What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?

The problem with The Mummy is that it's just barely good enough to pass muster. Back when it came out, I _hated_ it because, like Egg, I'm a big Karloff fan and I was hoping for, you know, an actual remake of The Mummy. But in the long years between Indiana Jones films, I softened to it and it became something of a reasonably fun junk food movie that I'd watch if it were on TV or whatever. There isn't anything great about it, there aren't even any particularly notable scenes. A lot of it is borderline bad. But it is watchable and mildly entertaining, and truth be told they don't really make many movies like that anymore. And they didn't back in 1999 either. So it has almost kind of a singular appeal that helps it squeak by its all very valid criticisms.

Speaking of Indy, I let River and Scarlett watched them. Scarlett declared that they were "terrible". River loved them. In Temple of Doom, he said "That lady is so annoying!"

We actually didn't have Kingdom of the Crystal Skull so I bought a $5 copy of it from the Book Nook. I had not actually seen it since I saw it in the theater. Mainly I just remembered of course the refrigerator, LeBouef and the monkeys, and Cate Blanchett. Once again, I found that I liked it a lot more than most people seemed to have, and once more I had the feeling that if it had come out pre-internet it wouldn't have been completely shit all over by the fans. It's at least as good as Temple of Doom, and it has a fair share of the kind of "no way" silliness that is in ALL of the Indy movies. Some of it hasn't held up very well, the effects are particularly bad. But the overall story is good, I like getting Marion Ravenwood back into the story, and the aliens...well, shit, if you're going to have Bible ghosts then why the hell not. Indy is just Indy, and that's fine...he comes across as older and tireder which is as it should be. I really like the allusions to him fighting in WWII, I think that's a neat touch and it also keeps pace with the other films sort of alluding to all of these other adventures but never showing them.

The monkey thing is pretty much the lowest point of the entire series though, that is pretty bad.

Mr. White wrote: The CG may be dated, but I enjoy this version of The Mummy quite a bit. Some choice lines and characters throughout. ("Do you swear?" "Every damn day"). Brandon Fraser gave us the first real alternative to Indy with his Rick O'Connell.

It (along with PotC) may be guilty for inspiring a string of bad cg/historical adventure flicks that came out during the 00s, but this one is good fun. No sillier or worse than Last Crusade.

See, I watched the original Pirates of the Caribbean the other day and that one holds up just fine. Yes, there are some really bad CG skeletons/zombies in there, but not nearly as unforgivable as that horrible CG mouth of Imhotep. I rolled my eyes every time his cartoon jaw moved.

It's funny because when I got done with Pirates my primary takeaway was..."man for kids that grew up with Pirates....this is their Indiana Jones." I don't care for the second and third PotC movies, but the back to basics 4th film was entertaining. After re-watching the first film I'm actually kind of excited to see another one next year. I hope that it stays closer to the first and fourth films and away from 2 & 3's batshit insane story arcs.

I will say one thing about both Pirates and The Mummy...people knew how to direct actions scenes back then. Like holy shit...when did filming a sword fight or hand to hand combat scene become a lost art? While watching the Mummy I really appreciated how enjoyable and well filmed the action was. Since the advent of "shakey cam" and flash cut editing, fighting and action scenes are almost un-watchable in films these days.

Michael Barnes wrote:
Speaking of Indy, I let River and Scarlett watched them. Scarlett declared that they were "terrible". River loved them. In Temple of Doom, he said "That lady is so annoying!"

We actually didn't have Kingdom of the Crystal Skull so I bought a $5 copy of it from the Book Nook. I had not actually seen it since I saw it in the theater. Mainly I just remembered of course the refrigerator, LeBouef and the monkeys, and Cate Blanchett. Once again, I found that I liked it a lot more than most people seemed to have, and once more I had the feeling that if it had come out pre-internet it wouldn't have been completely shit all over by the fans. It's at least as good as Temple of Doom, and it has a fair share of the kind of "no way" silliness that is in ALL of the Indy movies. Some of it hasn't held up very well, the effects are particularly bad. But the overall story is good, I like getting Marion Ravenwood back into the story, and the aliens...well, shit, if you're going to have Bible ghosts then why the hell not. Indy is just Indy, and that's fine...he comes across as older and tireder which is as it should be. I really like the allusions to him fighting in WWII, I think that's a neat touch and it also keeps pace with the other films sort of alluding to all of these other adventures but never showing them.

The monkey thing is pretty much the lowest point of the entire series though, that is pretty bad.

I will gladly go on the record and say that Crystal Skull is a perfectly fine movie. The fridge scene is no less plausible than the raft out of the airplane in ToD and several other daring escapes. The aliens thing perfectly fits the 1950s atomic age sci fi era they were going for and I had no problem with it. The ending does look pretty bad (again CG pales in comparison to what practical effects could have pulled off). Overall, it's an enjoyable romp and I think it fits in perfectly with the rest of Indy's adventures.

Like holy shit...when did filming a sword fight or hand to hand combat scene become a lost art?

