This Old Neon Forum

The Shoemaker wrote:Finally saw Mad Max Fury Road. it was better than I thought it would be! Just a very engaging movie to watch, can only imagine how long it took to pull off all of those sequences.

Yeah, the whole thing was so immaculately executed, there's definitely a reason it got all the Oscars for its craft

What We Do in the Shadows
Reality TV crew follows a group of Vampires sharing a house in Wellington.
Fun movie, gets a lot out of it's premise thanks to witty writing.

Song of the Sea
Another animation movie by the same people that made "The Secret of Kells" (which I really liked)
Goes deep into Irish/Celtic folklore and is just stuningly beautiful.
The second movie I've ever seen to feature a Selkie, the other one being The Sevcret of Roan Inish.


Zootopia
At first this one didn't seem much more than harmless and cute entertainment, but Disney certainly got used to put some interesting themes and twists lately. Basically the movie deals with racism and the political use/abuse of nuturing prejudice and fear.
It does this in a child-friendly manner (and words like racism are never used) and is quite good at getting the point across.
On another note, while we find typical kids-movie lessons ("You can do anything if you try hard enough"), it thankfully avoids the common "You are special, everyone else isn't"-schtick found in most kids movies of the last decades.

Kiwi the Tortoise wrote:
Zootopia
At first this one didn't seem much more than harmless and cute entertainment, but Disney certainly got used to put some interesting themes and twists lately. Basically the movie deals with racism and the political use/abuse of nuturing prejudice and fear.
It does this in a child-friendly manner (and words like racism are never used) and is quite good at getting the point across.
On another note, while we find typical kids-movie lessons ("You can do anything if you try hard enough"), it thankfully avoids the common "You are special, everyone else isn't"-schtick found in most kids movies of the last decades.

I agree, this one was a nice little surprised that actually handled its message tastefully.

The Shoemaker wrote:

Kiwi the Tortoise wrote:
Zootopia
At first this one didn't seem much more than harmless and cute entertainment, but Disney certainly got used to put some interesting themes and twists lately. Basically the movie deals with racism and the political use/abuse of nuturing prejudice and fear.
It does this in a child-friendly manner (and words like racism are never used) and is quite good at getting the point across.
On another note, while we find typical kids-movie lessons ("You can do anything if you try hard enough"), it thankfully avoids the common "You are special, everyone else isn't"-schtick found in most kids movies of the last decades.

I agree, this one was a nice little surprised that actually handled its message tastefully.

If there will ever be a sequel, I predict it will be a take on "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"

Ghostbusters (2016) - What a delight this was. Certainly it is not the classic the original was (it couldn't have possibly been), but it's damn good. Wiig, McCarthy, McKinnon, and Jones were all really excellent. McKinnon, in particular, was wonderful. I found my eyes drawn to her character even in scenes where she wasn't focal, simply because she was always doing *something* amusing. To me, that's really impressive.

In terms of plot/content, I thought the film effectively struck a balance between being a carbon copy of the 1984 original and doing some things on its own. I think a couple jokes fell flat, and comedy has evolved in the past 30 years to the extent that the humor at times didn't "feel" like Ghostbusters as Ramis and Aykroyd might have done it, but overall it was still an effective comedy. Cameos of nearly all the main original cast were tasteful and enjoyable. I've read some opine that the finale sequence wasn't great, but I enjoyed it myself. Fun from start to finish, I think.

Ghostbusters, as it is for so many, is my favorite film franchise, so it makes me so happy to see the series has been revived as competently as it has. It's disheartening that so many people have pushed back so hard against this film, but I guess the wheels of progress never turn too fast. Still, I hope this iteration spawns a new generation of GB fans and the IP keeps surging into the future.

Spotlight 5/5

This winner of Best Picture was extremely well done. It exposes desire to keep the status quo, as well as the fear of larger establishment. The exposure of this horrendous scandal sheds light on the importance of quality journalism, along with the difficulties it poses. The acting was superb, and strong performances by everyone involved made this movie entertaining from start to finish.

Spotlight is currently available on Netflix.

Star Wars Episode I

Finally got around to watching this for the first time. My buddy has the trilogy on bluray so I went over to his place to watch it. Overall, not bad. The beginning is slow, lots of trade talk and treaty talk, both of which seem a little unnecessary. The ending sequences were well done, with the music and fighting and all.

I didn't really feel a whole lot for the characters, the two Jedi were cool, but without a whole lot of substance. Jar Jar was Jar Jar, Anakin seems like a mary sue-Jesus combination, and Padme reminds me a lot of Emilia Clarke's portrayal of Daenerys - mono-toned ruler. But overall, nothing as bad as what I was expecting considering the prequels pedigree. I'm excited to watch episode II!

Iron Man

First time watching. Really awesome movie, too bad I took so long to finally watch it! Now to catch up on the rest of Marvel's Cinematic Universe...

The Shoemaker wrote:Iron Man

First time watching. Really awesome movie, too bad I took so long to finally watch it! Now to catch up on the rest of Marvel's Cinematic Universe...

Doctor Strange is quite similar to Iron Man in tone and pacing, and for what it's worth, it plays really really well on IMAX / in 3D. Great visuals.

Kong Wen wrote:

The Shoemaker wrote:Iron Man

First time watching. Really awesome movie, too bad I took so long to finally watch it! Now to catch up on the rest of Marvel's Cinematic Universe...

Doctor Strange is quite similar to Iron Man in tone and pacing, and for what it's worth, it plays really really well on IMAX / in 3D. Great visuals.

Sweet, just watched the first Captain America, so I'll catch up to Doctor Strange at some point!