NewEnglandGothic

I might not be a fan of his recent string of films, but I feel nothing but sorrow for him and his wife.

Hopefully the Synders can produce a personal film on teen/young adult suicides to help themselves heal and build an awareness toward a tragedy that hit home and what so many families face on a day to day basis around the world.  

Going to finish The Deathly Hallows, Part 2 tonight. I stopped watching at The Goblet of Fire when they were in theaters. Been slowly picking away at them during this cold stretch. They are pretty magical, even for 40-year-olds.

Siskel & Ebert had their moments too.

Pre-internet, “respected” film critic Gene Siskel once included Betsy Palmer’s phone number in a review of “Friday The 13th” for fans of previous beloved work (Mister Roberts, etc) to talk sense into her from appearing in that kind of drek.

8 minutes ago, Larryw7 said:

"Evolving with Star Trek" means spinoffs, TV shows , overexposure and general apathy. Star Wars has always been an event. Take that away, and diminishing returns set in. Remember that each modern Star Trek reboot film grossed less and less, with Beyond doing so poorly they're ready to reboot the movies again. We're already seeing the same thing with TLJ. Yes, the box office is huge, but it's having a bad multiplier. It should have easily gotten to 700 million based on its huge opening,  but now experts are saying it will be lucky to outgross Jurassic World and The Avengers. If Solo is a flop or underperforms, the Star Wars name will be even farther tarnished.

I'm not optimistic about Disney's future handling of SW unless they take a major course correction.

Justin Lin might have delivered an ensemble franchise like the "Furious" movies to a global marketplace, but the crew of the Star Trek are a real "family," with respect to Dom's crew in those movies.  I never thought Lin would have been able to respect that team's dynamic, in favor of "sweet" 2nd unit shots.  What we got was a valiant effort by the cast and writers, but basically a retread of the TV show, that our parent's used to watch for on the telly for free.

37 minutes ago, Gatsby77 said:

The second week drop-off isn't nearly as bad as you characterize it because it rebounded in week 3.

We see this _especially_ in comparing the second to third weekends

The second weekend fall of 68% for TLJ (vs. just 40% for TFA) is mostly attributable to Christmas Eve falling on a Sunday this year. It rebounded on Christmas Monday (as expected), meaning it fell just 55% over the 4-day frame.

More importantly, it rebounded in the third weekend, falling just 27% (vs. TFA's falling 40%). And again, it was hurt slightly by New Year's Eve being that Sunday, and made up more ground on Monday.

This shows in its daily progress as well -- it lost ground to films like Jurassic World on a day-to-day comparative basis in Week 2, only to stomp Jurassic World and others day-to-day in Week 3.

 

But the bigger picture is this -- and relates to the portion I bolded.

With this film, Disney laid the necessary groundwork with this film to sever ties to the Skywalker family -- thus enabling them to build any number of other stories in other trilogies and one-off projects for decades to come.

Far from "hurting future sales," I think they smartly sacrificed repeat sales for this film from a small portion of 40-something die-hard fans -- in aid of much stronger sales on a great number of future films over the long-term.

By going the unexpected (but necessary) route -- Disney ripped off the band-aid, and set themselves up to evolve as Star Trek did -- enabling how many more series with entirely different casts over the years? Five (so far)?

Who cares about (say) a $250 million hit on Episode 8 if it directly enables Episodes 10-18 to each be solid $800 million films, to say nothing of the various "Star Wars Story" one-offs in between?

 

That's what everybody really wants in the end when you are approaching a tenth installment.

Something unpredictably fresh.  

You don't want a gimmick like Jason going to space, but something shaken, but not stirred like "The Spy Who Loved Me."

Whether they follow it up with a "Moonraker," remains to be seen.  

9 minutes ago, Gatsby77 said:

It's funny. 

My Japanese is decent.

I've seen 10 of Kurosawa's films and even wrote an undergraduate term paper on Throne of Blood, but I've never seen The Hidden Fortress.

I've only seen his Rashomon before this, but I bought The Seven Samurai right after.  Next time Barnes & Noble's has a 50% off Criterion sale, I'm buying more.  There's something so relevant and timeless to his works that I like.

On ‎1‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 2:11 PM, comix4fun said:

Oh, goodness, that was made mention of from the very beginning...from when Star Wars was first released. Lucas has always mentioned "Hidden Fortress", Flash Gordon Serials, another Kurosawa film Derso Uzala contributed a couple of scenes to Star Wars almost exactly. Then there are all the things taken directly from literature, mythology and various religious beliefs. 

Maybe it was mentioned so much in the 70's and 80's people discussing the films today assume everyone already knows how much was derivative and borrowed and cobbled together from all of Lucas' other influences. 

