Current Events > Waffle's Big Movie Discussion topic

(+) Yeah! (+)

I love movies. Some of you guys love movies. Let's talk movies.

There was talk of a "movie club" months ago that died, so fuck it, just come in here and talk about movies you like, are looking forward to, give recommendations, talk about filmmaking or the film industry in general, etc. Use spoiler tags if you talk plot details. I might do some write-ups of my favorite films later, idk. Feel free to do the same.

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To start things off, what movies have you seen in theaters so far this year?

So far I've seen 11 movies released in 2018 in theaters, and I also saw The Shape of Water and Lady Bird in theaters in January, even though they're 2017 movies.

I've seen:
Black Panther
A Quiet Place
Truth or Dare
Avengers: Infinity Wars
Rampage
Bad Samaritan
Deadpool 2
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Book Club
Adrift
Upgrade

Not counting the ones from last year, tier wise I'd say, ranking by purely enjoyment value:

Most enjoyable:
Black Panther
A Quiet Place
Infinity Wars
Deadpool 2
Book Club

Not perfect, but solid/enjoyable:
Adrift
Upgrade
Solo

Not "good" films, but I enjoyed them for what they are:
Truth or Dare
Bad Samaritan

Didn't enjoy very much:
Rampage

I plan on seeing Ocean's 8, Hereditary, and Hotel Artemis all within the next week or so, trying to see them before Incredibles 2 and Tag come out.

Hereditary's gonna be fucking amazing, I'm probably most hype for it out of the ones coming out in the next couple weeks.
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I've seen:
Black Panther
A Quiet Place
Avengers: Infinity Wars
Thor: Ragnarok

(I know Thor was form 2017 but I didn't see it until 2018.)

I liked Thor the best and was also pleasantly surprised with A Quiet Place. I love monster movies.
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GregShmedley posted...

Wow. Reading this, I realized I haven't seen a single movie in theater this year. I do plan on seeing Gotti when it comes out, though.

A Quiet Place looks awesome. I love John Krasinski in a serious role. He was badass in 13 Hours.

Ooh, I finally saw the Boondock Saints for the first time ever...and was disappointed. Definitely feel it's highly overrated.

Oh yeah, I forgot about Gotti. I'll be sure to try and check that out too.

A Quiet Place was fantastic. We're in a new horror Renaissance the past few years and I love it. Lots of really creative, well executed ideas in the horror genre as of late.

Make sure when you watch it, you don't have anything going on that'll make noise or distract you. It's a film yo uwanna pay full attention to, else risk breaking the tension.

Boondock Saints is ok. Enjoyable, but I wouldn't call it a masterpiece or anything.
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eggcorn posted...

I've seen:
Black Panther
A Quiet Place
Avengers: Infinity Wars
Thor: Ragnarok

(I know Thor was form 2017 but I didn't see it until 2018.)

I liked Thor the best and was also pleasantly surprised with A Quiet Place. I love monster movies.

I still haven't actually seen Ragnarok. It and Dark World are the only 2 Marvel films I haven't seen. Thor just struggles to capture my interest as a character, although I did hear Ragnarok is a lot better about that.

It's on Netflix now I think, so I'll probably end up checking it out soon.
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WafflehouseJK posted...

eggcorn posted...

I've seen:
Black Panther
A Quiet Place
Avengers: Infinity Wars
Thor: Ragnarok

(I know Thor was form 2017 but I didn't see it until 2018.)

I liked Thor the best and was also pleasantly surprised with A Quiet Place. I love monster movies.

I still haven't actually seen Ragnarok. It and Dark World are the only 2 Marvel films I haven't seen. Thor just struggles to capture my interest as a character, although I did hear Ragnarok is a lot better about that.

It's on Netflix now I think, so I'll probably end up checking it out soon.

I always liked the idea of thor but the first two movies bored me. Ragnarok is just so fun and colorful.
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eggcorn posted...

WafflehouseJK posted...

eggcorn posted...

I've seen:
Black Panther
A Quiet Place
Avengers: Infinity Wars
Thor: Ragnarok

(I know Thor was form 2017 but I didn't see it until 2018.)

