Recently watched movies!

[O.Supreme]

[Dr Kain]

[klen7]

Please elaborate

[lhb412]

^ I haven't seen the new Lion King but the basic criticisms against it are that it's a largely shot-for-shot remake that tones down the theatrical flourishes (less expressive, more realistic animals and eschewing the Broadway style choreography and stylization) of the original in favor of realism. Some people don't mind and are happy to see a story they like with a new coat of paint, but I'm of the opinion that the entire approach is distasteful. Watching the comparison vid of the original Hakuna Matata with the new one actually made me angry. Why watch it when you can watch the original?

[Dr Kain]

My video review:

[Dr Kain]

Jaws - 10/10

[lhb412]

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Like the MCU's first Spidey movie, it's a charming adventure and Peter and his classmates are all terrific. The plot also feels a lot more cohesive then that first one, which sometimes felt like a series of disconnected vignettes. Now, the vignettes all seem like they belong together. Mysterio, as played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is the highlight. It really says something about the depth and breadth of spidey's Rogues gallery that were still pulling out such great opponents almost two decades after we started making Spider-Man movies!

Still, this current version of Spidey lacks the pathos that makes the best films with the character, Spider-Man 2 and Into the Spider-Verse, so great. Even with Tony's death hanging over this film it doesn't feel as personal as the turmoil those more blue collar, less 'tech bro' Spider-Men had to deal with. And more on that; essentially having Peter Parker be the Heir Apparent to Tony Stark"s Empire does an enormous disservice to Spider-Man's essential scrappiness. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of the character.

Also, I hate the DIY paper cut-out animation music video end credits that both these movies have. They're meant to evoke fun teen movies of days past, but they're completely disassociated from the actual subject matter of the movies. It would make sense if it was a Miles Morales movie, as he is artistically inclined and world class doodler and you could totally see him creating something like this, but since when does this have anything to do with Peter Parker or his friends?

Kamen Rider J

Man, Keita Amemiya makes things look dope as hell. A double feature of the two mini Kamen Rider features he made could be a good introduction to those unfamiliar with the franchise.

[Dr Kain]

[lhb412]

^ Blegh!

[klen7]

I honestly thought the movie was going to go the exact opposite for theme (eg taking back to roots because the Avengers/Iron Man aspects had swung the character too far out into tech world, and away from being the friendly neighborhood spider-man)

[jellydonut25]

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

[Dr Kain]

[lhb412]

[Dr Kain]

[O.Supreme]

Batman:HUSH The latest in the long running series of DC Animated Films. Unfortunately still set in their version of the *New 52*. Admittedly, I was not familiar with the source material, so I decided to read up on it before watching this. The film adaptation was OK, nothing great. Still not a fan of how far they try to push the envelope with some of their PG-13 films, but I know most adult fans don't mind. It was interesting to see Batman face a nemesis that was constantly several steps ahead of him, and visibly frustrating him. But, even as intelligent as Batman is, it's nothing The Joker, Riddler, or Ra's Al Ghul haven't accomplished in times past. I'll give it a 5/10. I'm sure anyone who is a HUGE fan of this particular story however is not going to be happy with a pretty significant change that was made to the titular character. I really hope DC decides just to go back to one off films. If they want to tell an epic story drawn from the comics that needs two movies to be told right, that is fine, but there's no need to remain slave to their *52* interconnected Universe anymore.

[Dr Kain]

Hush lost me the moment they didn't make Tim be Robin.

[lhb412]

Watched, for the first time ever, Friday the 13th parts I, II, III, IV, V, VI, and VII. These things are like potato chips, once you have one you just can't help but just roll over to the next one. They're reliable enjoyable, but I have to say that Jason Lives was the only one I thought was legitimately great. The earliest ones are just white trash giallos, but Jason Lives purposefully turns it into something more like an '80s Hammer Horror movie. Before, Jason was a slasher, but in this one Jason is a straight-up Gothic horror monster, which is much more interesting to me. Plus, the movie has a very tongue in cheek EC Comics vibe like Creepshow and Return of the Living Dead and a bunch of other cool 80s movies. Also quite like the showdown between Jason and the psychic girl at the end of The New Blood. Having established Jason it seems to me the logical thing to carry the series forward would be to put him in different locations and situations and have him fight against different types of enemies.

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

Final Chapter is my favorite as well, and then I also like VII and VI and II.

I also personally really like the remake and I love Freddy vs. Jason.

The rest of the franchise I can take or leave, even if I think Jason X and Takes Manhattan are a little underrated and definitely have their moments.

I don't really need to see I, III, V, or Goes to Hell ever again...I'm sure I WILL, but I don't need to.

[Dr Kain]

[Dr Kain]

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - It's good, but not great. Easily the worst Tarantino movie. 7 or 8/10.

[lhb412]

The Quatermass Xperinent

Richard Wordsworth delivers one of the best 'man turning into a monster' performances ever, and once he's fully transformed it's one of the coolest '50s monsters ever - and that final scene with Professor Quatermass? Iconic!

[Dr Kain]

Mary Poppins Returns - So yeah... this was a thing, huh? I'm not sure what was worse, Emily Blunt's piss poor interpretation of Mary Poppins (she showed way too much emotion), the lackluster, unremarkable songs with lyrics that sounded like they were mumbling half of the time, the dull and boring plot, or that it pretty much followed the original movie's formula beat by beat, making it the most predictably hokey, hohum piece of cinema to be released in a long time. Either way, if they wanted to make a sequel to Mary Poppins, they should have done something unique with it. Instead, this feels like a half-assed remake but changed things around just enough so it could be considered a sequel instead of a remake due to its nature. Either way, it didn't work, and this movie failed in practically every way. The only reason I'm giving it a 4/10 is because of the visuals.