What movies have you seen recently?

[Armor and Sword]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Watched a couple of "horror" movies over the weekend.

The Descent - The second half of that movie was pretty nuts. Some pretty gruesome stuff in there. First half had more jump scares. Second half was more of an action thriller. Overall, I think it was a pretty good horror movie. Not one I'll feel the need to come back to or watch the sequel or anything, but fairly entertaining.

Midsommar - The cinematography and use of music and sound were beautiful, but the movie wasn't actually good IMO. It obviously borrowed a lot from The Wicker Man and the characters weren't really believable to me despite some great acting performances.

Big big fan of both the movies. The Descent is extremely well made. You care for all the characters and the set up is excellent. Well acted, taut and tense. The creepy crawlies and claustrophobic atmosphere is great. The sequel was Meh but continues the same story.....you may want to give it a watch one time to get a conclusion.....it was decent enough. But the original to me is one of the better horror films in last decade and a half. Amazing how old this movie is now.

Midsommar took a few viewings to really appreciate. I find it to be just a mind bending decent into cult madness. The other really cool thing is the film was almost entirely during the day once they got to the Midsommar festival. The movie is filled with foreshadowing all over the place. Very well filmed. I have the 4K Directors Cut which I purchased from A4. It really impacted me this film and every time I watch it (3 times now) I think about it for days at a time. Same thing with Hereditary....which is by the same director. That film is flat out nuts. A slow burn too.....but really horrifying.

Tomorrow night my son and I are going to Rocky 4 The Directors cut for one night only. He never saw the film like me on the Big Screen and next to Rocky this is my favorite sequel of all the Rocky movies (Rocky III right there too). It just has amazing training montages, music and just a great Rocky movie all around. I am really excited to see the 45 minutes of additional scenes that were cut/redone. Also there will be a decent sized interview with Sly before the movie starts.

Pumped.

[DJ]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Big big fan of both the movies. The Descent is extremely well made. You care for all the characters and the set up is excellent. Well acted, taut and tense. The creepy crawlies and claustrophobic atmosphere is great. The sequel was Meh but continues the same story.....you may want to give it a watch one time to get a conclusion.....it was decent enough. But the original to me is one of the better horror films in last decade and a half. Amazing how old this movie is now.

Midsommar took a few viewings to really appreciate. I find it to be just a mind bending decent into cult madness. The other really cool thing is the film was almost entirely during the day once they got to the Midsommar festival. The movie is filled with foreshadowing all over the place. Very well filmed. I have the 4K Directors Cut which I purchased from A4. It really impacted me this film and every time I watch it (3 times now) I think about it for days at a time. Same thing with Hereditary....which is by the same director. That film is flat out nuts. A slow burn too.....but really horrifying.

Tomorrow night my son and I are going to Rocky 4 The Directors cut for one night only. He never saw the film like me on the Big Screen and next to Rocky this is my favorite sequel of all the Rocky movies (Rocky III right there too). It just has amazing training montages, music and just a great Rocky movie all around. I am really excited to see the 45 minutes of additional scenes that were cut/redone. Also there will be a decent sized interview with Sly before the movie starts.

Pumped.

First movie I distinctly remember seeing in theaters was Rocky IV; my dad and grandfather took me. Glad they had good tastes in movies.

[Armor and Sword]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

First movie I distinctly remember seeing in theaters was Rocky IV; my dad and grandfather took me. Glad they had good tastes in movies.

I was 15 and distinctly remember the experience when we saw it opening night…..made out with a super hot girl too name Jenny during the movie.

Yeah the 80’s ruled.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Love Rocky IV to death…never once have I seen it and thought I need another 45 minutes on this. Perfect as is.

Finally saw Shang-Chi, I liked it a lot. In the first fight scene, was thinking wow this is like Crouching Tiger. Then you move to the bus and it’s like wow this is like Jackie Chan. Then fake Mandarin shows up and it’s like oh yeah this is a Marvel movie. But I’ll take what I can get. Need a martial arts movie binge now.

[JayBee74]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Love Rocky IV to death…never once have I seen it and thought I need another 45 minutes on this. Perfect as is.

I remember watching a blitz of trailers ahead of R4 and thinking, “well it’s going to be sad but it will be compelling”, but the bottom line is I wish they didn’t go there.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

It’s my mom’s favorite movie so it’s turned into a comedy for us over the years and now we root for Drago. “I DEFEAT ALL MAN” “You will lose” “If he dies, he dies” “YOU CANT WIN!” “If I can change…” a quote goldmine, it’s silly in the best way.

[Armor and Sword]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Heading out for Rocky 4 Rocky vs Drago Director’s Cut here in a few minutes and will give my thoughts tonight when I get back.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[JayBee74]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Stallone must be bored.

[Armor and Sword]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Love Rocky IV to death…never once have I seen it and thought I need another 45 minutes on this. Perfect as is.

