What I've Been Watching: The Catch-All Film Thread

Think of what all those millions of dollars and thousands of man hours could have created instead of a "fun" spectacle :)
 
GotG was ok; personally I found Pacific Rim to be more "fun" but GotG had a better story, albeit only slightly.

The acting in Pacific Rim was just terrible while the GoTG had great acting for a summer block buster.

Man I bet I am older then most on this site but most of you are a joyless bunch. :) You guys need to retire and just watch Doctor Who all day and make sure the kids stay off your lawn.

The soundtrack alone makes it better then most movies released nowadays.
 
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I saw a very nice arcade-gaming documentary, The King of Kong, about two Donkey Kong players competing for the world record title in that game. I was surprised how good it was made. And man, that Billy Mitchel was a real scumbag. Steve Wiebe was great. A good, honest and decent guy just tearing Mitchel apart. It was funny watching Mitchel behave like a little worm. No spine on that guy.
 
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The acting in Pacific Rim was just terrible while the GoTG had great acting for a summer block buster.

Man I bet I am older then most on this site but most of you are a joyless bunch. :) You guys need to retire and just watch Doctor Who all day and make sure the kids stay off your lawn.

The soundtrack alone makes it better then most movies released nowadays.

I saw this today and I think you're all making the wrong comparison. I tried really hard to try and find words to express the form of entertainment this film gives, but came up short. So I had a sudden epiphany when I remembered Vin Diesel is in it (though only vaguely).

This film is very similar to The Chronicles of Riddick. Not the two Riddick films either side of The Chronicles, but just The Chronicles. An entertainment gem, but not an all time classic kind of thing. I really enjoyed The Chronicles and that's pretty much why I really enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy.

I also wouldn't compare it to any of the usual Marvel movies for the same reason. I certainly wouldn't compare it to Pacific Rim.
 
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Interesting comparison. Personally, I enjoyed the Chronicles of Riddick more, and I don't find them to be very similar at all.
 
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I saw a very nice arcade-gaming documentary, The King of Kong, about two Donkey Kong players competing for the world record title in that game. I was surprised how good it was made. And man, that Billy Mitchel was a real scumbag. Steve Wiebe was great. A good, honest and decent guy just tearing Mitchel apart. It was funny watching Mitchel behave like a little worm. No spine on that guy.

That is a fun watch. Regular Show on Cartoon Network makes fun of Billy with a character that's a rude giant head named Garret Bobby Ferguson complete with spectacular mullet..
 
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Am I the only one who appreciates a good adrenaline pumping film that blows sh*t up good? Love the Transformers movies, Pacific Rim etc. A few times a year a get a bucket of popcorn, stap in and enjoy the ride. Saying these movies are 'bad' is missing the whole point of the genre. I also like roller coasters btw.
 
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You're not the only one.

Sadly. As I hated Megan Fox Transformers movie so much I'll never watch it's sequels, but I adored Pacific Rim and want to see more of it!
 
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You're not the only one.

Sadly. As I hated Megan Fox Transformers movie so much I'll never watch it's sequels, but I adored Pacific Rim and want to see more of it!

The last two are pretty good. No Megan Fox and a fresh recast for the most recent one.
 
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I hated pacific rim. Huge human like robots with human in them are a turn off.
 
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Am I the only one who appreciates a good adrenaline pumping film that blows sh*t up good? Love the Transformers movies, Pacific Rim etc. A few times a year a get a bucket of popcorn, stap in and enjoy the ride. Saying these movies are 'bad' is missing the whole point of the genre. I also like roller coasters btw.

Saying they're bad is probably expressing an opinion, which has nothing to do with missing the point.

I don't feel like I'm on a rollercoaster ride when I watch Pacific Rim. I feel like I'm being treated like an idiot and I keep waiting for something interesting to happen. If a movie fails to engage me on an emotional level - or an intellectual level - no amount of CGI can get my attention.

That's the point?
 
I watched Transcendence. Boring big budget movie without suspense. D-.
 
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Saying they're bad is probably expressing an opinion, which has nothing to do with missing the point.

I don't feel like I'm on a rollercoaster ride when I watch Pacific Rim. I feel like I'm being treated like an idiot and I keep waiting for something interesting to happen. If a movie fails to engage me on an emotional level - or an intellectual level - no amount of CGI can get my attention.

That's the point?

So why would you bother to see a movie about fighting robots in the first place? Surely there are films more geared to your quest for emotional and intellectual stimulation. Besides some witty one liners and eye candy wearing short jean cutoffs there is nothing to see but CGI destruction.
 
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So why would you bother to see a movie about fighting robots in the first place? Surely there are films more geared to your quest for emotional and intellectual stimulation. Besides some witty one liners and eye candy wearing short jean cutoffs there is nothing to see but CGI destruction.

Because fighting robots don't exclude a good script or compelling characters. I can watch movies about aliens, werewolves and small fat fantasy people - and yet be both emotionally moved and intellectually stimulated.

So, it's not so much the concept - but the execution.

Recently, I watched the latest Godzilla film - and it had enough interesting stuff to keep me watching.

I know it can be comfortable trying to put me in a little box and dismiss what I'm saying, instead of playing around with the idea that my problem can be valid from my point of view.

It's not absolutely certain that I did something wrong and that it's my own fault for not liking it.

Remember, you asked a question and made a claim, and I've done my best to answer and address them as honestly as always, which is more or less 100% honest.
 
Sometimes I also like eye candy and mindless CGI destruction however I found Pacific Rim to be better in that regard than the last few Transformers movies which didn't have the right ratio of eye candy to cgi destructions!
 
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My issues with the Transformers movies:

Preface

I loathed the old Transformers cartoon on television when I was a kid. It was the same as all the others, He-Man, She-Ra, Thundercats, etc etc etc. they had good guys and bad guys and they fight. That's it. Week in week out. With so little additional plot-supplement, either from original dialogue, characterisation, forward moving scenarios, emotional drama, new characters, defining moments, jokes, humour, subtelty, whatever, that I found watching them for more than one episode a year for anything other than the the somewhat entertaining theme music to be akin to mental torture. Of the bunch, only He-Man and Transformers managed to grip me with a sense of guilty pleasure, and only because the lead hero in both cases was suitably cheesy and righteous and a pleasure to watch when on form.

The first Transformers movie

I went to see the first Transformers movie because I do enjoy the guilty pleasure of a purely visual explosion-fest of a movie. At the time I was also (falsely) under the impression that Michael Bay was the 300 guy. I'm so bad with names it's embarrassing. I also saw that Spielberg was involved somewhere. If Spielberg was involved it couldn't be all bad.

I was disappointed that it wasn't just good guys fighting bad guys on a different planet but with 'more to it'.

It was just a 'guy tries to get a girlfriend' with some stuff going on in the background movie. Optimus Prime was not the star of the show. Unforgivable.

The second and third Transformers movies

I went to see the second and third Transformers movies because I was under the false impression that the latest one would, in each case, be the one that forgot about the utterly meaningless humans and allowed the series to be about robots fighting each other (but with more to it) with Optimus Prime being the lead star.

The fourth Transformers movie

♪We won't get fooled again♪ (not on the long-list, let alone the short-list)

Conclusion

I have no idea why people defend them or enjoy them based on the concept that they are just good mindless action. They are not. The action is sporadic, boring and far to heavily punctuated by humans who have no impact on the concept of immortal robots the size of skyscrapers. I could list no end of summer films which provide better 'action' and better 'more to it'.

They are as disposable as used napkins.

But, yes, I can see why people watch them... The adverts and hype are first class... and then people have 'bought into it' and need to defend their decision...
 
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