Author Topic: Movies (Read 291355 times)

NotMiki · « **Reply #2975 on:** February 21, 2018, 11:46:45 PM »

I think that's all correct, yeah.

The whole thing feels like a celebration of the normalness of black people, while also being a celebration of the black experience as distinct from the white majority. That's a hell of a balance, and a testament to the ability of a director and cast to create characters who feel real enough that you can step into their shoes. When Killmonger is in Wakanda, he, the guy with that familiar American accent, feels every bit a foreigner. Pretty damn impressive. Also: he was a really compelling villain and I'm honestly not sure if he would be more compelling if his plan, which as SF points out does not make a lot of sense, made more sense. He feels like a force of nature, propelled by a violent maelstrom of emotion, and if his methods are all over the map, well, so is he.

SnowFire · « **Reply #2976 on:** February 22, 2018, 01:10:33 AM »

Well. His plan elsewhere was pretty darn competent! (If anything, too competent... similar to how the Joker pulls off multiple complicated terrorist attacks within a week in The Dark Knight, for someone who has very little warning that his time to strike is now, he manages to pull off a major robbery, a jailbreak, and find his way into Wakanda in like no time at all). I especially liked him burning the magic herbs. He still ends up looking okay, it's more everyone else who looks odd for shrugging at that stunt.

Hunter Sopko · « **Reply #2977 on:** February 23, 2018, 06:14:20 PM »

Quote from: SnowFire on February 22, 2018, 01:10:33 AM

Well. His plan elsewhere was pretty darn competent! (If anything, too competent... similar to how the Joker pulls off multiple complicated terrorist attacks within a week in The Dark Knight, for someone who has very little warning that his time to strike is now, he manages to pull off a major robbery, a jailbreak, and find his way into Wakanda in like no time at all). I especially liked him burning the magic herbs. He still ends up looking okay, it's more everyone else who looks odd for shrugging at that stunt.

Per Snowfire's nitpicks...

In terms of his plan vis a vis Klaue, it works more or less because they can't really prove it was him. Yes, if they could prove that Killmonger broke Klaue out of prison just to deliver him to Wakanda himself for the cred, sure it falls apart. But they couldn't, and T'Challa knows this. His people are already mad at him for failing, so he couldn't just go "you're the guy who broke him out" without some kind of definitive proof. So he stakes his chances on combat.

The breakdown at the airport seemed pretty much like you said. This was Killmonger's plan all along. Ross said it himself that he was trained to overthrow regimes at times of instability and changes in power. He probably had plans the whole time and bided his time, and seeing T'Chaka's death announcement at the UN put it into action. He had to have planned on the Black Panther attempting to move on Klaue during this, and it was part and parcel in his plan to discredit T'Challa and seize the throne. At the airport, as soon as Killmonger mentioned Klaue taking him to Wakanda and then not taking No for an answer, Klaue knew he was a dead man either way, because he's certainly not handing over a live Klaue to Wakanda to tell them of Killmonger's role in everything.

Parts of it are totally a Xanatos Gambit on Killmonger's part, but they're way more calculated than those normally are. Even if BP doesn't attempt to grab Klaue, KM can still just shoot him later and arrive on Wakanda's doorstep. He might be more trusted in general since there isn't the looming cloud of the breakout, but T'Challa also wouldn't be in temporary disgrace, letting him win over more people so easily. But again, I really think the Vibranium heist was all about luring out BP (and Klaue really) in the first place.

I think it's okay that his plan post-takeover doesn't make a lot of sense. Like Jim said, it's about him being a torrent of emotions than anything. But in political science it's been shown that most revolutionaries don't make good rulers. I do wonder how he viewed his father giving Klaue the ability to go in and attack his people though.

Putting Killmonger aside for a moment, one of the other things that struck me about the movie was the invocation of tradition and it's selective application. Both T'Challa's side and the people who go over to KM's side (Like General Okoye's husband, whose name escapes me) are guilty of it. Especially in the latter's case, where in the beginning he's your standard traditionalist, but when it suits his goals (Klaue's death) he totally is fine with going along with both T'Challa going out and grabbing Klaue, and then later KM's agenda. This one issue actually really works on fleshing out all the characters in general, seeing where they break on it and for what reasons.

But yeah. Solid movie is solid. Most solid Marvel movie in a long time, with one of the best villains. It didn't completely revive my MCU Love, but I'd totally go see another Black Panther movie.

Captain K · « **Reply #2978 on:** February 24, 2018, 11:35:27 PM »

Black Panther: was good. Not sure what they're going to do for a sequel, since Klaw and Killmonger are dead, and M'baku the Man-Ape is a good guy. They're going to have to scrape the bottom of the barrel for villains.

Hunter Sopko · « **Reply #2979 on:** February 25, 2018, 02:06:06 AM »

I saw a really good idea floating around to, if the Fox merger comes about, use Dr. Doom. The plot would be an international conflict between two formerly reclusive nations and their leaders as a theme. That would be tits.

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #2980 on:** February 25, 2018, 02:13:54 AM »

I've seen it suggested to poach (pun intended) Kraven from Spidey's stable. I'm not sure he makes an entire movie, but he's something to work with and fits in Panther's overall vibe pretty well.

SnowFire · « **Reply #2981 on:** February 25, 2018, 03:00:13 AM »

Yeah, I agree a sequel seems tough. I think they could make a spin-off just fine, but a straight-up sequel... don't do it in Wakanda, and you miss out on a lot of what people liked about this movie. Do it there again too much, and the isolationists start to look right for all these new crises popping up.

Allegedly (well, according to Wikipedia) the director of Black Panther originally wanted Kraven in the movie in some early drafts, but it never panned out. Anyway... I dunno. The "problem" is that if you want to write a story about some sort of unauthorized shoot-to-kill safari on vibranium-empowered rhinos, that sounds... awesome. Heck the rhinos are already used as soft antagonists in Black Panther 1! Totally seems like more some kind of RPG boss monster than rare animal being killed for quack Chinese medicine. Plus, isn't Kraven already portrayed kinda sympathetically by Marvel? Maybe Squirrel Girl is skewing my perception here, of course.

NotMiki · « **Reply #2982 on:** February 25, 2018, 04:09:51 AM »

I'd wager a sequel could build on Wakanda's extraterritorial actions. They've been entering other countries with impunity, have spies embedded in major cities, and now they're on a charm offensive that other nations would be foolish not to look for ulterior motives in. And if they knew about it, other nations would be unnerved to say the least that Wakanda's...unique...method of succession nearly created global chaos. A trust deficit is justified and then some. There's plenty of room for conflict between them and other countries' state-appointed superheroes and the like. Basically the South Korea stuff from the movie if after our hero tore up the streets of Seoul, South Korea had the ability and inclination to start a diplomatic incident.

dunie · « **Reply #2983 on:** February 26, 2018, 07:37:48 PM »

Saw Black Panther in LA. It was cool. I have my Black Studies version and my casual moviegoer version. I prefer the first, since the movie's definitely meant to use fantasy as a way to catalyze conversations between AFAMS/Black Africans about the slave trade, cultural embrace/rejection, how black folk can reproduce white supremacy, ignorance etc (IE, Killmonger used scarification to memorialize death when that is, in fact, a type of body modification about beauty).... etc. I'd honestly say more, but, I've learned since my time here...

But anyway, I've crushed so hard on MBJ for years it was great that his big reveal carried that kind of excitement that used to follow "evildoers." So well done. But Killmonger definitely should have read some Audre Lorde, smh... Shoutout (in a vacuum) to folk I've seen around Atlanta running the gamut for this film and shoutout to the High Museum in a very important scene about racist cultural imperialism and shoutout to that white curator who probably capped as an art historian whose whiteness is parodied and just did.not.get.it. Shoutout to art interpretation needing more relevance.

DjinnAndTonic · « **Reply #2984 on:** February 27, 2018, 05:46:36 AM »

Quote from: dunie on February 26, 2018, 07:37:48 PM

Saw Black Panther in LA. It was cool.
.... etc. I'd honestly say more, but, I've learned since my time here...

