Last movie you watched & your rating

[Kong Wen]

What's the last movie you watched, either in cinema or at home? Was it any good? Convince us to see it or warn us away by posting about it in this thread!

[The Shoemaker]

I saw Edge of Tomorrow last week with Tom Cruise.

I'd say the movie was good. It's about a guy (Tom) who is forced into the military to fight off an Alien invasion and dies. But when he dies he wakes up and repeats the day again in a very Groundhog's Day fashion where he keeps dying and keeps waking up afterwards. Obviously with this ability he tries to change the outcome of the battle (which was going horribly for the humans) and ultimately tries to destroy the aliens once and for all.

The story was not bad, what I really liked though was the death scenes. I'm the type of guy that watches movies and says to myself "What if that guy just got hit by a car right there and died?" And fortunately for me the movie explores a lot of those scenarios where Tom Cruise will die in a number of funny ways, which I thought was the highlight of the movie. I didn't really understand the ending of the movie though, it struck me as contradictive and didn't really add up. I wouldn't put it on your must see list, but it was alright.

[Kong Wen]

I saw Edge of Tomorrow last week with Tom Cruise.

I'd say the movie was good. It's about a guy (Tom) who is forced into the military to fight off an Alien invasion and dies. But when he dies he wakes up and repeats the day again in a very Groundhog's Day fashion where he keeps dying and keeps waking up afterwards. Obviously with this ability he tries to change the outcome of the battle (which was going horribly for the humans) and ultimately tries to destroy the aliens once and for all.

The story was not bad, what I really liked though was the death scenes. I'm the type of guy that watches movies and says to myself "What if that guy just got hit by a car right there and died?" And fortunately for me the movie explores a lot of those scenarios where Tom Cruise will die in a number of funny ways, which I thought was the highlight of the movie. I didn't really understand the ending of the movie though, it struck me as contradictive and didn't really add up. I wouldn't put it on your must see list, but it was alright.

Edge of Tomorrow is one of my favourite movies I've seen this year. I thought it was actually surprisingly thoughtful and poignant. One of its strengths is that it didn't simply lean on its "gimmick" to make it interesting, but rather it fully explored the sci-fi/fantasy elements of the in-film universe. The plot/arc was actually pretty well done, too, with the stakes increasing in the last act, and paying off a lot of what was set-up through the repeated deaths earlier in the film.

We can chat about the ending if you like Shoe, using spoiler tags. It was all wrapped up pretty neatly and consistent with the in-world rules, but I can definitely see how it could be confusing, especially since the cut to credits was so abrupt.

Spoiler

Here's an example of a spoiler tag.

[The Shoemaker]

I definitely enjoyed it more than I thought I would coming into it, and it kept me interested through almost the whole movie. But I was really just waiting for that moment where everything would click and it would all make sense. Not that I didn't understand the concept, but I thought there would be more to it. I guess I was surprised that once we found out everything about half way through the movie, that was literally it. Maybe it was better this way not to bore people with explainations or risk making it too complicated.

Spoiler

Did Tom Cruise become the mother brain thing he was trying to destroy in the end? Or did you just absorb more alien blood in order to wake up again?" I don't understand why the aliens would be gone but everything else went back to normal, unless because he was the mother brain he was basically time itself so he could re-write time. And if you was the main host then the aliens couldn't exist, something like that. The main thing that bothered me was that he woke up in the helicopter rather than where he usually woke up. Not sure if it was a little detail but it seems weird that this would be the one time it changed. Perhaps new alien blood means new awakening spot. Maybe my main issue with the movie was I didn't think about it enough :p

[Han Solo]

Edge of Tomorrow is certainly my favourite movie this summer so far. I liked it more than Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and X-Men: Days of Future Past, which were both very good, and I liked it much more than Godzilla and How to Train Your Dragon 2, which were disappointing. I also saw Transformers: Age of Extinction, and if it weren't for the insufferable first hour of the film that just follows Mark Wahlberg and his daughter on a farm, I would have recommended it solely on how laughably bad it was.

Getting back to Edge of Tomorrow, I agree with Shoemaker that the ending didn't live up to the greatness that came before it.

Spoiler

I really hated how Emily Blunt seemed to be a different character in the last scenes then she was at the start. She starts as a cold, detached "bitch" and stays this way throughout every reset. She also ignores all of Cruise's advances several times such as when they were in at the farm house, but then in the end she's making out with him. As a horribly cynical viewer, I just see this as the studio forcing in a romance so they can just check off another box on their demographic appeal list. In that same vein, I thought the alien blood going into Cruise at the end and resetting the day again was there just to leave room for a potential sequel.

For those of you that have yet to see Edge of Tomorrow, I strongly urge you to do so. It has strong performances from the lead actors, the action was filmed without excessive shaky-cam, humour was mixed into the expository scenes so they weren't tedious and the editing really kept the film focused on narrative's goal. The editing really is the key to the movie's success. It would have been all too easy to have shown too much or too little of the repeat in the day's events. There was also just the right amount of humour left in. If there had been any more funny deaths for Cruise I felt it would have really slowed the progression down too much.

Spoiler

Having the scene in the farm house be the tenth or so time Cruise experienced it, but the first time we got to see it, was another great choice.

[Kong Wen]

I thought the ending was excellent, and kept with the tone, pacing, and good writing of the rest of the film. Edge of Tomorrow ending spoilers for Shoe and Han:

Spoiler

Every time an Alpha dies, time resets. That's why, before they launched the big final mission, Cruise tells everyone to make sure not to kill an Alpha. If they do, time would reset and the Omega would know they were coming.

When Cruise kills the Alpha at the beginning of the movie and absorbs its blood, the Omega resets time, but since Cruise has absorbed its power, he's the one who reboots, not the Alpha (the Alpha he killed would have stayed dead, and wouldn't have been where he found it on the first day).

The "visions" Cruise (and Blunt, in the previous war) experienced were fake. The Omega knew someone outside of its army had somehow gotten hold of an Alpha's powers, it took some time to figure out who it was (which is why Cruise got several free resets before the visions started happening), and then when it knew who Cruise was, it set up a trap for him.

In the end, when the Omega dies, it tries a last-ditch reboot, but it's already too late: Cruise has absorbed its blood and its power. That means Cruise reboots 24-30 hours earlier, as do all the other surviving Alphas! But the Omega doesn't make the trip: Cruise goes instead. Cruise hasn't become the Omega, though: he doesn't have the hivemind, know their language, etc., he just has the blood that lets him reboot when the Omega resets. So without the hivemind of the Omega to keep the aliens going, they're toast. I actually like that they didn't show this, because it keeps the drama of the film focused to the main characters' perspective.

Han, on your point about inconsistency with Blunt's character, again I have to respectfully disagree, for the spoilery spoilers noted below:

Spoiler

I didn't really see her "making out" with Cruise's character, but something is definitely different during the night raid sequence at the end of the film.

1. Remember the guy Cruise brings up, which touches a nerve? She had the same experience Cruise is having now, where she bonded with someone from spending so many days (maybe even years!) with a person while he died over and over again. So even though she doesn't let it show, and she keeps her distance, she knows without being able to consciously know or remember it that she and Cruise have a bond and a deeper relationship. In fact, I think this is one of the key reasons she keeps her distance so strictly. It's only when she knows she's going to die that she opens up a little bit (telling him her middle name at the farmhouse).

2. Her demeanour doesn't really change until the night raid sequence at the end of the film. The key difference during this part of the movie is that Cruise has lost his power. Earlier, she was cavalier about killing him and training him because she knew first-hand how the power worked. But now he's just a soft killable human, just like her—and even more like her in that he's someone who used to have the aliens' power but lost it! She can't have the same callous attitude towards his death anymore, and she sympathizes with him more because they're in the same position.

The careful writing (about as careful as it's possible to plot a time travel movie) really does make this a great film.

[The Shoemaker]

I think I understand the ending better, any issues I have with it come from me not really remembering the movie too clearly now. No point in me getting into it because I probably just have details mixed up in my head :p With that settled though, I can say the movie was enjoyable.

[Forscyvus]

Recently watched a few movies from my list of movies I've been meaning to see:

Back to the Future
Dr Strangelove
Taxi Driver

all three were really great, taxi driver being the hardest to wrap my head around. A lot goes unsaid in that movie.

Favorite of the three is Strangelove.

[Kiwi the Tortoise]

Earnest et Celestine (2012)
The overworld is populated by bears while below their city lies the nation of mice.
Mice are send to steal the teeth of bears to create replacement teeth, since the mice depend on functional incisors. The orphan mouse Celestine gets trapped while collecting teeth and is saved by the bear Earnest, a beggar, thief and musician. Eventually they become friends (in crime).
Entertaining French animation movie, worth a watch (in particular with children). I really liked the general style and fluid animation, it is pretty movie.

How to Train your Dragon 2
I wasn't too thrilled by the rather silly opening (sheep quidditch?) and some stylistic choices (e.g. the Flight theme blended with a Jonsi song), but the movie was pretty good actually.
The textures are crisper than before, the story has some rather surprising dark and emotional moments and even the villain wasn't quite as boring as he seemed at first.
I was afraid this would turn into another Shrek 3 (=disaster), but thankfully it was just a pretty good movie.

[SkyPikachu]

Sex Tape
Was a funny movie with some one liners but nothing special. It's a good laugh but I wouldn't see it again it's a one time only type of movie.

The Vow
Second time watching this and I liked it just as much. Such a sad love story and leaves you wanting more. I might be a little biased though as I adore Rachel McAdams. Worth renting.