Most recent Movie: How was it?

[K26dp]

I generally like DC animated movies, but don't go out of my way to see them, and still harbor an admittedly nonsensical resentment to them for the ending of Justice League Unlimited.

[Ogre_Minstrel]

If you like Queen's music , then you'll probably like "Bohemian Rhapsody". There are no surprises in this movie, no great revelations, but there is a metric shit-ton of Queen music, especially in the big "Live Aid" scene at the end.

Mrs. Ogre and I both enjoyed it quite a bit.

[Ogre_Minstrel]

Green Book is a sweet Christmas movie set against a racist backdrop. And Viggo and Mahershalla (?) are both extraordinary.

[Trebor]

Ralph Breaks the Internet wasn't what I expected, but in a less good way than the first one. Still good, but a bit too rambly at times.

[KilljoyBob]

I agree, Trebor. It felt like a Disney version of the Emoji Movie, and its meme references felt dated already. The best parts were when it was poking fun at the Disney formula.

[K26dp]

Saw Superman: The Movie in the theater on Sunday, out for a limited 40-year anniversary re-release (and boy howdy, does that make me feel old).

Anyway, still the best superhero movie of all time. Surprisingly both my sons agreed with me, despite having been raised on a steady diet of Marvel movies pretty much their whole lives.

[KilljoyBob]

Took the kids to see Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It was pretty amazing, especially since it could have been something Sony Animation just threw together and dumped straight onto DVD (and Sony Animation has been pumping out some stinkers lately, so this was a definite win for the studio). The animation was some of the most beautiful and unique I've ever seen. The voice acting was top notch. The story wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but it was really good. And you will tear up at Stan Lee's cameo; if you don't, you have no soul.

If it has any drawbacks, I would say that I wish Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Ham, and Peni Parker were given more to do, but it's definitely Miles Morales' story. I didn't care for some of the villain designs, but since they are all alternate Ultimate universe versions, I can let that slide. Several of the villains didn't have a lot to do either. But man, Prowler has never seemed so badass.

It shouldn't need to be said for a Marvel movie, but obviously you should stay till after the credits.

I look forward to all the inevitable spin-offs that Sony is already planning. Especially Spider-Man Noir. Nicolas Cage spouting deadpan private eye dialogue while fighting Nazis. Sign me up.

[Ogre_Minstrel]

I missed the post credits scene. :(

I am shamed.

Loved the movie, except for some of the visuals. They made some very distinct and deliberated style choices that just didn't work for me. The use (over use in my eyes) of the comic book stipple effect for backgrounds, especially to indicate out of focus backgrounds was very distracting for me. I also thought they went over the top with some of the Kirby balls, especially in the grand finale. And as you said, the character design for the King Pin was just terrible. I never read what ever comic it was taken from, but I'm sure I would have hated it there too.

But that was it for negatives. Overall it was terrific Spider-Man movie, maybe the best since Spider-Man 2. The writing, directing and acting were top marks, and the Stan Lee cameo had my eyes leaking some mystery fluid. (it was very dusty in the theater).

[Ogre_Minstrel]

Aquaman - well, its DC, so I had pretty low expectations. And while it wasn't as offensively bad as I found some of the DC films, it was still very stupid. Powerfully stupid. I liked some things, I will admit. It looks pretty good, and some of the fight scenes were actually exciting, but ...

well, really stupid, I'm afraid.

[K26dp]

Aquaman - well, its DC, so I had pretty low expectations. And while it wasn't as offensively bad as I found some of the DC films, it was still very stupid. Powerfully stupid. I liked some things, I will admit. It looks pretty good, and some of the fight scenes were actually exciting, but ...

well, really stupid, I'm afraid.

Yeah, I'd have to say it was fun stupid. The Aquaman story arc was pretty good, the visuals were overall impressive, and there were some parts where the audience cheered.

On the other hand, there was too much exposition (especially early in the movie), the acting was occasionally cringe-worthy, the plot goes into a dumb National Treasure direction for awhile, and the soundtrack was laughably bad in spots.

But... at least it was fun. I'll take a flawed but fun DC movie anyday over the the grim dreck.

[Ryokuro]

Pretty much where I am with it. Given a choice between fun-dumb and grim-dumb, I'll take fun-dumb every time.

One of the things that concerns me about Arthur going forward is that his "hard-drinking fringe hero" persona was far more engaging and interesting than the "destined ruler" he becomes. I don't really know what DC's plans are for the character after this (there probably aren't any, knowing DC) but I hope they don't toss out the human half of Aquaman.

Also: Amber Heard is always nice to look at.

[K26dp]

Pretty much where I am with it. Given a choice between fun-dumb and grim-dumb, I'll take fun-dumb every time.

One of the things that concerns me about Arthur going forward is that his "hard-drinking fringe hero" persona was far more engaging and interesting than the "destined ruler" he becomes. I don't really know what DC's plans are for the character after this (there probably aren't any, knowing DC) but I hope they don't toss out the human half of Aquaman.

Also: Amber Heard is always nice to look at.

The good news is Aquaman pretty much always loses the throne about 2 weeks after he claims it.

Heard looks fine, but she didn't really embody the character to me. Mera should be about 10x tougher than Aquaman, and Heard couldn't really pull it off.

[Ogre_Minstrel]

The good news is Aquaman pretty much always loses the throne about 2 weeks after he claims it.

Heard looks fine, but she didn't really embody the character to me. Mera should be about 10x tougher than Aquaman, and Heard couldn't really pull it off.

I thought they made Meera a pretty good bad ass, although I thought Kidman looked hotter.

[KilljoyBob]

Just saw Aquaman today. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but I definitely agree that the plot was dumb and National Treasure like. The best part was Black Manta and his special helmet.

[Trebor]

Bumblebee was actually quite good. Being able to recognize and identify certain bots did help out quite a bit. Anyone else find it weird on how the name came about though?