Well, people used to go to see action movies to see PHYSICAL ACTION. That was the point. You saw stunts, real chases, real running/jumping, real fights, real events actually transpiring and captured on camera and edited into a narrative. Now, you see an action move to see CG Transformers inflicting impossible levels of destruction on their CGI surrounds and each other and it's "awesome". The only risk is that one of the dudes in post might have gotten an ass cramp from sitting at the desk for too long.

Compare any recent car chase to the one in Bullitt...or even better, the one in Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry with the helicopter. No stuntman's union in the world would approve that shit these days. It's all 100% real, it really happened, and it was al coordinated and choreographed by professionals. And that makes it thrilling whereas you can watch an entire Fast and Furious film and never get that sense of danger and daring.

This is all part of why Fury Road was received as it was...because it was THRILLING to see real stunts, real actors, real props in dangerous-looking situations.

(I can't remember if this has been posted here before or not.)

While the beginning talks about comedy, the bulk of it is about how Jackie Chan films action scenes to make them seem more real.

Went on my first cruise and watched Batman v Superman and Allegiant. Both were terrible. Batman was worse but Allegiant made me lol a few times at how stupid it was. I think some people were offended

I had never seen any of the Divergent movies before. I don't know how they got these good actors to be in this thing.

Oh and we re watched Shaun the Sheep and saw Big Hero 6 for the first time which I liked and Emily likes better than Shaun the Sheep, which blows my mind.

On the plane I saw Sicario which was fantastic and the first half of Midnight Special which I'll Polish off today.

Black Barney: what did you think of going on a cruise? Was it a supposedly fun thing you'll never do again?


Just watched Ocean's 11 with my kids who were seeing it for the first time. I just dropped in and then couldn't leave. A fun movie, and I love the idea that there is an underground group of brilliant con men who all know each other and sit around bored with life and have to pull off a job just because. It's like a documentary about ADHD.

I surprisingly really liked it. I think I'll do it again maybe as early as next year. I'm going to try to find one that leaves a port I can drive to cuz the cost of the flights was almost as much as one of the cruise tickets.

Also there are lots of bad poker players on these ships, it's great.

On the flight back I watched Midnight Special which wasn’t special at all. And I tried starting Jungle book but got instantly bored and tried Eye in the Sky a second time which was great but remarkably and understandably less tense when you know what happens.

I got to watch about 45 minutes of Dune yesterday. It turns out that my wife and daughter aren't fans. The really sad thing is, as much as I like the novel, while I'm watching the movie I keep thinking, " If I want to watch a movie that looks like this, I really should be watching Chronicles of Riddick." Which is sad. The wife and daughter solved my problem, though, and switched it to Transformers. At that point it was time for me to go beat on my raspberry pi project some more.

RobertB wrote: I got to watch about 45 minutes of Dune yesterday. It turns out that my wife and daughter aren't fans. The really sad thing is, as much as I like the novel, while I'm watching the movie I keep thinking, " If I want to watch a movie that looks like this, I really should be watching Chronicles of Riddick." Which is sad. The wife and daughter solved my problem, though, and switched it to Transformers. At that point it was time for me to go beat on my raspberry pi project some more.

Dune is an ambitious failure of a movie. There are some great visuals, but the story is an incoherent mess.

I don't think it's sad. Chronicles of Riddick is also a noble failure!

I watched the new Star Trek movie yesterday. This movie is.... a summer blockbuster. In fact that should have been the subtitle. It's campy in the extreme; they lean hard into the whole "Bones and Spock are at it again!" bit.

If you are a Trek superfan you might enjoy it, but it's not worth theater price.

Saw Green Room. Really liked it, and it would make for a great board game.

Also saw Midnight Special. Truly an excellent film that makes you really love the characters and worry about them.

Shellhead wrote:

Dune is an ambitious failure of a movie. There are some great visuals, but the story is an incoherent mess.

I saw it when it came out, and when we went into the theater they gave us a flyer to explain to us what we were seeing. I had read Dune already, so I didn't need a flyer, but that was a bad sign. I left, shall we say, a tad bit disappointed. I felt the movie sucked in pretty much every way possible. As time wore on, I started appreciating the art direction, and that at least someone took a stab at a movie that should have really been a trilogy. But like you said, it's a mess.

hotseatgames wrote: I watched the new Star Trek movie yesterday. This movie is.... a summer blockbuster. In fact that should have been the subtitle. It's campy in the extreme; they lean hard into the whole "Bones and Spock are at it again!" bit.

If you are a Trek superfan you might enjoy it, but it's not worth theater price.

Storywise, not really, but the spectacle was among the best ever in ST. The Yorktown starbase is preposterous in design, but also really cool in an MC Escher kind of way, and that initial space battle is fantastic and intense (though they kind of ripped off the style from BSG's raiders). The Justin Lin influence was apparent, for the better in terms of energy and action. Definitely not as cerebral, though, which is something you do expect with ST. I enjoyed it a lot, overall, though.