I liked Thor the best and was also pleasantly surprised with A Quiet Place. I love monster movies.

I still haven't actually seen Ragnarok. It and Dark World are the only 2 Marvel films I haven't seen. Thor just struggles to capture my interest as a character, although I did hear Ragnarok is a lot better about that.

It's on Netflix now I think, so I'll probably end up checking it out soon.

I always liked the idea of thor but the first two movies bored me. Ragnarok is just so fun and colorful.

That was my issue with the first Thor and why I haven't bothered to watch the sequels. He was just really bland, and the plot around him wasn't exciting or inventive enough to make up for that.

Ragnarok seems like a change of pace, so I'll probably enjoy it. It's just a matter of making myself actually do it.

GregShmedley posted...

WafflehouseJK posted...

Oh yeah, I forgot about Gotti. I'll be sure to try and check that out too.

People wanna hate because it's Travolta but I think he's going to pull it off.

WafflehouseJK posted...

A Quiet Place was fantastic. We're in a new horror Renaissance the past few years and I love it. Lots of really creative, well executed ideas in the horror genre as of late.

Yes, definitely! I really enjoyed The Witch and It Comes at Night. They're breaking away from the haunted doll cliches.

Travolta is admittedly hit or miss, but when he's good, he's real good. I have faith.

I haven't seen It Comes At Night yet, but The Witch is one of my favorites, it's already a modern horror classic.

Even when you go more onto the Thriller side of the spectrum, you have stuff like Get Out, Ex Machina, Green Room, etc.

I love where the genre is headed right now. Hereditary's coming out soon and it looks to be going in the same direction, and I love it. I'm hoping Horror gets treated seriously as a genre again here soon.
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I'm guessing you got MoviePass pretty recently? My ranking for the year so far:

Upgrade 9/10
Avengers: Infinity War 9/10
A Quiet Place 9/10
Thoroughbreds 8.5/10
Deadpool 2 8/10
Isle of Dogs 8/10
Black Panther 8/10
Tully 8/10
Solo: A Star Wars Story 7/10
Rampage 7/10
Bad Samaritan 7/10
Super Troopers 2 7/10
Blockers 6.5/10
Adrift 6/10
Ready Player One 5/10
Overboard 5/10
Action Point 4/10
Truth or Dare 3/10
Fahrenheit 451 3/10

I'll be seeing Hereditary, Oceans 8, and Hotel Artemis soon. Won't You Be My Neighbor doesn't come to my town until late July
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I'll post my 2018 list so far tomorrow.
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SuperExcitebike posted...

I'm guessing you got MoviePass pretty recently? My ranking for the year so far:

lol, yep. Got it in late April. I love it, makes it so much more affordable to go to the theater, and it's fun taking risks on films I normally would't have gone out of my way to see, like Adrift, Book Club, even Truth or Dare, which was dumb but fun.
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I finally watched short cuts for the first time the other day and it was absolutely rad
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i keep an updated list of films that i've seen in the cinemas in that year and rank based on how enjoyable i found them

here's my ranked list for 2018 so far

1. Love Simon
2. Avengers: Infinity War
3. Black Panther
4. Three Billboards
5. Solo: A Star Wars Story
6. Ready Player One
7. The Post
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You guys seen Fallen Kingdom yet?
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Kelystic posted...

You guys seen Fallen Kingdom yet?

I thought it wasn't out till the 21st?
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It's showing already in Asia.

No wonder no one talks about it on the movie board!
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Fucking christ, it's been a while
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Some thoughts on movies I've watched a little while back:

Why is Fallen Kingdom so generic? It's so by-the-numbers, it's not even funny. Save some of your time and don't watch this shit.

Frankenheimer's Seconds is perfect.

The Last Crusade is just Raiders, but worse. I don't get the hype surrounding it.
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TAG
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I haven't seen anything in the cinema this year but been watching lots from 2017 and 2018 stuff that's gone straight to VOD.