Yeah, it's been on my radar myself since I read about it in Leonard Maltin's or Roger Ebert's movie guide in the late 80's.

I just been excited to having the opportunity to go over the older movies, most of them restored from a 35 mm print and just wanted to point one out to a boardie who might have put it aside too.  I actually added "The Hidden Fortress" to my Star Wars home video section.

6 minutes ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

Haven't seen it yet but will check it out. 

Yeah, we are getting that blizzard today. Are you and NH getting it?

I will drive safe. Just hope the power doesn't go out because of high winds expected.

 

I wasn't expecting much from this feature-length documentary, but they managed to keep surprising you with various behind=the-scenes. 

My section of the woods will only get 10 inches of white stuff.

I took a vacation day to prep the generator.  Most likely power will be out when the winds increase.

On ‎1‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 5:25 PM, ComicConnoisseur said:

btw The LAST JEDI has reignited my passion about Star Wars again. Been buying a few books about Star Wars lately.

Three weeks ago I wasn't even thinking about Star Wars and now here I am back into again.

 

Have you seen this 2 1/2 hour documentary yet?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Dreams

I bought the Star Wars: Special Edition DVD set a yard sale two years ago, just for that for about $3.

It was brilliant!

Personally note: safe driving in out Hoth-like system today.

2 hours ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

2. Saw Darth Vader in Rogue One, and he seemed shockingly kind of dated.  With him and the saber it kind of reminded me of Jason of Friday the 13th lumbering around with a machette. Loved Rogue One, but found Vader out of place .

OMG! I thought the same thing too after watching it.  It was only amplified to me during the climax of ROTJ after too.  

5 minutes ago, miraclemet said:

to support your "big plan" theory, Luke being from Tatooine would be familiar with Jaba's exploits bith with the arancor and the Sarlaac pit, makes sense that it was all planned as a Plan A Leia tries to get Han away, but if she gets discovered, plan B is Luke coming in to dp rhe sarlaac pit/R2 lightsaber shot.

Then why didn't Billy Dee Williams just bust him out since he was already there, instead of bringing in Chewie too?

She could have just entered the court with her holy hand grenade and bargained for their lives, without using Chewie at all.

So, now they have rescue Chewie, jeopardizing their mission.

Chewbecca was needed for brute force on the skiff to protect Han.

All in all, it's just been my interpretation, that these guys don't need a "Plan B' with a bunch low-life bounty hunters.

On ‎12‎/‎31‎/‎2017 at 2:46 PM, ComicConnoisseur said:

In fact Last Jedi was better to me than Return of the Jedi. No silly Ewoks!

Watching ROTJ now, I never realized when the ewoks attacked the stormtroopers at the end, they were doing it as a distraction for Han and Leia to shutdown the shield.

They knew they had no chance, but they kept trying to keep the stormtroopers engaged in them and away from the others.

It seems more poignant now, with their sacrifice they do for a greater good they can understand in another language.

The funny thing during that sequence, they  started making progress overcoming technology.  

3 minutes ago, comix4fun said:

I think you're describing his "Plan B". 

His "Plan A" had nothing to do with taking on a Rancor with a bone and a stone as his choice of weapons. 

He gave the droids to Jabba so they'd be in the throne room when he arrived so he'd have the lightsaber there when he needed it, which turned out to be silly because he mind-tricked the guards to let him pass anyway. It still worked in "Plan B" because the droids were still present. 

Plan A didn't have anything to do with getting caught. 

I just always looked at in a theatrical "Mission: Impossible" way for audiences to get caught up in the action.

Granted, the Rancor was a monkeywrench, but I always felt Leia's job was to unfreeze Han and get caught too(with Chewie,) like Luke. I know that sounds stupid, but maybe for her to get close to Jabba to kill.  I mean Billy Dee was just waiting all along for the right moment too.

I just watched it again and still feel that this was all one big plan to have it's climax out in the open at the Sarlaac Pit. I'll watch it with the commentary on a little later.

14 minutes ago, comix4fun said:

 In Jedi he’s overconfident and overestimates his abilities against jabba, failing and being captured in the process, and is forced to regroup and work with his friends to escape.

I'm sorry, but I always looked at that opening gambit in ROTJ, as a kind of A-Team type plan, where it showed all their teamwork at play to free Han.

There was no instant where Luke in the dungeon, decided to plant a lightsaber in R2-D2 to escape with Han and Chewie.

Luke went there to intimidate, to get captured, so he could be on the "inside."

As Hannibal always said on the A-Team, "It's all part of the plan."  

