The Movie Thread

[RobYob]

Quelle shock Avatar 3 is quite underwhelming. Lots of the usual Cameron spectacle and I would say the bits that were actually fiery and ashy were actually interesting but the mass rehashing of Avatar 2 was pointless and on reflection an annoying waste of time.

Zootopia 2 I am a complete sucker for good animation and it is very good animation. So frenetic in pace though I really wonder if it had much substance. I'll happily rewatch it to check though and note another dozen Easter eggs I'm sure.

Die Hard of course it's still ace and at nearly forty years old embarrasses the hell out of most modern action movies, see above.

[zx6rkiller]

Probably late to the party: Black bag on Netflix.
Black Bag is a nice, mature spy thriller. Calm pace. Serious tone. It skips flashy action and obvious explanations. You pay attention, you follow along, and that feels right.
Nothing loud. Just a solid, adult thriller.

[Ascender]

Black Bag is great, one of my favourite movies of the year.

I've seen a few reviews of Avatar 3 where they've said it's a cinematic spectacle, has to be seen on a massive screen, but that the actual story. plot characters etc are all utter bobbins. I still find it a bit strange that James Cameron is devoting so much of his life to these movies.

[DaveE]

Probably late to the party: Black bag on Netflix.
Black Bag is a nice, mature spy thriller. Calm pace. Serious tone. It skips flashy action and obvious explanations. You pay attention, you follow along, and that feels right.
Nothing loud. Just a solid, adult thriller.

On Netflix?

I can't find that (no VPNs etc)

[DeskJockey]

Black Bag is great, one of my favourite movies of the year.

I've seen a few reviews of Avatar 3 where they've said it's a cinematic spectacle, has to be seen on a massive screen, but that the actual story. plot characters etc are all utter bobbins. I still find it a bit strange that James Cameron is devoting so much of his life to these movies.

Wasn't that what they said about the first two?

[Mito Man]

The first two Avatar films are his highest grossing, and if I remember correctly the first one made the most money in the world, so in terms of its most important metric it’s his most successful film series.
I don’t think they’re made for adults though…

[DaveE]

I don’t think they’re made for adults though…

Or for people with a functioning brain

I remember the first one - awful

Felt like watching someone playing a boring and pointless video game

Fool me once etc...

[RobYob]

The first two Avatar films are his highest grossing, and if I remember correctly the first one made the most money in the world, so in terms of its most important metric it’s his most successful film series.
I don’t think they’re made for adults though…

I watched True Lies for the umpteenth time last night, not sure the level of turning brain off is any lower than the first Avatar

Avatar is a great spectacle on the big screen and is the only time I've ever thought 3D was at all worthwhile. All the things my inner child wants, spaceships, mechs, giant flying things and a passable level of not stupid as to take away my suspension of disbelief.

Avatar 2 really pushed that last one with the distracting high frame rate (which I think was even worse in 3) additional mcguffins and goobers and a really indefensible resurrection of the first antagonist. Good baddies stay dead!

A3 was disapointing that it only spent half its run-time on anything new and felt like it went nowhere.

One of the few times I've found myself strongly agreeing with the critics over the audience ratings on Rottentomatos.

Anyway if it makes shedloads of cash A4 will roll around in a few years and I'll probably go see it but it's disapointing that Cameron appears so insulated now he'd rather wallow in Avatarverse with complete control than try and rediscover his Aliens/T2/True Lies action movie magic.

[RobYob]

Speaking of stupid Anaconda is incredibly dumb but for a very certain demographic with nostaglia for the "original", Guns n Roses and Sir Mixalot it's entertaining. I'm not sure how narrow that demographic is but myself and the mrs are in it.

[Mito Man]

Yes I really enjoyed Avatar 1 and saw it twice in 3D. Haven’t seen the others though.
On another topic, over the winter break we had some young family round and I was really disappointed at how bad the early 2000’s era CGI animation now looks. Found Shrek and most other stuff from that era unwatchable, kept watching thinking my eyes would adjust like on an old game but nope. Even LOTR isn’t very good now and the CGI bits stick out like a sore thumb

[Rich B]

Avatar 1 was essentially a theme park 4d experience. The story line was just strong enough to keep attention - there was no history or scope for more - it was a simple start-middle-end with everything told.

This was made clear when i tried to watch the 2nd one - I turned it off after about half and hour because it was clear there was nothing more to tell and have no interest in the 3rd.