Really enjoyed this, unsettling, eerie, and a great sense of dread, and doesn't rely on cheap scares.

SPECTRE (007), which was... Well, not terrible... Not great either. I don't know how I felt about it. It was lazy, and had a ton of potential that it just wasted. Some nicely filmed scenes... specifically the "Hello James. What took you so long?" sequence.

But man. Something was off. I remember loving Casino Royale because at the time it was such a ferocious and unexpected new (old) vision of Bond, and because it played out like NOT a Bond film, but rather a really well made, well timed thriller.

Quantum of Solace... I don't remember anything from that movie. Something about sand?

Skyfall was excellent. It felt like the the "Dark Knight" to Casino's "Batman Begins." Javier Bardem was possibly the best Bond villain ever.
SPECTRE, though, was a whole lot of build up for almost no payoff. Better than Quantum, but not good enough to be the Dark Knight Rises of the series.

Unless you can't tell, I think it's quite obvious that the entire Daniel Craig Bond reboot was a pretty transparent attempt to mimic the style and success of Chris Nolan's Batman films. I used to just consider this a theory, but now that I know MGM originally went to Chris Nolan with Casino Royale and wanted him to cast Christian Bale as Bond, I think it's fact.

Apparently they tried to get Nolan to do SPECTRE when Sam Mendes was hemming and hawing about it, but Nolan was busy making the best fucking movie of the last few years, Interstellar. I think they still want him to be part of the Bond world, and here's hoping he gets on board. He's one of the only directors in the world who can reliably belt out blockbusters that are both visually stunning and intelligent.

When I heard that shit about Daniel Craig saying he'd rather slit his wrists than play Bond again, I thought, but WHY? He's the best Bond since Connery. But after watching his half assed performance in SPECTRE, I get it.

That series got a nice little reboot in 2005/6, and that made it fresh again. But that was a decade ago. It's not fresh anymore. That franchise needs a hard reset. The next Bond should definitely be either black or gay or a woman or ANYTHING other than a smooth talking Aryan sex addict.

Oh, I actually saw Deadpool after that. Yeah. I forgot. Deadpool was fun. I always have at least a little bit of fun watching comic book movies, but because I'm not big on the whole Marvel cinematic universe thing, I never have more than a "meh" reaction. Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy were the exception. DP was really really stupid. The Naked Gun of superhero movies. But that's what was needed. And I appreciated the ultra violence.

Michael Douglas, no question. James Woods is super goddamn creepy, but more in a Videodrone kind of way than in a drugs and power kind of way.

Michael Douglas ftw.

Really funny, great characters, all around enjoyable movie.

El Topo. Wow. What a ride.

My wife and I have been on a movie watching tear lately.



I enjoyed it a lot.



Creepy and weird in a sexy 70's manner...



Not as good as his Mission Impossible flicks but I enjoyed this sci fi war take on Groundhog's Day.


I dug it a lot. It was a fun flick. I never read these comic books so it was fun to go into a Marvel movie not knowing what was gonna happen.

Much better than the TV show with the old dude, although that one had its moments. It was not great, but it did not suck either....



I enjoyed this a lot. Much better than the Thor movies, or the Hulk movies.

Still haven't seen Ant-Man. I couldn't really believe it was a hit. I was sure it would be awful. But after I realized Hank Pym wasn't going to be the main character, and started reading the reviews, I got at least a little bit interested.

But I'm sure it's better than the Thor and Hulk films. The only MCU related films that I believe are actually good are Guardians of the Galaxy, Deadpool, and perhaps the Captain America flicks. Everything else is really tepid and so-so. And those Hulk films are fucking awful. That character deserves a proper MCU timeline solo film.

Sayin'......

Ant Man was good because it was not about aliens or world cataclysms or the "Hero's Journey" that we have seen so much in comic book flicks. It was FUN, like reading a good comic book!

Guardians of the Galaxy was good, but I am not invetsed in those characters. that comic came out when I was 35 yrs old and no longer reading monthly Marvel output.

