore to watch.

So even with the fun approach to the cliché, I still don't see why you'd watch this instead of something like Poltergeist or The Shining if you've somehow not seen them already.

[Locke]

No movie year is complete without checking out at least one Asylum film, so what better than Battledogs? A film that takes your typical zombie movie and replaces the word 'zombie' with 'werewolf'.

It's a rocking premise, but with none of the Asylum's usual self aware humour, and their much more typical measly budgets, they shot way past their reach and didn't do such an awesome premise any justice. I mean seriously, these werewolves can be defeated by single gunshots and kindness. I think the bigger problem is this, the story is crap. It moves through such an utterly clichéd trajectory, with every storybeat a by the numbers affair for this kind of film.

About the only thing that sets it apart is the whole film is so rushed, it feels like whole chunks of the movie are missing as it leaps from one plot point to another, barely giving a moments context to what is transpiring. Which is a problem when your main villain is devoid of any sense of logic and reasoning, and yet still has a cult of devoted followers willing to die for him. Or that our central 'heroes' have a romance, despite it never being established at all, but the film wants us to care anyway.

And before someone says 'what do you expect', I think the Asylum have made some genuinely great movies, if you don't believe me check out flicks like Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies or their take on Sherlock Holmes. This just wasn't one of those great ones, not by a long shot.

[Paladin]

watched the Watchmen movie uncut.

I don't like Zach Snyder all that much, "Man of Steel" was pretty weak overall and "Sucker Punch" was really kinda terrible but this is easily his best work. I think its the best adaptation that could possibly be made from the iconic graphic novel.

Great effects and mostly good cast with a very faithful screenplay.

[Locke]

So since Asylum failed to satisfy my Z Grade cinema itch, I decided to take a look at what SyFy had to offer this year, and then I found it...GHOST SHARK.

The movie takes place in the fictitious Smallport, your typical small town with big secrets with a less typical history of ghosts and magic. How does our shark fit into all this? Well first we have to answer the mystery of the cave - and the possible murder of a woman within it. A cave which connects to the mysterious disappearance of the entire population of Smallport just a few hundred years ago, a cave which can give back life to those who have had theirs taken....

The plot of the movie is actually surprisingly a lot better than the title perhaps deserves, coming across as refreshingly original and very engaging. Sadly, the mystery doesn't really yield any answers...like at all and in the end almost feels unnecessarily convoluted. I guess it's nice that they allowed the Ghost Shark to exist beyond the reasons of 'because it's cool', but if you're expecting everything to fit together, or to learn what truly happened in the past to the town or why the cave has the powers it does...yeah, you're not going to get those answers.

When the shark is resurrected after being murdered by a couple of rednecks, it gains the power to no longer be bound by the oceans, and is instead able to freely move around any body of water. I know that doesn't sound that impressive on paper, but the writers have a lot of fun with a simple premise, creating natural reasons for our characters to always be near water, so we're constantly uneasy, and no one ever seems to be safe. A world where every rain drop, every toilet, every bucket, every bath, every sprinkler system, every burst pipe and all the rest is a window for you to be eaten by a killer shark. And thanks to some surprisingly decent special effects the deaths scenes really are very awesome.

What this does mean though, is in many ways the film actually becomes more generic. I mean there is nothing really generic about the death sequences, they are very imaginative indeed, but it's much less of a creature feature and more a series of gory death sequences, where the killer could be around any corner. So in many senses it plays out more like a slasher, than say...Jaws. I love sharks and slashers, so I honestly don't mind, but I could also appreciate if you perhaps wanted more from a movie with a title such as this.

Probably the only problem with this premise is of course is the human body is 50 - 60% water, so how 'staying dry' is an active way to stop the Ghost Shark is anyone's guess. But then logic really has no place in a film called Ghost Shark, does it?

It's just a shame Furst doesn't direct his action as well as his murders. Minus Lucky Johnson who is an atrocious actor, the acting here is a cut above the usual fair here, this is especially true of Richard Moll (famous for voice Two-Face in Batman The Animated Series) who puts in a fantastic performance as Finch.

Sadly here, as said, the problem is more down to Furst, as weaker members of the cast who need a director to support their performances, clearly lack that support from Furst, coming across as emotionless at points where they need the most emotion of all.

Obviously there is no uniformed reaction to death but people literally stare blankly, almost bored looking, as their loved ones/friends are torn apart by a ghost shark, and their lack of reactions take some of the punch out of the scenes. Plus, the fact that there are moments where people react naturally to what is happening, only make the lack of reactions in other moments that much more apparent.

[Thessair]

I saw Thor: The Dark World last night. I won't go into a lengthy dialogue about it but it was sufficed to say it was thoroughly enjoyable, especially when they just let Hiddleston ham up the humor for a bit.

A few small spoilery bits. Don't read if you haven't seen it, I don't want to get blamed for ruining your fun.

Sadly, Jane Foster does not die, as I had hoped.

The Guardians of the Galaxy scene in the credits is awful. Benicio Del Toro chews the scenery something awful and reminds me a bit of Will Ferrell as Mugato in Zoolander. Granted it was a small scene, but if the rest of the movie is as bad, Guardians could blunt the MCU momentum.

Not really spoilers, but some people like to remain totally unsullied: A little more of both Sif and Darcy than the first one, though never enough for me.