Finally saw Shang-Chi, I liked it a lot. In the first fight scene, was thinking wow this is like Crouching Tiger. Then you move to the bus and it’s like wow this is like Jackie Chan. Then fake Mandarin shows up and it’s like oh yeah this is a Marvel movie. But I’ll take what I can get. Need a martial arts movie binge now.

SO he did not add 45 minutes to the movie he recut the entire movie and add 45 minutes of new scenes replacing the original cut.

So.......after seeing Rocky 4 too many times to remember.......this new directors cut was a totally different feel for the movie.

I am going to put this in spoilers for those that want to see it and not know anything.

Spoiler

So first off.....LOL Sly basically reduced Bridgette Nelsons role.....to nothing. LOL. Totally made her a non character and cut 95% of her lines out as well as her camera time. Talk about a bitter divorce!!!! LOL good for you Sly.

He re-did a lot of music in certain scenes. He also completely redid the opening scenes, the montage credits of the movie.....he really did a lot of tinkering. I really did not like it. It felt......weird. It felt disjointed and he tried to really tone down the entire 1985 feel of this film. He went way too far and the charm of he movie is basically stripped. There were only a few moments I liked what he did in this movie over the original (Apollos funeral in particular).....but overall......really meh.

Bottom line for me is I prefer the original cut far more than this Directors Cut. I will probably never watch this cut again nor purchase it when it eventually comes to BD. Not interested. I was disappointed. The film lost its tension, flow and flare. Was not a good re-cut at all IMO. But......I had to see it because I was such a huge fan of the original and wanted my son to see a Rocky film on the Silver Screen.

But......it was a bust. I am sure there will be fans of it.....and people who think it had more “heart” for lack of a better term. But what made Rocky 4 so good was it’s flamboyance and MTV like approach. The original cut was taut, paced extremely well and had intensity. Drago was a monster. In this recut.....he humanized him.....way too much. He did not feel like a villain anymore. I just did not like the decisions and also the modernization of the movie. It lost most of it’s 1985 charm......meh.

A fail for me. Wish I had saved my money to be honest.

[DJ]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Thanks for the review, Armor. I had a feeling the re-cut would turn out the way you described. I'll stick with the OG Rocky IV.

[JohnyBlacks]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Recently finished a series, not a movie. Sopranos, recommended to watch.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N7fOOJUpeaY" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Apex - 9 out of 10 for me. Straight to the point movie. I love movies like that, straight to the point with no unnecessary fluff to drag it out longer then it need to be.

[truongtuphong]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

idk that you guys can watch this movie in your coutries, but I so much love Better days. It is just about 2 hours, but I cry almost all these 2 hours

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Armor, I liked your Rocky vs Drago review, but I feel a little differently. And fwiw I saw the original in the theater when I was in high school lol. Its a fun movie, the original cut.

But I think RvD is a better Rocky movie. I get the vibe Sly was going for here, and for me this will be my preferred cut going forward.

It does have a slightly awkward cut here and there, I think original flows better, but I prefer what he put in RvD to what he removed. Only one or two choices I didn't dig, but liked it overall, and definitely prefer the sound (more realistic).

This Directors Cut will be much more polarizing than most, especially with the big reduction of the 80s vibe.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Operation Sports mobile app

[Armor and Sword]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Armor, I liked your Rocky vs Drago review, but I feel a little differently. And fwiw I saw the original in the theater when I was in high school lol. Its a fun movie, the original cut.

But I think RvD is a better Rocky movie. I get the vibe Sly was going for here, and for me this will be my preferred cut going forward.

It does have a slightly awkward cut here and there, I think original flows better, but I prefer what he put in RvD to what he removed. Only one or two choices I didn't dig, but liked it overall, and definitely prefer the sound (more realistic).

This Directors Cut will be much more polarizing than most, especially with the big reduction of the 80s vibe.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Operation Sports mobile app

I feel you. The vibe is a lot more somber and he really removed the entire 1985 vibe.

The fight sounds were more realistic. Agreed on that.

I felt the first 15 minutes felt clumsy and jarring. And it did set the tone of the entire first act.

It is certainly different and I did not hate it. However I went ahead and watched the original cut again and still prefer it. What made that movie stand out from the other sequels was…..it was not the same formula and they went for that slicker MTV generation vibe and it worked for that movie.

Also the new cut was really grainy.

All these movies (particularly Rocky thru Rocky 4) need a serious remaster and transfer to 4K HD.

I have the 40th anniversary BD box set of all 6 films and other than Rocky the transfers are terrible, fulled with black specs and cheap transfers. This series deserves the 4K HD treatment.

If had to rank all the Rocky flicks:

Rocky
Rocky III
Rocky IV
Rocky Balboa
Rocky II
Rocky V

Final answer!


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports