The Film Thread

[Chindie]

13 minutes ago, hogso said:

Of the 'Marvel Cinematic Universe' I have seen;

Hulk, Iron Man, Iron Man 3, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Avengers 2 (and Jessica Jones)

Have I seen the best ones and do I need to see more to enable a better understanding of the goings on in Civil War?

You'll need to have seen Winter Soldier and maybe Ant Man. Winter Soldier is a definite though - Civil War is a sequel to that and Age of Ultron at the same time. It's also one of the best of the entire series.

[villa4europe]

winter soldier is the film where marvel go off on a tangent and properly try to differentiate it from a bog standard summer blockbuster, give it a bit of identity, its not a kids film its a political thriller, its also probably the best marvel film to date 

i think if you havent seen it then you wont understand captains motives in CW

[AVFCDAN]

Doctor Strange trailer looks good, will definitely be looking out for that.

I might catch Civil War as well.

Edited April 14, 2016 by AVFCDAN

[tonyh29]

Watched The boy tonight .... 

First 2/3rds were pretty decent , had that right level of suspense and made you feel a little bit uncomfortable in a way that good horror suspense can without the need of  killing everything that moves... Then just as you were sitting there thinking as to how it was going to pan out they went with a cop out ...

think im in love with Lauren Cohen as well ... 

 

 

[stewiek2]

[AVFCDAN]

12 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

Watched The boy tonight .... 

First 2/3rds were pretty decent , had that right level of suspense and made you feel a little bit uncomfortable in a way that good horror suspense can without the need of  killing everything that moves... Then just as you were sitting there thinking as to how it was going to pan out they went with a cop out ...

think im in love with Lauren Cohen as well ... 

 

 

Pretty much what I said a few pages back. If you fancy something similar but better check out Dead Silence.

[Chindie]

James Cameron is making 4 Avatar sequels back to back now.

Apparently he has too much story material to just leave things at a fourth movie.

I didn't know Dances with Wives and Pocahontas had so much additional plot.

I genuinely don't think there's anyone on the planet salivating for a sequel to Avatar, let alone 4. The original is a brilliant tech demo, showing off Cameron's ability with tech and with developing sci fi worlds (even if some of the design, notably the various creatures of Pandora, is godawful or photocopied from Aliens) and ideas, but the movie itself is bland and listless and, like all his films, too long and too baggy. It still looks incredible, 6 years on, and it's still probably the definitive 3d movie, but there's nothing there beyond that. Why he's dedicating himself to it, I'm unsure. The takings are obviously a big part of it, but it seems to me Avatar's box office was down to its being an event. It won't be again (similarly the Star Wars universe being developed will slow down from the Force Awakens, again as that was an event, a cinematic moment, and everyone saw it. Rogue One and Episode 8 aren't).

It's a shame as Cameron is such a great action and sci fi film maker, you have to wonder what else he could be working on.

[Designer1]

3 minutes ago, Chindie said:

James Cameron is making 4 Avatar sequels back to back now.

The first one was bad enough.

If it hadn't been for the fact the mate I was watching it with was enjoying it, It would definitely have gone into my 'walk out' pile.

[Chindie]

1 minute ago, Designer1 said:

The first one was bad enough.

If it hadn't been for the fact the mate I was watching it with was enjoying it, It would definitely have gone into my 'walk out' pile.

I never saw it at the cinema, but watched a few times on home media (usually demoing new kit). There's just the empty plot that is literally taken from 4 other movies. I don't think it's a bad movie so probably wouldn't have walked out but it's the kind of thing you're watching purely for how it looks. There's nothing else to it. I can't get over the fact there's 4 more planned. There's nothing to sequel off. There's not a universe to tell other stories in. Bizarre.

[tonyh29]

35 minutes ago, Chindie said:

James Cameron is making 4 Avatar sequels back to back now.

Apparently he has too much story material to just leave things at a fourth movie.

I didn't know Dances with Wives and Pocahontas had so much additional plot.

how would it differ form say a plot by bad guys to take over the earth and be foiled by a group of masked men with super hero powers in terms of originality  ?  *

 

so , whilst I agree with your sentiment , one avatar was enough thank you ,  I think you are being a tad harsh on Cameron

 

 

* sit down comic boys  , I don't need to be told nobody is trying to take over the world or that hulk doesn't wear a mask  

Edited April 15, 2016 by tonyh29

[chrisp65]

Well, I've sat through the first 12 movies in the Amateur Wives Call The Handyman series and I'd say there's still scope to explore the characterisations and plot twists further. So a decent director should be able to spin out the space environmentalist native american shamen stuff for a while longer.