I grew up reading the Hulk and there is so much they could do in a film with that character.....

The Thor films have the problem that the big $$$ has to be spent on FX creating Asgard and all that mystical bullshit.

As far as Marvel films go, these were my faves

Iron Man
Avengers
Captain American First Avenger
Ant Man

I loved the Equilizer peak Uncle Denzel


Recently i watched

Michael Jackson from Mo Town to Off the Wall
Mulholand Drive
Hollywoodland
The Terminator
The Departed
Boyz n The Hood
And much to my delight The Crow

I tried to re-watch the Crow a few years back and I couldn't believe how awful it was. Why do I remember it being the very picture of badassery in my youth?

Terminator holds up like a motherfucker though. Departed too. Just rewatched that a while ago. If anything it's better than it was initially.

Hey, wasn't someone here talking about Jonathan Glazer's UNDER THE SKIN? The sci-fi Art-horror film starring Scarlet Johannsen?

The girlfriend and I just watched an absolutely stunning series of trailers, and we're thinking about watching it. I've heard many good things (and the drone/synth heavy Mica Levi soundtrack on Rough Trade is out of this fucking world), but Amazon has like 5,000 reviews and almost all of them are one star.

Wasn't she up for an Oscar for this? Also, it came in at #2 on Playlist's best horror films list, ranking above such brutal terrors as Anti-Christ and Audition.

So I'm torn. Anyone want to weigh in? It's either this or we're gonna watch Krampus, because we're fucking bored and it's freezing out.

Thanks!

The Guardians of the Galaxy first appeared in 1968 or 69, I think. The franchise was something of a cult classic, and had spanned multiple universes, time periods, and other Marvel characters' storylines, long before the 2008 reboot that the film was based mostly based on.

Because the Guardians are, somewhat by design, in a perpetual state of flux, bevause of alterations to the past or future, I think of the 2008 version as a continuation of the original. Kind of like how Neil Gaiman resurrected the Eternals for that stellar run in the mid '00s.

Anyway I take your meaning though. It's hard to get into brand new characters when you're an adult. It's almost pointless. For me, Superman is etched into my soul like Catholic guilt, and Batman is singed into my psyche like a trauma. It would be very hard, and it would take a lot of time, for me to form connections like that to new comic book characters. Especially since I'm so goddamn old and cranky now.

I agree the overall quality of The Crow wasn't as good as it seemed when it was so original and new but it was really a genre creating flick.

And yes. Indeed the Terminator seems to age like cognac and only get better and more indulgent. It also becomes more relevant

When the Crow came out, I was just desperate for more "dark hero" films after being inspired by Tim Burton's Batman. Totally different films, I know, but the fact that it was "dark" and featured a violent avenger is probably all my little adolescent brain needed to go nuts on it. I also went nuts for Darkman (which, holy wow, is fucking awful... even for a non Evil Dead Raimi film... Jesus it was bad), and even (sighs) The Shadow, with Alec Baldwin.

Yes, I was desperate. All of those films are terrible, and even Tim Burton's Batman films basically feel kitschy and more stupid, with an excellent score, some nice cinematography, and possibly the most child-inappropriate comic book villain portrayal in history courtesy of Danny Devito's nightmarish Penguin. Apart from that, and the figure Michael Keaton cut in the Bat suit, it was style over substance, and only qualifies as the second best Batman adaptations because every single other film aside from the #1 Nolan trilogy has been complete shit through and through.


:)

Let's see. As far as Marvel's concerned... I'd probably have to say:
1. Guardians of the Galaxy
2. Deadpool
3. Captain America: Winter Soldier
4. Captain America: the First Avenger
5. Ah... Fuck... maybe X-Men: First Class? The only X-film not to totally suck.

Overall (of the post-'90s era

1. The Dark Knight
2. Man of Steel
3. Batman Begins
4. The Dark Knight Rises
5. Guardians

Looking forward to Dawn of Justice, but I'm pretty sure it will be more "fun" than good.

Spotlight.

9/10