The Official Last Movie You Saw Thread (Part 2)

[Spiritof96]

A decent M. Night Shyamalan movie (there have been precisely three of them) is still an M. Night Shyamalan movie, and with that comes all the typical narrative lapses and disappointing conclusions.

Avery accurate summary.

I can never totally get the "What a twist" gag from Robot Chicken out of my head when watching his stuff.

[Joneslab]

About halfway through Stranger Things 2.

Again, so incredibly well-made. Every shot is a master class. Also I think the music might be better this season and I didn't think that was possible.

[KCKUKFan]

About halfway through Stranger Things 2.

Again, so incredibly well-made. Every shot is a master class. Also I think the music might be better this season and I didn't think that was possible.

Wait till you get to "that" episode. You'll know it when you see it. Almost a complete disaster that threatens to wreck the entire season... luckily, it rebounds and sticks the landing in a big way.

[Blue Heaven]

I am on episode 5 and am loving it. So far I believe it's better than last season. I agree with Will, the music is better this season.

[Joneslab]

Thor: Ragnarok.

I've never seen either of the first two Thor movies. I know who Loki is, and I get that Odin is their dad, and I got the fact that there's a portal that could transport the characters between this mythical world and ours...but some of the inside baseball stuff was a little over my head. But no matter: this is a movie that any average six-year-old could enjoy. A lot of slow-motion, Matrix-style fight scenes. A lot of monsters being beheaded and disemboweled. And a lot of jokes. So many jokes that the movie sort of becomes an outright action comedy at one point. (Guardians of the Galaxy may have a case if they want to take the makers of Thor to court.)

But for all its predictably, most of the jokes hit. The funny stuff is far better than Cate Blanchett's scary stuff, and when the movie works it's when Thor and Loki are riffing on each other. There are a lot of other nice touches in this, from the Stranger Things-influenced soundtrack to the bright color palette to Jeff Goldblum nailing his role as the hedonistic, Donald Trump-like ruler.

For those reasons this is recommended. Definitely worth the admission price to see it on a big screen.

[Joneslab]

And I really believe the second season of Stranger Things might be better than the first. Which is crazy for a drama series and almost literally never happens.

We're on the last episode. I thought Eleven's solo episode was fine--definitely the weakest of this season but there were things I liked about it. Didn't come close to ruining the show or anything like that.

I still believe these people set out to make an '80s homage, a pastiche to King and Spielberg, and came out of this with a stone cold masterpiece.

[KCKUKFan]

And I really believe the second season of Stranger Things might be better than the first. Which is crazy for a drama series and almost literally never happens.

We're on the last episode. I thought Eleven's solo episode was fine--definitely the weakest of this season but there were things I liked about it. Didn't come close to ruining the show or anything like that.

I still believe these people set out to make an '80s homage, a pastiche to King and Spielberg, and came out of this with a stone cold masterpiece.

When does something stop being a pastiche and just become a copycat?

Because as I was watching with my wife, I kept mentioning how every idea or setpiece was cribbed from an 80s horror or action flick. And I was usually able to peg the exact scene from the exact movie it was "inspired" by. Don't get me wrong, I love Member Berries (word to South Park), and I'm all about some good 80s nostalgia, but it's also the very thing that's probably holding "Stranger Things" back from being that "stone cold masterpiece." Don't get me wrong, it's highly enjoyable, well-acted, (usually) well-written, and crafted so expertly you'd almost think 80s Spielberg himself was behind the camera, but it's so blatantly unoriginal that I feel like something is... missing. Two of the characters even had a little meta reference this season where they're talking about the show being derivative. Just because you can admit you're derivative and laugh about it doesn't stop the fact.

Eleven's episode was hideous on a number of levels. And it creates a problem for the Duffer Brothers going forward: that episode proves that whenever the action leaves Hawkins, the show slams into a wall and crashes horrifically. If they're smart, they'll call it quits after season three. Make a great trilogy (like so many 80s franchises), and keep it moving. They say they want to stretch it to five or six seasons, but I can't imagine that being a good idea if they want to protect the quality of their creation. Also, who thought it was a good idea to sideline Finn Wolfhard for the majority of this season? The kid is an absolute star ready to blow up ("It" proved that), and he was the main focus of season one. This season, he was basically sidelined to Will's bedside for four straight episodes. Weak.

Small nitpicks, though. The show is great.

[Joneslab]

When does something stop being a pastiche and just become a copycat?

Probably only if it's done poorly.

If the acting is that good, the scenes that scary, the feels that well-done, and everything else in the show kind of nailed down to every detail, then it becomes kind of its own thing.

Because you really can't make anything set in the '80s--or any decade--without it being a little bit of a copycat. Most of these copycats are sort of pale imitations though...and usually they're not really trying to ascend to anything more than just, "Let's make an '80s rip-off and make it look cool."

I found myself paying attention to the little details in most of the scenes in Stranger Things. In one scene a character is drinking Tab. In another you see a T-shirt with an emblem on it that everybody was wearing in the '80s. There are hundreds of little moments like this.

If it were just that the show would be interesting enough. But the fact that it fuses in this really interesting sci-fi story about a small town with another world resting below it makes it so much better than just a knock-off.

I agree that the show isn't as interesting theoretically when it moves out of Hawkins. But I thought that was the point of Eleven's episode: that she sees the outside world and that she (SPOILER ALERT) returns to Hawkins.

The whole pay-off of that episode is when she walks through the door in the next episode. And it's an awesome pay-off. The whole point was that she left her friends, didn't like what her powers gave her the possibility of turning into, and then came back.

[KCKUKFan]

Probably only if it's done poorly.

If the acting is that good, the scenes that scary, the feels that well-done, and everything else in the show kind of nailed down to every detail, then it becomes kind of its own thing.

