What movies have you seen recently?

[Armor and Sword]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

How’d you feel about the sequel with Shia LeBeauf?

I actually really enjoyed it. Great performances all the way around.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I appreciate your reviews...I'm curious what you think of it?

I left short impressions about this several years back:

https://forums.operationsports.com/f...post2047824807

I'll gladly add onto them later if you'd like.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Jurassic World Dominion

I don't know whether this is a fabled memory, but a few years ago I think I read an interview where director Colin Trevorrow said that the story of Dominion was always his ultimate go-to, that Jurassic World and Fallen Kingdom were the stepping stones to there (almost as if it was gathering the right build-up with characters, fan anticipation, budget, and technological advances). For every reason imaginable, I believed him. Where Fallen Kingdom ended, you had endless opportunity to explore the world with dinosaurs running amok and causing mayhem. Final shots of Fallen Kingdom included the T-Rex at a zoo, the Mosasaurus attacking surfers, a velociraptor overlooking a suburban California, and pterodactyls towering above a tourist-populated Las Vegas. It was all there; think The Lost World's San Diego epilogue but on a grander scale with more dinosaurs. Throw in the military, philosophical conversations regarding their eradication versus their survival, advance some more characters, and you have a bona fide fun summer blockbuster.

This didn't happen.

No matter what my actual opinion is of the film hereon out, I can't help but be letdown with disappointment that Trevorrow either deluded himself into believing this was the kind of conclusion that fans yearned for ala War for the Planet of the Apes (which has a much more compelling protagonist that makes it work despite its story misdirection) or J.A. Bayona pulled a Rion Johnson and put him in a corner with the concluding chapter that he had to rectify and had no actual written plan of his own. And it's not that there isn't a medium where this story doesn't work just fine. I can imagine the main plot elements being adapted from, say, a novelization or a comic series. Hell, there was even that Battle at Big Rock short that was done which could have told these elements on their own, or at the very least introduced them. Instead, they threw in extremely disjointed story bits for this final chapter that seemed to have no source of origin. They felt like they were the contrivance meant to unite our two character groups, and nothing more.

Dominion starts off very okay. It shows that it can slow down, have a genuine heartbeat, provide pathos for the existence of our reptilian brethren, trot the globe to see how they have integrated (or not) with our species, and reintroduce characters new and old (with possible internal conflicts) to show how they would pave their globetrotting paths. They even fix some of the poorly written aspects of Fallen Kingdom such as maturing Franklin's character, giving better use to the laser-targeting attack system, and giving Maisie a more believable backstory. All of this is supported with fantastic animatronic work and much improved CGI blending with it. I thought the visuals were mostly a knockout and supported the onscreen setups.

Not only that, but Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum kindled a similar flame to their interactions in JP1 and you sat forward to watch those moments. I caught myself smiling quite a few times during those exchanges. Jeff Goldblum was especially used well as he was able to inject entertainment and comedy through his dialogue where the film otherwise was flat with on its attempts. They were not small cameo appearances and served crucial roles to the film. You buy where they are in their lives, and even though TLW and JP3 are retconned the actors clearly tapped into those experiences for their performances to accentuate their statuses.

Speaking of buy-in, I would have given this film a long leash on a lot of things they could have done or did with this movie. We hit the point where we can embrace the ridiculous in several places. Want to make Blue become Owen's pet and attack guard? Go right on ahead. Want to modernize the action and give our protagonists more ability and skill that you might see in the Fast & Furious franchise or with our human Marvel heroes? If the dinosaurs get their large share of the action as well, I'm on board (the Malta scene is a perfect example of this). Want to pay homage to the previous films as you conclude your franchise? That is what I expect. I also expect them to diversify this on a tonal level where need be as to not become too stale, and I think I was feeling that here. Hell, there is nearly a half-hour duration where not a single dinosaur is shown or brought up, and if it's in anticipation for what is to come while building character or story then I will let it play out.

The problem really arose both when the movie decided to abandon the broad, peregrinating experience confine its setting. Dominion is the saga's epic conclusion and did not need to put on this hat. This was a major rug pull from what was anticipated, and soured itself spending an excruciatingly long time on something that left little entertainment, tension, or dinosaurs. When they do show up, the moments become a little one-note. Out good guys have plot armor such as raptors that can run at vehicle speeds but can't catch up to running characters, or when they are cornered they just get roared at or ran/flown/swam past until they find their way out of the situation, or when they know they can stand around and trust that a carnivore won't eat them because reasons. Bryce Dallas Howard got the best/most suspenseful dino encounters at this stage of the film and they actually work extremely well, but for a near 150-minute movie these are few and far between, and for this franchise you really have to sit and ask yourself if there is a chance that she won't survive any of these instances.