Haven't seen the movie, but I was genuinely curious about your thoughts on it. You're one of the only people I know who extensively analyzes black representation in pop culture beyond a general surface level and I'm curious why you'd cut yourself off here?

dunie · « **Reply #2985 on:** March 01, 2018, 11:12:35 AM »

It just has everything to do with me. My approach to "nerd" culture's always come from a position of sociocultural and racial interests and I've pressed this in all-white gaming communities whose interests aren't that. Then I realize how often I am the only black female who speaks on certain things. It's a type of exhaustion I brought on myself by still staying. But I have talked about it in chat. So what I mean is I'd rather not poster child anything in a thoughtful response in a vacuum that only sucks up tidbits of dust.

Sierra · « **Reply #2986 on:** March 04, 2018, 02:39:10 AM »

The Shape of Water: Was surprised to see this was still running at my local theater, figured I'd take advantage of the opportunity while it lasted. It's Guillermo Del Toro in darkly whimsical Pan's Labyrinth mode, so it's worth watching. Sally Hawkins is unbearably cute.

The movie is also powerfully unsubtle in utilizing the social ugliness of the early sixties, but the past couple years have convinced me that there are some things it's sometimes better to be unsubtle about. There may be some small award warranted for prompting an expression of complete vomitous disgust from me via dialogue alone*. That said, I have trouble imagining an epilogue that doesn't involve Zelda and Giles going to the slammer; when the MPs find you standing over the cooling corpse of a murdered fed, I dunno how you spin that to Uncle Sam, even if you didn't personally kill him.

(*For reference, it's when Strickland says he thinks he'd prefer a woman that couldn't talk, which is even worse in context than it sounds out of it.)

Sierra · « **Reply #2987 on:** April 01, 2018, 07:57:43 PM »

Isle of Dogs: Oh my god this movie.

I could ramble a lot about the obsessive attention to detail applied to the scenery in this movie but it's really shorter just to say "It's a Wes Anderson movie," so fucking see it.

superaielman · « **Reply #2988 on:** April 19, 2018, 11:31:49 PM »

Ready Player One- It turned down the dystopian elements (And some of the social criticisms attached to that) in favor of a really pretty adventure. I dug the movie, visuals were great. Was worth the headache to see it in IMAX.

Sierra · « **Reply #2989 on:** April 22, 2018, 11:35:29 PM »

Get Out: I just lost it when the car door opened and it said AIRPORT SECURITY. Great stuff all around.

Captain K · « **Reply #2990 on:** April 29, 2018, 09:46:46 PM »

Infinity War - I predicted exactly 0% of this movie. It is wonderful. Please go see it in the theater before it gets spoiled for you. You need to experience this firsthand.

Captain K · « **Reply #2991 on:** May 29, 2018, 05:22:27 AM »

Deadpool 2: Not as good as the first one. Victim of all-the-good-jokes-are-in-the-trailer syndrome. Nice to see Juggernaut outside of X3.

Hunter Sopko · « **Reply #2992 on:** May 29, 2018, 06:32:23 AM »

I had the exact opposite experiences honestly. Infinity War felt mostly predictable but still better than most Marvel, and Deadpool was just as good as the original and the best jokes/easter eggs weren't in the commercials.

I got the dirtiest looks when I started laughing like a loon during the whole Take On Me bit

Captain K · « **Reply #2993 on:** May 30, 2018, 02:23:08 PM »

Yeah I was probably a bit harsh, there is some really funny stuff like the retcon at the end. But I still think it's a big step down from the original.

Captain K · « **Reply #2994 on:** June 22, 2018, 11:22:10 PM »

Incredibles 2: I think overall I didn't like it? I mean the production value is good, and the same elements are there from the first film. But the plot is too similar to the first film's. And the villain is really dark and kind of detracts from the enjoyment of seeing superheroes be super. The raccoon is the best part for sure.

Meiousei · « **Reply #2995 on:** July 06, 2018, 07:50:24 PM »

Okay first off I have been MAJORLY lazy when it comes to movies, as I go to them but then forget to actually post my likes and hates. I will try to be a bit more on point for these things for now on.