Let the Corpse's Tan is the last thing I watched I think, super stylish vaguely experimental exploitation influenced erotic action thriller

I've seen 35 movies released so far this year, but a bunch of those are Netflix originals that nobody cares about and are mostly mediocre. My top 10 would be something like:

Avengers: Infinity War
Early Man
Every Day
Deadpool 2
Isle of Dogs
Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay
Black Panther
Game Night
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight
Digimon Adventure tri. - Future
Benji
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SuperExcitebike posted...

I'm guessing you got MoviePass pretty recently?

Just looked it up, is there some sort of catch? It says "enjoy as new movie every day" for $10 a month that seems too good to be true.
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GregShmedley posted...

What Netflix originals did you see?

Actually Decent and/or a Good Watch
Benji
When We First Met
Psychokinesis

All Right, I Guess
Come Sunday
Game Over, Man!
A Futile and Stupid Gesture
The Ritual

Meh
First Match
The Best Of
Anon
Amateur
6 Balloons
Ibiza
Candy Jar
Love Per Square Foot
Dude
I Am Not An Easy Man
Happy Anniversary
Roxanne Roxanne

Total Trash
The Titan
The Open House
The Polka King
Irreplaceable You
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I kind of enjoyed the Polka King... I had just watched the documentary as well though... but it wasn't total trash.
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eggcorn posted...

SuperExcitebike posted...

I'm guessing you got MoviePass pretty recently?

Just looked it up, is there some sort of catch? It says "enjoy as new movie every day" for $10 a month that seems too good to be true.

2D movies only and no repeat viewings. You also have to send a picture of a movie stub before you use the app again to check into another movie

It's awesome and I try to check out most wide releases now since there's a good theater just a mile away from me
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SuperExcitebike posted...

eggcorn posted...

SuperExcitebike posted...

I'm guessing you got MoviePass pretty recently?

Just looked it up, is there some sort of catch? It says "enjoy as new movie every day" for $10 a month that seems too good to be true.

2D movies only and no repeat viewings. You also have to send a picture of a movie stub before you use the app again to check into another movie

It's awesome and I try to check out most wide releases now since there's a good theater just a mile away from me

wow that sounds great especially since I have no interest in 3d and almost never want to see a movie more than once unless it's like years later.
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Capital_Tenant posted...

Fucking christ, it's been a while

lol, it sure has. I figured we needed a solid movie discussion topic on CE again, I like talking about what I watch.
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GregShmedley posted...

WafflehouseJK posted...

I haven't seen It Comes At Night yet, but The Witch is one of my favorites, it's already a modern horror classic.

What's funny is none of my friends liked it and we have identical tastes in movies. I thought it was great and loved the atmosphere.

WafflehouseJK posted...

Even when you go more onto the Thriller side of the spectrum, you have stuff like Get Out, Ex Machina, Green Room, etc.

Get Out was amazing and I loved how different it is. Same for Ex Machina--that movie is wild as hell. I haven't seen Green Room yet despite having my friend's copy for almost a year that he bugs me about for not watching....

WafflehouseJK posted...

I love where the genre is headed right now. Hereditary's coming out soon and it looks to be going in the same direction, and I love it. I'm hoping Horror gets treated seriously as a genre again here soon.

Agreed. We need less jump scares and typical Ouija nonsense.

On one hand, I can definitely see why general audiences may not like The Witch. It can be a bit slow at times, which is the point because it helps build the world, builds the atmosphere, and gives you that sense of isolation from the rest of civilization, but some people aren't able to really appreciate that. It's more Kubrick than Spielberg in terms of pacing, and it seems like a lot of modern, general audiences aren't fully on board for that.

Get Out honestly may be in my top 10 films ever. It's just so amazingly well done. I'm so glad it got nominated for Best Picture at the Oscar's and won Best Screenplay, it deserved it.

Based on the other one's we've talked about so far, I think you'll like Green Room, I definitely recommend it. It can get decently gory, but most of the tension is built through atmosphere, and Patrick Stewart plays an amazing villain. Not sure if that last bit counts as a spoiler or not, but if you want to go in completely blind I understand that.
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I thought Infinity War was excellent but honestly A Quiet Place was probably my favorite of the year so far. I liked Black Panther a lot but I didn't think it was a near perfect movie like it's made out to be.