A lot of this could have been made better if our Rexy got some great moments, but even she was backdropped and upstaged too often to matter, or when she does come on screen it seems to be a rehashed occurrence from something of old. She looked and sounded good, though. I want to restate how good the dinosaurs actually looked here, and I want to commend the visual effects departments for what they were able to do in that department. If there was a niggle I'd have here, it would probably be in the weight of the raptor movement which felt too light and jittery. That probably only makes sense in my head, but the rest looked really good. If knowing that I would have to wait 21 years after 2001's Jurassic Park III to finally get the sequel with visuals that really soar, I would gladly take it. I just wish it was with a better film, or at least with a film that I would want to rewatch over and again. Instead, this left an aftertaste that makes me want to instead go and watch Top Gun: Maverick for a fourth time. Outside of demo material, I don't even know if I will be a completionist and get this on UHD a few months down the line. Normally one shouldn't fault a film for letting their own speculation become expectation, but in this particular instance I very much believe that you can. All signs and promotions hinted toward a different kind of movie and story, but despite the good parts it did have this was too much of a misguided, ineffectual whimper.

Wayne Knight sums up my viewing experience with this film best in the first Jurassic Park: "We got Dodgson here! See, nobody cares."

[Madden08PCgmr]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Deer Hunter (1978)... I liked little about the movie. Streep was nominated for her first Academy Award and you have to wonder if that mostly came from her ultimatum that Cazale not be fired from the picture. She's fine in it but her part became bloated when she was given the freedom to write her own lines.

Agreed, easily one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

Completely wretched in every way.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The Terminator (4.5/5), T2: Judgment Day (6/5)

Heard an old podcast argument about which one is better and decided to watch them again as it's been forever. They're just both so good. Have to give the nod to 2 though personally. I watched the extended cut, and somehow at 2 and a half hours, they didn't waste any time.

"We're not gonna make it are we? People I mean." "It's in your nature to destroy yourselves." "Yeah, major drag huh?"..."The unknown future rolls toward us. I face it for the first time with a sense of hope. Because if a machine, a Terminator can learn the value of human life, maybe we can too." Could've been just an easy sci-fi action movie, but there's so much heart in it.

Anyway, two questions: First, does T1 have the best elevator pitch in film history? "Ruthless killing machine sent back in time from the future to kill the mother of a future rebellion leader" just has classic written all over it to me. Off the top of my head, I can only think of The Matrix. I would say Planet of the Apes or Blade Runner but those are both based on books first. And second, between this and Alien, which is the better franchise? Both start off with 2 legendary movies, then tail off into absolute garbage over time. I think Alien is better than both Terminators, but both Terminators are better than Aliens. After that it gets tough but Alien got dragged through Alien vs. Predator so maybe it's not.

[J_Posse]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The Terminator (4.5/5), T2: Judgment Day (6/5)

Heard an old podcast argument about which one is better and decided to watch them again as it's been forever. They're just both so good. Have to give the nod to 2 though personally. I watched the extended cut, and somehow at 2 and a half hours, they didn't waste any time.

"We're not gonna make it are we? People I mean." "It's in your nature to destroy yourselves." "Yeah, major drag huh?"..."The unknown future rolls toward us. I face it for the first time with a sense of hope. Because if a machine, a Terminator can learn the value of human life, maybe we can too." Could've been just an easy sci-fi action movie, but there's so much heart in it.

Anyway, two questions: First, does T1 have the best elevator pitch in film history? "Ruthless killing machine sent back in time from the future to kill the mother of a future rebellion leader" just has classic written all over it to me. Off the top of my head, I can only think of The Matrix. I would say Planet of the Apes or Blade Runner but those are both based on books first. And second, between this and Alien, which is the better franchise? Both start off with 2 legendary movies, then tail off into absolute garbage over time. I think Alien is better than both Terminators, but both Terminators are better than Aliens. After that it gets tough but Alien got dragged through Alien vs. Predator so maybe it's not.

Terminator: Dark Fate is better than all of the Alien films after Aliens, IMO.

You could also argue that Terminator: Salivation is too, but that film wasn't received well critically.

