Film Reviews - what have you seen lately, what did you think?

Swamp Donkey

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Please note I said “among the best”. By that, I mean the group of really good ones (for me, IV, V, Rogue One & Awakens) vs. those that aren’t.
Look, Rogue 1 was great. 6-7 sucked. EDIT: I meant 7-8. Rehash after rehash.

I really dont get anyone liking this at all. Even the main three characters are horribly underdeveloped even if you overlooked the fact that the whole series this far is one big cover song. Hell we were two movies in and there still isnt the first damn bit of development as to who Snoke is other than the dude sitting in the Emporers' chair.

The whole thing is sad. Expected a lot more from Disney. They even made the Pirates of tue Caribbean Ride into a good series.

Hell even 1-3 were better with the horrible Haden/Portman bs going on.
 
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Detroitgator

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Look, Rogue 1 was great. 6-7 sucked. Rehash after rehash.

I really dont get anyone liking this at all. Even the main three characters are horribly underdeveloped even if you overlooked the fact that the whole series this far is one big cover song. Hell we were tow movies in and there still isnt the first damn bit of development as to who Snoke is other than the dude sitting innthe Emporers chair.

The whole thing is sad. Expected a lot more from Disney. They even made the Pirates of tue Caribbean Ride into a good series.

Hell even 1-3 were better with the horrible Haden/Portman bs going on.
I’m with ya. 6 is my favorite because it’s the original and the special effects still hold up after 40 years. Then a tie at 6 and Rogue One. I treated this one like an episode of Mystery Science Theater and made joke the whole time and had a huge “WTF?!?!?” moment with Leia
 

Theologator

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Look, Rogue 1 was great. 6-7 sucked. Rehash after rehash.

I really dont get anyone liking this at all. Even the main three characters are horribly underdeveloped even if you overlooked the fact that the whole series this far is one big cover song. Hell we were tow movies in and there still isnt the first damn bit of development as to who Snoke is other than the dude sitting innthe Emporers chair.

The whole thing is sad. Expected a lot more from Disney. They even made the Pirates of tue Caribbean Ride into a good series.

Hell even 1-3 were better with the horrible Haden/Portman bs going on.

Top Ten Reasons You’re Wrong:

10. Hayden Christiansen - c’mon, man. Worst actor in the series except maybe the kid who played Little Orphan Ani. He even dragged Natalie Portman into his wooden acting. Awful.

9. Ewoks - aside from launching Warrick Davis’s career, zero redeeming value. No one even likes them as toys. Jar Jar x 1000.

8. Mark Hamill - learned to act slightly better over the last 35 years. There’s a reason he hasn’t ever done anything else significant besides cartoon voice acting.

7. Back Stories? Seriously? There were bare references to back stories in the original trilogy, which is why there was such demand for the prequels. They are reportedly going to do Han’s. Finally. 40+ years later.

6. Character development? Seriously? The whole point of Rey is that the Force doesn’t run on bloodlines. Her character has been revealed nicely over the two movies. People wanted Snoke to be a Palpatine redux but he’s not. The real issue is Kylo Ren, who people - and he - wanted to be a Vader redux, but he’s not. The pathos of the trilogy resides in the tension between him and Rey. She’s holding her end up beautifully. He isn’t. Which brings me to...

5. Adam Driver - crap, you got me here. He’s like a Great Value version of Keanu Reeves - who plays every role like he has a head injury. Nothing close to Vader. But who besides Hannibal Lecter, Voldemort and a 26-foot shark is? Still, he’s better Hayden. You’re better than Hayden.

4. Poe. Poe kicks galactic a$$.

3. BB8 - superb droid. Such innovative tech that Neil Degrasse Tyson said he was bad CG because a droid like that couldn’t roll across the sand. But he’s not CG. No character in the prequels approaches him in popularity. Who could have predicted ANY droid would approach R2?

2. These movies have done a nice job honoring the original trilogy and enfolding those main characters into the story - but it’s not their story. What you call a cover song is the story being faithful to its roots and the hero epic genre generally. Everyone was thrilled they brought the original characters back. Han’s death was shocking. Luke’s ascension to the Force worse for many. Leia somehow survives although Carrie Fisher didn’t. But now this small cadre is chased into hiding like Alfred the Great was by the Danes. Leia is the leader for now but Rey will lead them to the great struggle and victory.

1. Daisy Ridley - Incredible, captivating, believable. She is SO much better at acting than Mark Hamill ever was or will be.
 
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Theologator

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John Wick - I’ve watched both of them. I don’t get it. Why do people rave about these subpar movies? They are ok but just ok. Keanu Reeves is such a dork. This loner hero with impossible skills genre is carried off so much better by just about everyone else - Statham, Cruise, and on & on. Decent action but so cliche.
 

T REX

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One word - Porgs - those stupid birds screamed Disney. It gets worse and worse the more I process the garbage that they spoon fed us.
 

Detroitgator

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John Wick - I’ve watched both of them. I don’t get it. Why do people rave about these subpar movies? They are ok but just ok. Keanu Reeves is such a dork. This loner hero with impossible skills genre is carried off so much better by just about everyone else - Statham, Cruise, and on & on. Decent action but so cliche.
I enjoyed the first one for what it was... the second one was too over the top even for me.
 

-THE DUDE-

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One of my many issues with last Jedi is that the resistance is always on the run and never seem to make any headway... they just blew up the star killer base in 7 and seem worse off than they were before. I mean losing something like that you think might start to cripple the first order and yet nothing. Eventually the tide has to start turning the other way they can't keep heaving the small rebellion continue these major victories and then start the next movie like nothing happened
 

gingerlover

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One word - Porgs - those stupid birds screamed Disney. It gets worse and worse the more I process the garbage that they spoon fed us.

Kind of. The issue is the island they filmed on was infested with puffins. Rather than spending a billion digitally removing them they spent a million making the porgs. I’m sure the fact they could make up that cost in toys helped the decision though.

Let’s not forget that as the originally trilogy went on Lucas to cared about what he could make into toys as well since he had all the rights to them and would make a billion.
 

Detroitgator

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Pretty sure the rebels should be looking for the Empore’s “shipyards” and “TIE fighter mfg plants” and worry less about half finished Death Stars! ;)
 

TheDouglas78

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John Wick - I’ve watched both of them. I don’t get it. Why do people rave about these subpar movies? They are ok but just ok. Keanu Reeves is such a dork. This loner hero with impossible skills genre is carried off so much better by just about everyone else - Statham, Cruise, and on & on. Decent action but so cliche.

I've seen both, what I like about it is the world. The actual John Wick character not as much, I want a series just on the hotel and the world. Those are the most interesting parts of both movies.
 

ThreatMatrix

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The Last Jedi I may write a longer review later because I could do a thousand words on it but I'll stick to short and sweet for now. As a movie it was enjoyable. As the 8th movie in the Star Wars saga it was extremely disappointing. For the first time in 40 years I walked out of a Star Wars movie without any anticipation for seeing the next.
 

TLB

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For the first time in 40 years I walked out of a Star Wars movie without any anticipation for seeing the next.

Actually, I walked out actually looking forward to the next one for a change. Last few have left me 'meh, whatever comes next is disconnected and stand alone' whereas this one felt like it was actually building to something and wasn't a repeat of past storylines under new character names.
 

TLB

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Date night, since family is in town for the holidays and can watch the kids.

Pro Tip - day after xmas is perfect for going out to dinner. We had the restaurant to ourselves while everyone else was home eating left overs.



Lady Bird (2017)

We had a date night package from last xmas that was set to expire 12/31/17 so we were running out of days to go. It was to an 'art house' theater, meaning they had 3 rooms and none of them sat more than 40 people, and the screen was about a third the size of normal megaplex screens but still bigger than a wall of your living room. Movie started with about 5 seats still available.

