I’ll go first. Mine is that I can’t stand the Deadpool movies. They are self aware and self referential to an obnoxious degree. It’s like being continually reminded that I am in a movie. I swear the success of that movie has directly lead to every blockbuster having to have a joke every 30 seconds
Parasite was a generally bad movie. The whole time you’re watching it and you’re like, is a comedy, a drama, a thriller? And then at the end it loses its god damned mind. And you walk out of the theater confused and feeling like shit.
People just see it as the dumb movie where plants make people commit suicide and has bad acting.
I see it more like the original dawn of the dead. It’s a mirror to society. I personally don’t believe the plants were doing anything. What happened is that the media machine latched onto anything they could put on TV, and before you knew it every other network news copied the unverified information. This happens so often in real life because every news station wants to be the first to report instead of being the truth.
Also, it’s pretty terrifying that people start becoming suicidal zombies and you have no idea why or how to stop it.
In Alien 3, not only was it a good thing that Hicks and Newt died in the beginning, but that it was absolutely necessary for the film to thematically fit the trilogy.
I don’t actually like the new Dune movies. I just thought that it had the ast Lord Of The Rings movie energy, and that it just went on a bit longer than i really wanted it to. There was certainly some good bits to it no doubt but they didn’t really feel connected to me.
Did you read the books? Having read the books it was a blast for me, but those sound like fair criticisms if you aren’t already familiar with the source material (which isnt a good thing for a movie to do, it should be able to stand on its own).
As someone who read the books, 3 movies is going to be too much. 2 movies is more than enough for the first book and I think it’s gonna suffer a bit for it. Not as bad as the Hobbit, but I haven’t seen anything get better from getting milked.
I’m wrong, misread an article. Thanks for the info y’all.
Yeah @mrbusiness had me a bit worried, but it looks like you’re right, if there is a third movie it will be all or part of Messiah. At least according to this interview - polygon.com/…/dune-how-many-parts-movies-sequels-…
If Pulp Fiction is on, unless it’s been a few years I’ll probably switch the channel, if Django Unchained is on though…I’m grabbing a snack and watching it everytime. This isn’t to say Pulp Fiction sucks, just think Django’s more entertaining.
I could never enjoy Django. It’s not a bad movie, but the way I watch a Tarantino movie you get desensitized by the violence and it becomes part of the humor and charm. I couldn’t do that in Django. The theme was too serious for me. Curiously I didn’t feel the same way in Inglorious Basterds.
Oh, and let’s get this out of the way. I fucking LOVED the Hateful Eight. It’s pure Tarantino.
I don’t like the star wars movies, think they’re not nearly as good as people claim they are
This is certainly down to me being raised in a post OT world of good sci fi, but that doesn’t make them worth watching these days. The only reason they are imo is to understand extended media
Extended star wars media though? Gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme
I feel like it’s sort of a citizen Kane kinda thing. It’s a really important movie, and considering its time and context it was a very good movie, but it isn’t a particularly fun film to watch these days.
Things are popular for reasons and being cynical about it and prejudging something based only on its popularity is limiting your exposure to the world.
Its better to have an informed opinion then a cynical ignorance.
Demand avoidance is a thing, I specifically hate it when people are all “BRO, how have you not seen this, it’s the shit. YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOURE MISSING!” So I just stay away as a fuck you I guess.
I find the people who do the whole “how have you not seen […]” Have not matured enough too have the awareness that other people have different life experiences. Lack of empathy.
I loved it, and I’ve watched it several times. I just enjoy fun popcorn action movies these days, though, so I tend to be more a fan of this type of movie than most. I loved the cast and the chemistry they had and wanted to see a sequel.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I think it’s one of the greatest films ever made because I watched it, not because someone told me it was.
But seriously, 95% of the “classic” movies deemed so important are just not that good. They might have been remarkable for some reason at the time, but from a contemporary perspective, they’re often boring, long winded, and generally not interesting.
It’s the same with books. Some people decided at some point which books are considered “good” and everyone just has to eat that or be considered stupid. Can’t speak for other languages, but I think it’s extremely suspicious, that in Germany the “canon books” are almost all from a rather short timeframe, which just happens to coincide with 19th century nationalism.
Last year’s DnD movie is the best film of the last ten or so years. It succeeded on every level, except in the box office.