Official HQ of Bills Backer/Spurs Nation

[Speedy]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Margin Call (2011)

It was rated relatively high on Netflix and on the WiKi page so I gave it a shot, as I like finance movies. However, I thought the movie was absolutely terrible...the beginning showed massive lay-offs (which had no meaningful impact to the climax) and the movie was filled with an incredible amount of ambiguity on several fronts. It seemed to me whomever wrote the script had no clear understanding of what happened with Lehman Bros. and Goldman Sachs in 2008, yet tried to write a movie about it.

EDIT: Didn't see A&S's thoughts on it but agreed, just a big "meh"

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I don’t think they were trying to tell the story of Goldman or Lehman Brothers outside of the idea that if Goldman in real life (or the firm in the movie) didn’t offload their bad product they would’ve been crushed like Lehman Brothers was. I thinks it’s more about the philosophy of the people behind the crisis than it’s supposed to be an explanation of the crisis itself. I’m trying to think of another pair of movies that are similarly made about the same thing but I’m different ways and for some reason the only thing I can think of is Schindlers List and JoJo Rabbit lol.

[Speedy]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I don’t think they were trying to tell the story of Goldman or Lehman Brothers outside of the idea that if Goldman in real life (or the firm in the movie) didn’t offload their bad product they would’ve been crushed like Lehman Brothers was. I thinks it’s more about the philosophy of the people behind the crisis than it’s supposed to be an explanation of the crisis itself. I’m trying to think of another pair of movies that are similarly made about the same thing but I’m different ways and for some reason the only thing I can think of is Schindlers List and JoJo Rabbit lol.

Yeah, I get that.

But the primary point of the movie is that they have assets they're holding which is FORECASTED to make them bankrupt if they don't sell it quick. The first 1/3 of the movie is about this forecast yet there is SO MUCH dialog skirting around explaining it. I mean, even the exchange between the analyst and the CEO was using analogies to explain it. IDK, I just didn't buy it...felt like the bosses I have in real life that talk out of their rear-end because they're 2nd/3rd hand explaining it.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I see what you mean I think. To Nolan or to not to Nolan, that is the question. Probably hard to answer for directors in movies like this.

[~LiverpoolRed~]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Jurassic World Dominion

Saw it on Saturday. We couldn't believe the amount of really young children in there. They were screaming the place down in there.

[Rubio809]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Saw it on Saturday. We couldn't believe the amount of really young children in there. They were screaming the place down in there.

Define "really young" because there were 2 babies in our showing along with a bunch of 5-6 year olds. I took my 8 year old boy and thought that was pushing it.

[~LiverpoolRed~]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Around 5 or 6 years old at most.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Ambulance

Unlike Michael Bay, I'm going to make this one quick. It would have been a lot better if they trimmed 40 minutes off the run time. I like the abundance of characters they threw into the mix and gave background for, but about a half hour in I had to pause for a moment and saw the time remaining and was wondering what they'd do with the rest of it. For a one-dimensional plot, Bay certainly stretched it out as much as he could (not that it wasn't compelling).

I'd say the aerial camera work was a little too overzealous for the grounded action that it delivered, though. His style over substance mannerisms work for the ADHD crowd he panders to (alongside the little character quirks, which I'm admittedly okay with), but I think it should be saved for his Transformers films instead. The freneticism fit the film just fine, but it would've been served better with a Tony Scott kind of direction, rest his soul. Continuity editing was also a bit of a mess, and that is a common staple of a Bay film.

It definitely wasn't bad, but if it was 95 minutes instead of 135 it would've been much more replayable. It's nice to see that mid-budget action films will still get greenlight time to time, though.

[Bard]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Saw two in the past week.

1) Top Gun: Maverick
- 8.5/10. Was never in love with the original, and would honestly rate it a 6/10. With this one, they did so many things correctly. The references back, the attitude going forward, the actor choices were all very well done. There were some plot areas I wasn't a fan of, and some awkwardly written moments, but it was a very solid movie.

2) Jurassic World: Dominion
- 7/10. This might have been the second best Jurassic movie they have made so far, with the original being number one. The addition of the original cast really brought this one up for me. Obviously it is a poorly written movie like they all are, and they really lacked air time for dinosaurs in some parts, but it made up for it actually having a decent story this time around. Going to watch it for a second time, but they did this well. I feel like they could milk out one or even two more movies after this (I know it's the last...for now). I just didn't feel completely done with the franchise after this one?

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