 

 

[Chindie]

1 minute ago, tonyh29 said:

how would it differ form say a plot by bad guys to take over the earth and be foiled by a group of masked men with super hero powers in terms of originality  ?  *

 

so , whilst I agree with your sentiment , one avatar was enough thank you ,  I think you are being a tad harsh on Cameron

 

 

* sit down comic boys , I don't need to be told nobody is trying to take over the world or that hulk doesn't wear a mask  

I was waiting for this exact comment.

There aren't many narratives that exist in fiction. I believe the general theory is that there are 7 which all plots in basic fiction book down to. So a great many movies and books take the same overarching plots and mildly tinker with the details to create something slightly different. But if you want to be reductive about it, yeah most action movies of any sort, spandex and capes, AKs and camo, laser guns and spacecraft, can be reduced to 'stop the baddie'. And rinse and repeat for every other movie you've ever seen.

What Avatar did, was take a couple of narratives that already exist, photocopy them, and scribble out every reference to Native American and replace it with 'Na'Vi'. It didn't really change much else from stories that already exist in those master narratives. Hence the criticism. Even really poor movies usually add some wrinkle or interest to get away from the narrative inspiration, be that develop villain motivation, add in sub themes or commentary. Avatar literally has the same themes as the movies it pinches its entire narrative from. It was a tech demo with a place holder plot.

[tonyh29]

39 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

Well, I've sat through the first 12 movies in the Amateur Wives Call The Handyman series and I'd say there's still scope to explore the characterisations and plot twists further. So a decent director should be able to spin out the space environmentalist native american shamen stuff for a while longer.

 

 

I still recall one of my first viewings of a film of that genre  ... only in my instance  it was a poorly housewife who called the doctor  ... who then delivered the line " ah yes , what you need is an injection to make you better "  ... that 30 years on I can still recall the line , just shows what a good script writer can do with any average material

[villa4europe]

I saw avatar at the cinema and thought straight away that it was shite, i think it was the film that convinced me 3D was bullshit too, it took loads of the colour away and just didn't work, then you have the bullshit story

Think Star Wars has just given me a reminder to how big it was though, Star Wars was insane and yet it's $700m off avatars box office...

[kurtsimonw]

It took me about 4 attempts to watch Avatar, I kept getting bored and turning it off. I think there's little chance I watch another.

[theboyangel]

As a cinematic experience, having watched it on IMAX, I thought Avatar was a visually stunning film.

However, no matter how pretty or clever the filming was, it was still basically Pocahontas in Space.

JC (not the son of God) has left it too late as well to begin churning out multiple sequels. He should've struck whilst the iron was hot.

[Zatman]

watched Avatar when was on Film4 around christmas and gave up after an hour and switched it off

[PieFacE]

Avatar was alright.  Just your standard blockbuster type movie really.  

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

I'm not totally opposed to the Avatar sequels. If Hollywood can churn out endless other sequels and franchise movies, I don't see the problem with churning out some ''original'' stuff by a decent filmmaker. The original was daft but I enjoyed the experience. I think the 'avatar' idea has promise if handled intelligently, and while some find the original's obvious environmentalist strain preachy, I'm fine with more of that because I don't think enough 'mainstream' films tackle it; I can only really think of Studio Ghibli as a production company that takes it seriously, and they've been playing with environmental themes since the 80s at least. In terms of Hollywood, aside from the mind-numbing disaster movie stuff, Wall-E is the most notable film that tackles it. (Is it a coincidence that most if not all of those films mentioned were aimed at children? Why do adult cinema goers get treated to The Day After Tomorrow instead?)

But all this is dependent on Cameron finding 1.) a good editor and 2.) a good scriptwriter. I don't see that happening so it could well be a case of more of the same, and perhaps next time the military will be looking for some Worthalotofmoneyium.

 

 

Edited April 16, 2016 by CarewsEyebrowDesigner

[Xela]

Didn't Cameron disappear up his own anus in about 1997 after Titanic? I didn't realise he was still active! I know Avatar was his baby but he's been quiet since then. His early work is fantastic and I have to admit I did like Titanic, but I can't bring myself to sit through Avatar. I've tried but its just not for me