Deadpool 2 was better than I expected. My friend who has been the host of a radio show for 10 years knows a guy who reviews films and I actually was able to see the new Jurassic Park movie last night, which I was kind of disappointed with, and it was really only a 5 to 6/10 at best. **Minor plot spoilers**

They for whatever reason used a few of the same scenes from the first film, and the plot was very dull and predictable. Basically rich agency wants to "save" the dinosaurs and relocate them to a safe island out of human reach, but they turn out to be evil and are collecting them to auction off for millions. Blah.
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Just saw Hereditary. Great movie. Slow burn with a super creepy atmosphere and by the end makes you wonder what you just watched. If you liked It Follows or The Witch, you should check it out.
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I really want to see hereditary.. it's at the top of my must watch list now.
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A Quiet Place is definitely my fav of this year so far too. Most creative idea implemented well.

Book Club is also surprisingly is one of my favorites so far. Hasn't gotten as good of reviews obviously, but it's a fun little flick that actually tackles an issue that a lot of people don't ever really think about: Old people's love lives. Even better, it does it in a way that's funny and endearing, without pointing a finger and going "Old people having sex! Gross!". It very well humanizes its characters, and while it does suffer from a couple typical rom-com-esque flaws, it's overall a really solid movie, I recommend it.

I'm probably gonna see Ocean's 8 or Hotel Artemis today, but I'm wanting to try to see Hereditary tomorrow, looks fantastic
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I saw Hotel Artemis yesterday. It was.... ok.

Fun for what it was, but had some issues. Some very thinly supported plot points, a couple of elements that ended up going nowhere, and what felt like a waste of talent from a good majority of its fantastic cast.
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Hereditary was amazing. My new favorite of the year. I had to read discussion later to pick up things I missed
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Watched Hereditary again last night and it was even better, despite knowing everything that was gonna happen. Anybody who's interested needs to see it.
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Haven't seen as many movies as I would've hoped at this point into the year because of depression/ADHD/etc., but here's every movie I have seen (also I'm only doing the movies I've sat down & watched from start to finish w/ no commercial breaks), in order by how I'd rate them:

7/10
Dark City (1998)
It Follows (2014)
The Matrix (1999)

8/10
Brazil (1985)
Goodfellas (1990)
Phantom Thread (2018)

9/10
Badlands (1973)
Eraserhead (1977)
Rear Window (1954)
The Straight Story (1999)

10/10
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

I think I've done a pretty good job being selective as to what I've been watching this year...

It Follows was probably the worst of the movies I listed, and I was contemplating whether I should give it a 6 or 7/10... but ultimately the cinematography & sound were pretty strong throughout the movie, and that first half was great even though it kinda fell apart for the second half.

I rated 2001: A Space Odyssey the highest of all the movies I've seen this year because it was so groundbreaking & still looks absolutely gorgeous a whole half a century since its initial release, but on a more subjective level, my most enjoyable movie-watching experience this year was probably The Straight Story so far. @FLUFFYGERM
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Right now is the perfect time for me to watch Early Man or Paddington 2. Anything to calm me down enough to actually sleep with the lights off because Hereditary is really getting to me
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Gafemage posted...

I rated 2001: A Space Odyssey the highest of all the movies I've seen this year because it was so groundbreaking & still looks absolutely gorgeous a whole half a century since its initial release, but on a more subjective level, my most enjoyable movie-watching experience this year was probably The Straight Story so far.

I am so excited to see the remaster in Austin next month
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Gafemage posted...

my most enjoyable movie-watching experience this year was probably The Straight Story so far.

amazing film
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oh yeah im also starting Jacobs Ladder (1990) now
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Gafemage posted...

7/10
Dark City (1998)
It Follows (2014)
The Matrix (1999)

8/10
Brazil (1985)
Goodfellas (1990)
Phantom Thread (2018)

9/10
Badlands (1973)
Eraserhead (1977)
Rear Window (1954)
The Straight Story (1999)

10/10
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

I unfortunately have some pretty big gaps in the movies I've watched, of these I've only seen the one's bolded, although Eraserhead and Brazil are high on my list to check out soon.