Because you really can't make anything set in the '80s--or any decade--without it being a little bit of a copycat. Most of these copycats are sort of pale imitations though...and usually they're not really trying to ascend to anything more than just, "Let's make an '80s rip-off and make it look cool."

I found myself paying attention to the little details in most of the scenes in Stranger Things. In one scene a character is drinking Tab. In another you see a T-shirt with an emblem on it that everybody was wearing in the '80s. There are hundreds of little moments like this.

If it were just that the show would be interesting enough. But the fact that it fuses in this really interesting sci-fi story about a small town with another world resting below it makes it so much better than just a knock-off.

I agree that the show isn't as interesting theoretically when it moves out of Hawkins. But I thought that was the point of Eleven's episode: that she sees the outside world and that she (SPOILER ALERT) returns to Hawkins.

The whole pay-off of that episode is when she walks through the door in the next episode. And it's an awesome pay-off. The whole point was that she left her friends, didn't like what her powers gave her the possibility of turning into, and then came back.

There could've been other ways to build this story up that worked better than "The X-Men Warriors Take Chicago" with shoddy dialogue, hideous acting, and a feel from a completely different show. Eleven's character and the actress that portrays her deserve better. As much as I loved the dynamic between Hopper and Eleven, her character deserved a better arc as a whole this year. It goes back to what I said about Finn Wolfhard: last year, they were the two focal points, and it felt like they were sort've sidelined this year until they needed her to come back and save everybody at the end.

The whole subplot with Eleven's "sister" felt unnecessary and shoehorned in, and unless it pays off next year (I'm sure they'll try), I thought it was an epic mistake. The two episodes immediately after were so great that it removed the bad taste of that episode from my mouth, but my wife and I both were shocked about how low the quality of episode seven was. And, based on the online reaction, it seems that we're not the only ones.

[Joneslab]

I think the idea of there being other kids out there is pretty cool in and of itself. That might be where they go next, don't know.

But they've hit pretty much every note right so far so I'd expect them to in Season 3, but if they don't and go astray then it's one of the better two-season runs of a sci-fi show I've had the pleasure of watching.

[KCKUKFan]

I think the idea of there being other kids out there is pretty cool in and of itself. That might be where they go next, don't know.

But they've hit pretty much every note right so far so I'd expect them to in Season 3, but if they don't and go astray then it's one of the better two-season runs of a sci-fi show I've had the pleasure of watching.

Yup.

I want more about Upside Down. Before the season was released, I read that the Duffer Brothers were going to go deeper into the Upside Down, and I didn't really feel we got that. Instead we got some dog-demogorgons, and the Mind Flayer, which, while awesome, wasn't really given much time or explanation. More Upside Down in season three -- it's the show's greatest storytelling ace in the hole.

[Old School]

How does it compare to the original? I'm scared to go.

As for the SW trailer. I have come close to losing all interest in this formerly beloved franchise.

I've seen it once, but am eager to see it again. I suspect that, like the original, there will be many things that one only catches in a subsequent viewing, with all of the visual richness, unusual storyline, etc.

I liked it and enjoyed it. It was long, but I liked it a lot. I went in pretty convinced that nothing could compare to the original. In a sense, I think that's true, just like nothing will ever recapture the original Star Wars film.

But I liked it. I think if you go in forfeiting the idea that it can be exactly like the original, you'll like it. Put another way, if this wasn't the sequel to Blade Runner, I think people would be a lot more impressed with it, but because people expect it to live up to something that is so unusual and unique (and excellent), it's easy to go in focused on comparisons instead of going in to just enjoy a film.

[KCKUKFan]

I felt like 2049 was slavishly faithful to the original, almost to the point of carbon copy. It was really good, but when it's just an updated version of a genuine genre classic, it can't help but to pale in comparison.

I feel like audiences will gravitate towards 2049 more down the line, much like they did for the original Blade Runner. It's a great movie, in its own right.

[KevinHall]

We saw The Man Who Invented Christmas on Thanksgiving Day. This is a tale of how Charles Dickens came to write A Christmas Carol. This based off the book by the same name which was basically a biography of Dickens that focused on that story. I read that book and it was very good. The movie is only about his writing of this short story. I'm sure there are some true parts to it but most is fictionalized. The movie drags at points and is a little too talky. Christopher Plummer does play a good Scrooge though. It plays more like a made for TV movie. I would just wait for it to come to Netflix or Amazon and not pay the theatre price to see it. It just isn't worth it. I would give it 2 1/2 starts out of five.

[Joneslab]

Boss Baby.

Anybody seen this? Surprisingly great. Loved it. It's new on Netflix if you're looking for a family flick--but it has some interesting things to say about families that would probably go over most kids' heads. Reminded me in some ways of the great Up.

Highest recommendation.

Hush.

Home invasion film that's been on Netflix for a few months. There's a Stephen King vibe going on here: a deaf-mute writer who lives by herself in the woods (seems inconvenient, but just go with it) is terrorized by a mask-wearing fiend with a neck tattoo. The neck tattoo is enough to want to see him dead, but he's a real baddie--and a good one too, stalking the main character through most of the movie in increasingly horrible ways.

This isn't as good as the tremendous You're Next, but there are some pretty good little set pieces, and at times it's genuinely scary. Recommended.

Shadow of Truth.

Netflix documentary series exported from Israel that owes a lot to Making a Murderer. The production value here is off the charts, and as you go along the story gets increasingly more bizarre. It's subtitled from the original Hebrew, and if you can tolerate the glottal language (very hard to listen to) then this is well worth the watch. It deals with many of the same "outsider" themes we're seeing in Donald Trump's America.

Highly recommended. Along with Making a Murderer and The Keepers, Netflix has put out some excellent true crime docs over the last year.