What strikes me a bizarre in this thread is how some folks keep claiming “The Force Awakens” is a rip-off off “Star Wars,” by regurgitating its plot about 38 years later. But, no one (that I saw) has even mentioned how much stuff George Lucas “borrowed” from Akira Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress” from 1958 for “Star Wars” in the first place. I just saw the Criterion of this one about a month ago and was blown away how good it was and I am a Star Wars fan, that will probably look at the original in a different light now as (gasp) a rehash of that movie’s prime elements (two peasants who became droids, the scene wipes, the samurai/Jedi, the princess, etc.)

31 minutes ago, rjrjr said:

To me, a perfect ending to this trilogy would be if the NO wins.  They do wipe out the remaining Resistance.  That will make the ending of TLJ that much more important.  A new generation of heroes will need to rise and regroup and restore freedom to the galaxy.  A hero from Canto Blight joined by others.

37 minutes ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

Poe will be the big star in the end over those two,plus Rey is quitting the series after the next one.

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/daisy-ridley-star-wars-no-more-after-episode-9-1202627235/

 

When “Star Wars: Episode IX” hits theaters in 2019, star Daisy Ridley expects it to be the third and final time she portrays her character Rey.

“I am really, really excited to do the third thing and round it out, because ultimately, what I was signing on to was three films,” she told Rolling Stone. “So in my head, it’s three films. I think it will feel like the right time to round it out.”

 

She always struck me as a smart actress, who wants to grow into more mature roles (I would love to see her play the governess in a "Turn of the Screw" adaptation.)

I don't see her doing many more green screen movies immediately unless they dump a dump truck load of money in her backyard (do they do that?)  

1 hour ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

I liked it better than all the prequels as well.

In fact Last Jedi was better to me than Return of the Jedi. No silly Ewoks!

Yeah, sad to see my favorite old characters go,but these new adventures are fun.

I absolutely love Rogue One.

If Star Wars can consistently give me movies like Rogue One than sign me up.

 

I started watching it again last night.

I liked it the first time I saw it, but didn't love it.

This time, I absolutely loved it!

An amazing, if somewhat underrated movie in the franchise.

On 12/15/2017 at 4:13 AM, Andthen said:

I bought an ss for my daughter a while back. 

SS - Frozen by illest05, on Flickr

Rare "unpersonalized" signature from Spencer. 

On ‎12‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 4:44 PM, ComicConnoisseur said:

All I know is the last Star Trek movie was very mediocre.

It was good in the way that it felt like a random episode of the original series, bad in the way that it was a big movie. Still not as bad as "The Final Frontier."

On ‎12‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 5:19 PM, paperheart said:

Paramount seems to be embracing this a tad more than the boards

On ‎12‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 10:42 PM, Mr Sneeze said:

I'm a life long star trek fan. I have seen every episode of every series and every movie, some many many times. I have no problem with a new interpretation.

It could be a disaster or it could be brilliant! I hope it comes to fruition because I think Tarantino is a smart filmmaker and could surprise us.

 

Tarantino is an actor's director. If fans want something close to what Star Trek II achieved with dialogue, humor, drama, action and emotion then this is who you hire.

Plus he attracts A-list talent and the right folks for the roles.

This can't be better news for a franchise slightly faltering again.  

1 minute ago, Logan510 said:

I've already seen it and enjoyed it for the most part. Obviously you can't fit everything into it, even with 2 parts and I would've preferred Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill in their familiar roles...but other than those minor complaints 

Yeah, Peter Weller was a bit too weary. But that is my only complaint.

1 minute ago, Logan510 said:

I wouldn't take that bet. Most of what Tarantino does is homage and pastiche and I have no problem with it as I like the end result.

He may very well turn out Pulp Fiction in space, but it's hard to imagine him doing something worse than what Abrams did IMHO.

I liked the Abrams versions, but that's just my taste.

I hated TNG stuff. Felt like a cruise ship in space, but I liked the cast.

2 minutes ago, Logan510 said:

Don't take offense to my bringing up financial success please, it's a fact those movies were financially successful and being financially successful is not always representative of quality.

I'm not a screen writer or a producer, so I have no "ultimate Batman movie pitch"

I liked Batman: TAS and Batman Begins, so how about more Batman like that?

Try to to check out "The Dark Knight Returns" Part 1 and 2 from DC animation sometime. You'll love it!

2 minutes ago, revat said:

Instrumentals soundtrack on Batman Returns were amazing.  It added so much to the cold and loneliness and all the rest of the emotions, especially with regards to the penguin. 

 

Also, as a side note:  Nicole Kidman in Batman Forever is easily the #1 ranked love interest in any Batman movie so far. Peak NK.

Yeah, I liked the "Returns" soundtrack a lot. I still got on CD somewhere.

Trivia note: Rene Russo was originally cast as Chase Meridian before they recast the Bat in "Forever."

Peak Nicole for me would be the "BMX Bandits." No, you're right this one and "To Die For" that year were her finest.