My hypothesis is that Hasbro insisted on branding it “Dungeons & Dragons” to push the brand, and non-gamers figured it wasn’t for them. If they’d have made the main title “Honor among Thieves”, all the game nerds would have seen the DnD logo, and others wouldn’t have been turned off *. As it stands, people will find it and it’ll become the new “Starship Troopers” that bombed but shines forever in retrospect.
I wouldn’t give it that high of praise, but I went into Honor Among Thieves not expecting anything and thought that it was a lot of fun. It doesn’t do anything exciting but it’s just a fun little flick. I’m not a DnD person, but I also enjoyed the references that I did get (which purely come from being a casual Magic: The Gathering player, so I knew some things from the DnD set that came out the other year).
This wasn’t an art film… but it had an original plot, was genuinely unpredictable throughout, awesome, imaginative action sequences, epic high fantasy, great comedy (I laughed my ass off), and real emotional tenderness (well, I cried). Often weaving these together in the same scene. I think you have to judge a movie based on what it’s meant to be, and for a fun high fantasy jaunt, this was a monumental achievement. IMHO.
I think it deserved to do better at the box office but I disagree calling it that good, primarily by counterexample (which I’ll get to). It had an entertaining cast, an entertaining plot and some good twists but it wasn’t unpredictable and the audience it was best for was the audience who recognised the constant homages to the experience of playing DnD - my primary example is the scene of the main character breaking out of prison completely unnecessarily.
The movie was made by Hasbro to sell dungeons and dragons (which, to be fair, you do mention) and I think as a fan of the ttrpg it did a great job of capturing that experience as a movie. I can’t call it the film of the year though, let alone the decade.
What makes you say it’s better than, for example, Blade Runner 2049 or Avengers Endgame, both being movies similarly sprouting from established brands? I would argue Dune is significantly better (talking about movies with a brand) also.
Outside the established brand space, you see movies like JoJo Rabbit, Marriage Story and Power of the Dog. All of my examples have been off arbitrary top 10/top 50 lists of the last 5 or last 10 years and I’m honestly curious about why you think the DnD movie beats all of them?
Edit: in saying that, upvoting because this is almost certainly an unpopular opinion
Bladerunner was pretentious film school drivel. It’s a montage of poetic, symbolic imagery that makes no sense as an actual narrative. Dune was far, far superior because the mythic reality is tied together into a classic hero story, and the whole thing is fantastical enough for Villaneuve’s whole thing to work. I can’t wait for the second one.
Avengers Endgame was just more of the same MCU formula, trotting out the usual tropes on an ever-increasing scale. Pretty good, as far as all that goes, but really devoid of any tension or depth, IMHO. Guardians 1 is a far better film.
As for those others, I haven’t seen them, though they’re all on my list. I’m open to any of them being better… of course my opinion will be limited to movies I’ve actually seen. But aside from glib hot takes, there’s not much meaning in comparing completely different films. My essential point is that DnD is an utterly superb movie, and I’ll maintain that in its freshness, surprising depth, and comedic sparkle, it’s at least the best movie of its kind in a long time.
Completely agree with your last two sentences, mostly. I can’t personally call it the best movie of its kind just because I don’t watch a lot of movies in the same vein. But you’re right that it’s hard to compare across genres, and the movie was definitely far better than I expected. I think the last couple of years have generally had some great releases.
I only watched DnD recently, mostly just accidentally at a friend’s place. Also thought it was really good, well made, funny, a really pleasant surprise all around. For me, it reminded me of what I felt about some 90s movies - a movie made to be fun, not to make you feel deep feels, think deep thoughts, or shock in the shockingest way of all. Just fun. That is not a bad thing…
I like a lot of the campy horror movies that typically have 5 or below on IMDb. One of my favorites is Sorry About the Demon (2022) on Shudder/AMC+, which currently has a 4.9 rating.
I find it hard to use IMDb ratings as a metric for picking a good horror movie. The scores sometimes seem like they’re just all over the place, when looking at the horror genre. I just watch a trailer, maybe read about it a little, and check it out myself. I would’ve missed a ton of good horror flicks if I had gone with ratings alone
Didn’t see Sorry About the Demon, but “campy horror movies that typically have 5 or below on IMDb” makes my brain scream Dark Angel: The Ascent and Modern Vampires.
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