What have you watched lately?

[vynsane]

How to Train Your Dragon: Holy shit, how is it that I've not seen an animated feature this good for so long?

IDK, you should've known about 35 pages ago...

[anarky]

Oh, I just ignore everything you post because I figure you're lying there post-coitus, too busy to notice Dane Cook borrowing your laptop.

[jjreason]

Sharts fahred!

[Zaphod]

i was disappointed by how to train your dragon. there was nothing informative whatsoever, and my dragon still pisses all over the carpet and won't do tricks. i haven't seen the second one. you know what they say: fool me once, shame on me, fool me, you don't get fooled again.

[jjreason]

Mini DC kick as I started getting interested in putting together that wave of 6 DC Multiverse figures from the classic 80s movies.

Burton Batman. Remember how your teenaged self loved this movie? Important update: it's not good - in particular Jack Nicholson isn't good. That Joker performance was seriously all the rage back in 1989, but I'm telling you at least twice in that movie he's looking around waiting for someone to yell "Cut!"

I remember NOT liking that Prince album as much as some of the others released around that time frame (I would have to go back, but I believe "Lovesexy" was the album prior to this one), and those songs stood out in stark contrast to what was happening on screen - like make your skin crawl bad in a couple of instances. Wow.

Burton Batman Returns. Now in this instance I remember being in the minority - I did NOT like this movie upon first viewing. I'm not all the way through it again, but I will say this - it's WAY, WAY, WAAAYYY better than the first one at about the half way mark. Keaton has hardly had any time onscreen - and why would you when you've got stars like that to carry the script through the first hour. It's witty, quick, looks great & the scoring is fantastic this time. I remember it was the ending that soured me as a teenager, so we'll have to see how it works out for me now as an old man, but I can't foresee anything happening at this point that could re-convince me part I was the better movie. No way in hell.

Donner Superman I. Tried it but fell asleep. I will try again.

Superman Returns. Again, I'm in the minority. I only got to the end of the first Superman sequence ending in the ballpark, but to me this is good stuff. It fits the character, at least as much as I know of him and provides an appropriate contrast in tone with the Dark Knight trilogy - which I would still say it should. One concern - Brandon Routh doesn't play awkward Kent all that well. Some weird expressions in spots in the first 45 min. He was doing better with "agonizing" or something, maybe he should have stuck with that.

[anarky]

I disagree on Batman. It's not quite Adam West levels of camp, but it's fun to watch. I'd actually rather watch it than The Dark Knight. (I recognize TDK is a better film objectively, but Batman is a "funner" film to watch.)

[vynsane]

Batman Returns is still the best Batman film ever.

[jjreason]

Yeah, I finished it & it was great right up until the end. When I saw it as a kid I was with a friend and his (old) uncle - I wonder if the ribaldry (yep, I said it) of the Penguin made it awkward for me back then or something... not sure.... but it was much better than the first to my 42 year old self.

[Tom Foolery]

I don't think you're in the minority about Superman Returns. At least around here. I know Chux and I both enjoy it.
Yeah, it has its faults. But as an homage/love letter to Donner's film(s) I enjoy it. It's the second best Superman film.


Batman and Batman Returns both hold up much better if you think of them less as Batman/SuperHero films and more as Tim Burton films.

[Diabolical]

For me I think Batman Returns falls flat simply because of the portrayal of the Penguin. The grotesque deformed monster thing was a big misfire, IMO. I prefer the short, fat mobster angle.
Plus, the film is too Burton-y.
Plus #2 - rocket firing penguins.

I also like Superman Returns. The plane scene is still great. What the film really needed though was a real bad guy - someone for Superman to fight. Without a supervillian SR is just a movie where Superman lifts progressively heavier things.

[jjreason]

I think my issue with Batman on this most recent viewing was having so much trouble reconciling what I was watching with my original impression of the movie. I was honestly saying to myself - did you REALLY enjoy this back then, or did you talk yourself into thinking you liked it, like TPM? I was wondering if maybe the DVD version had extended scenes or something, because it really did feel like Nicholson was left on screen too long a few times. Maybe I'll look that up.

For what it's worth, I do like Keaton, Alfred, the sets, all the Burton-ness/look of movie is fine.... it just wasn't what I thought I remembered.

[Ran]

The last time I saw Batman, I was thinking "holy crap, technology has changed a lot since 1989." Especially the big ass camcorders and Vicki Vale's camera with film.

[Diabolical]

John Wick - pretty damn good revenge flick.

Kingman - I thought it looked pretty good, but it was far better than I expected. A lot of fun.

Arrow - started watching season one on Netflix. Good stuff, very batman-esque though.

[Slicker]

Edge of Tomorrow - pretty good flick and you get to see Tom Cruise die...a lot.

[Diabolical]

Edge of Tomorrow (or Live. Die. Repeat.) was great.
It's a damn shame it failed at the box office.
People piss and moan everything is a sequel or remake, but when something new (yeah, I know it was based on a book) and good comes along and they ignore it.