Plot is about a young girl coming of age in 2002-2003, a time well after I was 'coming of age' but the emotions and awkwardness of situations is universally felt. I'll say the cast felt widely unknown to me at the beginning other than the mother (Roseann's sister from the sitcom) and the priest who runs the school play (don't know where he was from, just a familiar supporting actor). By the 60 min mark of the 93 min film, the best friend, the confused boyfriend, and a few others felt like I'd seen them before but wasn't sure - point is, other than Roseanne's sister you don't come in with expectations on the characters, and she did well to move herself from the old sitcom to this motherly role. Our lead is someone I don't know at all, but she carried us through the range of first love, losing virginity, screwing your real friends to be cool and realizing that's not who you really want to be. There was enough awkward and humorous moments to have you laugh throughout most of the film, but it's not a comedy and this was to keep it from falling too deep into depression (she is from a poor family, struggling to make it, and it comes across in a lot of ways - especially the mother who can't appreciate what is, but is berating the daughter to appreciate what they can do for her while at the same time never accepting her daughter as she is). It's a fun, really good date night movie - certainly not one I'd have watched on my own but it was enjoyable as a date night flick. No boobs, but a lot of teenage bra shots during the virginity scene (which, she really portrayed quite well). 6.5/10, bring a date.
 

Captain Sasquatch

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Last Jedi is smack dab in the middle of the pack of Star Wars films. Prequels are and always will be the bottom three. Last Jedi’s biggest problem to me is it seems like the writers had half a dozen ideas for the film, and instead of cutting a few, they crammed all of them into one bloated film.
 

Theologator

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ThreatMatrix

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Actually, I walked out actually looking forward to the next one for a change. Last few have left me 'meh, whatever comes next is disconnected and stand alone' whereas this one felt like it was actually building to something and wasn't a repeat of past storylines under new character names.

Couldn't disagree more. The original trilogy needs no defense, The Prequels, at least, had at their core the story of how Anakin becomes Darth Vader as well as Luke/Leia's/et al's origin. The Force Awakens continues the Saga, introduces some promising characters and leaves us with some interesting cliff hangers. Who are Rey's parents? What is the origin of the mysterious Snoke? How will Luke bridge the past to the present? And just what the hell does "The Last Jedi" imply? Questions that were horribly and very disappointingly answered in The Last Jedi. The only thing I'm wondering at this point is how, if it's even possible, can Ep IX fittingly end the story. Because I seriously doubt they will.
 

ThreatMatrix

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The hollywood intelligenci are giving it good ratings. Huge disparity between critics and the public. Can only guess why.
The Last Jedi did $370M in first 10 days. Force Awaken did $540M. Willing to bet that difference is going to get worse.

Wow. Went over to IMDB to read some reviews
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2527336/reviews?ref_=tt_urv
This is in order of most popular. I didn't pull out just the bad ones.
"Likely the last time I pay to see a Star Wars Movie"
"I remember when critics used to give bad reviews for mediocre scripts"
"I fundamentally ALSO disagree with every choice for Luke, just like Mark Hamill."
"Total Disaster: Not worth the paper the ticket was printed on"
"Dumbest plot in a long, long time"
"What the hell was this?"
"A Complete Disgrace"
"NEVER, in ALL MY LIFE, have I been more GENUINELY ANGRY at a movie."
'A thoroughly mediocre movie"
"The Death of Star Wars"
"Worst Star Wars movie?"
""It's time for the Jedi, and for Star Wars... to end."
"The Single worse Star Wars film ever made"
"Rian Johnson should feel ashamed"
"Why THE LAST JEDI is being rejected by fans"
"Went to the movies happy, came out partially sad and confused."
"Why would I watch the third one? There is nothing left I want to know..." (my favorite)
"A travesty for the Star Wars saga ....."
"I'm glad to have discovered it wasnt just me ..."
"As a die hard Star Wars fan it pains me to write this review...."
"Worse than I thought it would be, horrible script. That fantastic trailer tricked me!"
"They brought Star Wars back. Only to spit on its name."
"What? That was a dream right? Or a joke?"
"I CAN'T believe it"
"A Betrayal to the Legacy"
"The Last Jedi is so bad on so many levels."
etc. etc. etc.

I saw the movie on Christmas day and I have to say I've never seen so many phones out. A kid a couple of rows ahead of me was playing a game on his phone. I think my sister was playing Candy Crush.
 

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