It Follows was a really interesting concept, but ultimately felt like it fell flat. The second half of the film kinda fell apart IMO.
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I just watched To Kill A Mockingbird for the first time. Holds up pretty well, I can see why it's considered an all time great. Peck's performance in particular is fantastic, as is the girl who plays Scout. Hell, all the child actors are surprisingly great, very well casted film as far as the leads go.

I kidney feel like not enough focus is put on both the black characters and the bigots. Neither side is developed much more than superficially, but seeing as the focus is meant to be on Atticus and his kids, it's understandable to a degree.

I've also never read the book, so I'm basing this solely off of the film itself.
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The Paddington movies are so good. I liked 2 more than 1. Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant really kill it in their villain roles
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Gafemage posted...

oh yeah im also starting Jacobs Ladder (1990) now

Still collecting my thoughts/feelings on the movie... like It Follows, Jacob's Ladder is another movie that has strong highs but also feels incomplete, but unlike It Follows, there isn't a specific point where the movie starts a downward descent, and with Jacob's Ladder, the highs are stronger than those of It Follows, and the lows are less severe.

As far as the ending goes, I'm still indecisive as to how I felt about it... it was nice & all, and actually somewhat unexpected, but both the ending & the scenes building up to it meant that the movie had to sacrifice its sense of ambiguity & surrealism. I have to admit that I was sort of subconsciously hoping for the movie to end the way it did, and felt a significant sense of relief when Gabe was walking his father up the stairs, but as my thoughts stewed over the ending, I couldn't help but feel short-changed. The movie is absolutely haunting at its darkest moments - to the point where even the most hardened viewers may eventually find themselves begging for the movie to give them a sense of solace - but these moments are what make the movie so memorable & captivating; if they'd taken the ending in a different direction & doubled-down on the overarching darkness & surrealism prevalent throughout the movie, it certainly would've been a tough pill to swallow at first, but I believe my lasting impression of the movie would eventually grow stronger than it will with the ending they took.

Another gripe I had with the movie was that I feel it didn't have quite enough haunting, dreamlike moments. The contrast between "normal" scenes & far-out, nightmarish scenes is important, but there's a point in the movie (specifically the part where the former soldiers meet up & pursue a civil case against the US army) where the movie felt like it was too grounded in reality for too long... thankfully this was shortly followed + salvaged by arguably the film's single scariest & most unsettling scene. I do, however, feel that said scene (the one at the hospital) could've stood to be a minute or two longer at least before the movie returned to "reality"... on that note, I think the movie in general could've stood to be at least a half-hour longer altogether... maybe even longer than that.

TL;DR Jacob's Ladder was a great, atmospheric psychological horror film that suffered from minor pacing issues & would've benefited from a higher concentration of actual horror scenes. Ending was acceptable & comforting, but I also couldn't help but feel the movie could've been more if they'd taken a different direction. Also could've maybe been a longer movie altogether. You can definitely see where Silent Hill drew its inspiration from. 8/10
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Oh forgot to mention it, but I also watched Coco recently. It was good, a bit predictable though, and I've been over-hyping myself for like, almost a decade, since they first announced they were planning a Day of the Dead based movie.
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Just watched the Netflix movie The Kissing Booth. Surprisingly I can throw it in the decent pile.
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Watched Hereditary tonight. It was good, kinda had my experience soured a bit because I had some really fucking obnoxious fuckers in my theater who were laughing loudly, making noises, and being shit bags the whole fucking movie. I need to watch it again when it's out on DVD/Blu-Ray so I can watch it without distractions.

That being said, even with that out of the way, I think I prefer The Witch tbh. The comparative simplicity of The Witch works in its favor as a slow-burn atmospheric horror. While I do like that it seems like Hereditary has a lot of subtle, easy to miss things, the first 20-30ish minutes of the film REALLLY feel like it's dragging as it's trying to set all those things up.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR HEREDITARY AFTER THIS POINT:
So, did they ever mention why it specifically had to be one of Ellen's descendants that had to be the host? Could they have theoretically made Steve a host? Or was it just because he wasn't vulnerable enough?

Also, lol at a king of hell being deathly allergic to nuts.
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