The last movie you saw Thread
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
Gadot?
'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
The actress who plays WW
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
For those who have seen Wonder Woman, this is really neat.
One of Wonder Woman’s best scenes was entirely improvised
One of Wonder Woman’s best scenes was entirely improvised
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
- Primula Baggins
- Living in hope
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Re: The last movie you saw Thread
I'm going to see this--either this weekend or next. Tom's eager to see it too--a superhero movie that is neither self-consciously dark nor silly.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
I just read that she was 5 months pregnant during some of the reshooting scenes. Females are strong as hell!
(Bonus points to anyone who gets that reference. )
(Bonus points to anyone who gets that reference. )
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
No bonus points for me.
The Black Panther trailer today was amazing. I want to be excited for Wonder Woman, I do. But if I had to choose between these two movies, I'd go for the Black Panther. Although I realized as I was thinking about it that this may be because, to me, a movie with a strong female is not that unusual.
The Black Panther trailer today was amazing. I want to be excited for Wonder Woman, I do. But if I had to choose between these two movies, I'd go for the Black Panther. Although I realized as I was thinking about it that this may be because, to me, a movie with a strong female is not that unusual.
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
- Túrin Turambar
- Posts: 6153
- Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2005 9:37 am
- Location: Melbourne, Victoria
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
Wonder Woman.
I tend to have a critic’s taste in movies, and so it’s rare for me to disagree strongly with the critical consensus on a film, but this was the closest I’ve come to actually walking out of the theatre since The Desolation of Smaug.
(Mild but not serious spoilers)
She is an endearing character, and the first half of the film had quite a few funny and/or poignant moments. But, like Superman, she’s pretty much invulnerable, which to me meant that none of the CGI-fuelled action scenes really had any drama. Even the final cataclysmic battle doesn’t so much as smudge her make-up.
Worse, the film completely failed to clear the basic ‘suspension of disbelief’ hurdle for me. Everyone reacts to the news that Ancient Greek mythology is actually real with “oh, that’s pretty cool” and a woman with superpowers running around the Western Front in an Amazon warrior costume is treated as nothing more than a nice diversion from the drudgery of everyday life. Even Diana herself adapts to a world she must be completely unfamiliar with without much of a hitch, except where either plot necessity or comic relief demands she comes across as oblivious.
To me, Batman, Spider Man and Iron Man work as superheroes because they’re believable – they’re real people with real motivations and real limitations which makes their stories compelling. Where supernatural elements come in to the story (as with Spider Man) they’re introduced gradually so the other characters come to accept them. This is what makes Dracula such a classic – Bram Stoker brings a supernatural monster into 1890s London in such a way that the characters are gradually won over to accept that the Count is a vampire. I never felt that Wonder Woman manages to earn the same level of immersion.
I knew about the film’s historical context going in, but I found the combination of a hokey 1940s comic book character with real tragic events left me slightly uneasy, as I would feel watching something like ‘Aquaman stops the Holocaust’. The film couldn’t seem to decide how serious or irreverent it wanted to be, with jarring contrasts between realistic depictions of crippled soldiers returning from the Western Front against the truly absurd sub-plot of Erich Ludendorff turning into a supervillain.
Aside from these two big problems, there were bunch of small ones. The German characters speaking English with a German accent made me feel like I was watching a 1960s B-grade war film. Even the Avengers had the Russians actually speaking Russian. I don’t mind recurring tropes in fiction, but the band of heroes seemed to need to hit every cliché, and there’s no real clue where these people even come from or why they join up. The dialogue was good in places but terrible in others – I could almost predict exactly what the characters would say based on a hundred films beforehand.
I think it could have worked well as a smaller, more character-driven story with more time to develop the character and place her in our world. And some sort of weakness or limitation to actually create drama. As it stands I kind of feel like I’ve watched some sort of big-budget slapstick comedy through the world of November 1918, without feeling all that much investment or really being entertained.
I tend to have a critic’s taste in movies, and so it’s rare for me to disagree strongly with the critical consensus on a film, but this was the closest I’ve come to actually walking out of the theatre since The Desolation of Smaug.
(Mild but not serious spoilers)
She is an endearing character, and the first half of the film had quite a few funny and/or poignant moments. But, like Superman, she’s pretty much invulnerable, which to me meant that none of the CGI-fuelled action scenes really had any drama. Even the final cataclysmic battle doesn’t so much as smudge her make-up.
Worse, the film completely failed to clear the basic ‘suspension of disbelief’ hurdle for me. Everyone reacts to the news that Ancient Greek mythology is actually real with “oh, that’s pretty cool” and a woman with superpowers running around the Western Front in an Amazon warrior costume is treated as nothing more than a nice diversion from the drudgery of everyday life. Even Diana herself adapts to a world she must be completely unfamiliar with without much of a hitch, except where either plot necessity or comic relief demands she comes across as oblivious.
To me, Batman, Spider Man and Iron Man work as superheroes because they’re believable – they’re real people with real motivations and real limitations which makes their stories compelling. Where supernatural elements come in to the story (as with Spider Man) they’re introduced gradually so the other characters come to accept them. This is what makes Dracula such a classic – Bram Stoker brings a supernatural monster into 1890s London in such a way that the characters are gradually won over to accept that the Count is a vampire. I never felt that Wonder Woman manages to earn the same level of immersion.
I knew about the film’s historical context going in, but I found the combination of a hokey 1940s comic book character with real tragic events left me slightly uneasy, as I would feel watching something like ‘Aquaman stops the Holocaust’. The film couldn’t seem to decide how serious or irreverent it wanted to be, with jarring contrasts between realistic depictions of crippled soldiers returning from the Western Front against the truly absurd sub-plot of Erich Ludendorff turning into a supervillain.
Aside from these two big problems, there were bunch of small ones. The German characters speaking English with a German accent made me feel like I was watching a 1960s B-grade war film. Even the Avengers had the Russians actually speaking Russian. I don’t mind recurring tropes in fiction, but the band of heroes seemed to need to hit every cliché, and there’s no real clue where these people even come from or why they join up. The dialogue was good in places but terrible in others – I could almost predict exactly what the characters would say based on a hundred films beforehand.
I think it could have worked well as a smaller, more character-driven story with more time to develop the character and place her in our world. And some sort of weakness or limitation to actually create drama. As it stands I kind of feel like I’ve watched some sort of big-budget slapstick comedy through the world of November 1918, without feeling all that much investment or really being entertained.
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
Wow. I don't think I agree with a single word in there.
The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End
- Dave_LF
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Re: The last movie you saw Thread
It's a miracle! Where do I collect, dammit?Lalaith wrote:I just read that she was 5 months pregnant during some of the reshooting scenes. Females are strong as hell!
(Bonus points to anyone who gets that reference. )
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
Alatar wrote:Wow. I don't think I agree with a single word in there.
Considering that this is basically factually true, I'm not sure whether it's possible to disagree with it, Al. At best, you can say that it didn't bother you any but Túrin is correct that this is how it played out. It did bug me a bit, though not enough to take me out of it (for the most part). It did feel like lazy script writing though.Túrin Turambar wrote:Everyone reacts to the news that Ancient Greek mythology is actually real with “oh, that’s pretty cool” and a woman with superpowers running around the Western Front in an Amazon warrior costume is treated as nothing more than a nice diversion from the drudgery of everyday life. Even Diana herself adapts to a world she must be completely unfamiliar with without much of a hitch, except where either plot necessity or comic relief demands she comes across as oblivious.
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
What I mean is its a bit like complaining about there being too much singing in a musical. Its the style of movie it is, like Richard Donner's Superman. Its like saying a black comedy was a bit dark... its technically true, but you're missing the point.
The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
What's the point of the humans not being particularly surprised or shocked at discovering a super-human woman with incredible powers?
I would've thought the humans expressing a lot of (ahem) wonder would've been both much more fitting, and much more believable.
I would've thought the humans expressing a lot of (ahem) wonder would've been both much more fitting, and much more believable.
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
<Shrug> I don't know how to explain it any clearer. What makes blue look blue. It's self explanatory to me.
The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
Are you saying that you think the mild reaction by humans at WW's amazing powers was intentional on the film maker's part?
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
Wait, what? The stupidity of this genre is truly dumbfounding. That said, in my book nothing beats the crass exploitation of the Shoa in the X-Men films.Túrin Turambar wrote:(...) against the truly absurd sub-plot of Erich Ludendorff turning into a supervillain.
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
Yesyovargas wrote:Are you saying that you think the mild reaction by humans at WW's amazing powers was intentional on the film maker's part?
The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End
- Túrin Turambar
- Posts: 6153
- Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2005 9:37 am
- Location: Melbourne, Victoria
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
Interestingly, I actually thought the way X-Men films handled the Holocaust was an example of the right way to incorporate a real tragedy into a superhero story. Magneto is caught up in the Holocaust as a teenager and is powerless to do anything about it, and so in my view it doesn’t come across as any less big, less real or less horrifying as a result.Beutlin wrote:Wait, what? The stupidity of this genre is truly dumbfounding. That said, in my book nothing beats the crass exploitation of the Shoa in the X-Men films.Túrin Turambar wrote:(...) against the truly absurd sub-plot of Erich Ludendorff turning into a supervillain.
Well, we can have the “it’s a feature” vs “it’s a bug” discussion for a lot of films in a lot of genres. I just think a lot of other superhero films handle this aspect of worldbuilding a lot better than Wonder Woman does (Spiderman and X-Men come to mind, or Pixar's Incredibles, for that matter).Alatar wrote:Yesyovargas wrote:Are you saying that you think the mild reaction by humans at WW's amazing powers was intentional on the film maker's part?
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
Respectfully disagree, Túrin. In my opinion, it is utterly ridiculous to directly incorporate the Holocaust or any other mass genocide into a commercial superhero movie primarily aimed at adolescent boys. By exploiting Auschwitz as a backstory for a character called Magneto (who has the powers of a magnet), the tragedy of the Shoa transforms into a cool introduction scene for a superhero (or as the scene is introduced on YouTube: a “cool opening scene”). And while I normally disagree with Mr. Podhoretz, I can only concur with his assessment of a later edition of the X-Men series:Túrin Turambar wrote: Interestingly, I actually thought the way X-Men films handled the Holocaust was an example of the right way to incorporate a real tragedy into a superhero story. Magneto is caught up in the Holocaust as a teenager and is powerless to do anything about it, and so in my view it doesn’t come across as any less big, less real or less horrifying as a result.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/movie-hor ... cle/574070
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
While I understand this line of thinking, I disagree with him at a very, very fundamental level. It reminds me of people who roll their eyes at people who think that LOTR can explore meaningful, important ideas. Plenty of people dismiss it as "just" fantasy, much like he is dismissing these as "just" superhero movies.Beutlin wrote:Túrin Turambar wrote:And while I normally disagree with Mr. Podhoretz, I can only concur with his assessment of a later edition of the X-Men series:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/movie-hor ... cle/574070
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
Re: The last movie you saw Thread
Dammit!Dave_LF wrote:It's a miracle! Where do I collect, dammit?Lalaith wrote:I just read that she was 5 months pregnant during some of the reshooting scenes. Females are strong as hell!
(Bonus points to anyone who gets that reference. )