Antman and Wasp:

Where do I begin? It was the best magician movie eve-what? It's a superhero movie? Oh...well. Um. This is awkward.

Basically, seeing as I never SAW the first movie (to be fair, I never watched the first two Thor movies or Civil War either), I did read up a LOT of the summary, so I'm (mostly) caught up. The previews I first saw for it do not betray the movie premise. And from what I've seen, the plot was very um well. I don't know how to say it really, but it was different. At least to me. A lot of the plot points I didn't really expect (and I should have since there's been parts of these on the shows I watch). The villain was sympathetic and everyone's flight was a bit too much high stakes. I do have to admit the action was good for a movie like that. Though I kept cracking up at some of the parts of the movie (and apparently someone else did too...even on parts that wasn't all that funny.)

My only real gripe here would have to be the ending which (SPOILERS) Janet seems to have Quantum powers now, not that it saved her or her family since Thanos nuked them and had Antman trapped in the Quantum Zone. With Hank nuked, Bill's the only one that has that knowledge which begs the question: what happens to those killed? If they were truly erased then what they made would have been removed as well. This is clearly not the case because what I thought happened was that when they were "culled", they were erased and what they had would slowly disappear as well as memories of who they were. The ending gave me more questions than answers.

NotMiki · « **Reply #2996 on:** December 21, 2018, 11:18:26 PM »

Mortal Engines: Holy cow, that was a bad movie. You may have seen a preview of this and thought, "well the plot looks dumb but those setpieces sure are cool!" and you'd be right! But you'd be underestimating just how insultingly bad the script is. This is a movie where a citizen of a country that just used a superweapon looks toward the camera and says "what have we done?" Like, that's the line. The whole line. It's far from the only cliche. If you look up this movie's TvTropes page you will miss exactly none of the subtlety and craft that went into the script. Because there is none. The preceding superfluous sentence is an example of how the script is written. There is a character who dies late in the movie. Over the course of about 30 seconds she tells you that her codename is a reference to how she was born in slavery, and that she has vowed never to be enslaved again, and that if she should die her ashes should be scattered to the wind, and that she is taking off now to avenge her deceased friend. Spoilers: She Dies!! Argh. (Sage called this Chekov's Gun Collection. I call is the Garden of Death Flags. Take your pick.)

It's such a shame, because those setpieces really are cool. Woulda made a great videogame.

Shale · « **Reply #2997 on:** December 25, 2018, 04:51:27 PM »

Spider-Verse is absolutely fantastic and everybody should watch it. It's both the best Spider-Man movie ever and just a masterpiece of visual design. And I want some fuckin' sequels, dammit.

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #2998 on:** December 25, 2018, 05:30:15 PM »

I'm pretty sure they've already green-lit a Ghost Spider spinoff!

So movies are a thing. Spider-verse is the best of them, go see that. Oooootheerwiiiiseeee...

Aquaman- so this is kinda a Looney Tunes sketch of a movie but they make that work? It's not good exactly but it's fun and they wrote around their limitations pretty well.

Bumblebee- So it turns out there was a very simple secret to making a good one of these: put an actual director of animation in charge of your movie that's predominantly about cg animated characters. Bee exists! He interacts with people! He emotes! I mean the shrunken cast and color and the 10 Minute "This is literally all I EVER wanted from these movies" opening are all great too, but yeah, 90% of the movie is Bee and Hailee Steinfeld hanging out, Bee actually BEING there matters most.

Mary Poppins Returns- Couple utterly killer songs, there's some moments, and can't say it's bad. And... well, y'know, I guess asking more of this project would just be setting unrealistic expectations.
I dunno how they found the cryopod for the original Jane actress forever preserved at age 30, but damn.

Shale · « **Reply #2999 on:** December 26, 2018, 03:05:42 PM »

Mary Poppins Returns is the Force Awakens of musicals. Highly entertaining but carefully treads the exact same path as the original, which in a movie that's not part of some larger story makes it somewhat disposable when the original is still available. Very fun to watch, some of the songs are stellar, but overall it's well-made fluff.

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Author Topic: Movies (Read 291355 times)