Film A Movie Thread

[Huntn]

Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025)- If this is meant to be a reboot of the franchise, ehh. Ok, but it just feels too calculated and unlikely of a story, or maybe I’m no longer impressed with just dinosaurs eating people and am a bit jaded. The plot needs something creative beyond what’s been done before. Not unlike me an Aliens, why I’m really blah now about most of the last Aliens chapters, and why in contrast I did like Alien Earth, something different and new.

 

[Pumbaa]

Tron: Ares (2025) in 3D, using loyalty points. Surprisingly solid story with less than stellar execution. Probably just as enjoyable at home without the big screen and 3D and surround sound...

Not sure how well the movie works for someone not familiar with at least the first movie, but it felt like a nice addition to the Tron universe for an old fan like this warthog.

I did not intentionally book a 3D screening nor did I pay extra for it, so I won't complain too much about the lack of added value, but it felt like a missed opportunity. I think that for example something like really exaggerated 3D in the virtual world and plain 2D in the real world could have made an interesting impression instead of the 3D just being barely noticeable the whole movie. Additionally, yeah, I know that it Tron and Disney, but I would have preferred a less cartoony bad guy and it would have been nice to care more about the characters overall... Maybe a hypothetical future director's cut can improve things?

 

[Thomas Veil]

Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025)- If this is meant to be a reboot of the franchise, ehh. Ok, but it just feels too calculated and unlikely of a story, or maybe I’m no longer impressed with just dinosaurs eating people and am a bit jaded. The plot needs something creative beyond what’s been done before. Not unlike me an Aliens, why I’m really blah now about most of the last Aliens chapters, and why in contrast I did like Alien Earth, something different and new.

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Heh. I was at a party last night with a bunch of people of varying ages, and even people in their 40s I had to explain things to in terms of this franchise.

"You know Yul Brynner?"
"No."
"'The Magnificent Seven'? 'Westworld'?"
"No."
"You don't even know 'Westworld'?"
"No."
"(Sigh.) Well, Westworld was like Jurassic Park, only with robots."

Kids these days.

 

[Thomas Veil]

Don't ask me how I never saw 1983's "House of Long Shadows" (Prime), one of those stories in which a man decides to spend a night in a dark, creepy house. But I just read about it recently on the internet and there it was on my Prime account.

What an amusingly bizarre movie. First you've got all the great horror actors above––Christopher Lee, John Carradine, Peter Cushing and Vincent Price––sharing screen time together, and then...

...well, without giving away spoilers, let's just say that the movie has some of the same goofy charm as films like "Clue" and "Deathtrap".

I'm not saying it's a great movie. But in spite of the fact that the film looks perfect for Halloween, I'd really say it has more than enough ham to be appropriate for Easter.

 

[Huntn]

Frankenstein (2025)- Seems well produced, but I hate this version of Frankenstein as an un-dieing super monster, a story that plays fast and lose with what science is plausibly capable of, versus delving into pretty hardcore supernatural. I prefer the sympathetic abomination. 🙂
Disclaimer: Did not finish, so not only I may have missed something, but my impression might be skewed. Sometimes remakes run too far away from the irigbstory, and viewers vested in the original story might have difficulty accepting.

 

[Huntn]

Heh. I was at a party last night with a bunch of people of varying ages, and even people in their 40s I had to explain things to in terms of this franchise.

"You know Yul Brynner?"
"No."
"'The Magnificent Seven'? 'Westworld'?"
"No."
"You don't even know 'Westworld'?"
"No."
"(Sigh.) Well, Westworld was like Jurassic Park, only with robots."

Kids these days.

I loved the first 2 seasons of West World. There was the angle of growing awareness, discovery, and rebellion. It’s what happens after that imploded. I have always acknowledged that this type of story, that you want to really see what happens after, it’s fraught with likely disappointment. In this case the mood of the story so fundamentally changed. I think it would have been better, in hindsight sight, left to our imaginations. 🤔

 

[Pumbaa]

Predator: Badlands (2025) - Surprisingly entertaining story taking place in the Alien and Predator franchises' shared universe without strictly requiring too much previous knowledge about the franchises. Having seen one of the original Alien movies and one of the original Predator movies should provide more than enough background to enjoy this pretty goofy movie.

 

[Thomas Veil]

Never watched part of the series, but I take it this is our American equivalent of Godzilla vs. Mothra. 😄

 

[Thomas Veil]

Sometimes remakes run too far away from the irigbstory, and viewers vested in the original story might have difficulty accepting.

Sometimes it works. "Frankenstein: The True Story" was definitely not the true story according to the book. Yet it was a good enough reinvention that it worked.

I'm looking forward to seeing this one. In the meantime...

"Kill the Irishman" (DVD) came to my attention because of a recent story that mentioned that Cleveland was referred to as "Bomb City" in 1976. A lot of it had to do with an up and coming Irish mobster named Danny Greene. I remember hearing about that guy as I was growing up. The Irish Mafia was still big in the Cleveland-Youngstown area, until the FBI largely cleaned it up. But until that happened there was a power struggle that resulted in several dozen car bombings over a period of months.

As a movie, "Kill the Irishman" is no "Goodfellas", but it may be interesting to those looking for something different from the usual mob stories...or to those like me who remember this stuff hitting NE Ohio newspapers all the time but were too young to be actually following it.

 

[Thomas Veil]

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I offered my movie watching partner-in-crime grandson the chance to watch "Devil" (DVD) several times in the past and he's always looked disinterested. I don't know what changed, but he chose that for our most recent get-together and loved it.

Turns out he was captivated by the cross (no pun intended) between the mystery style "which one is the killer" plot and the supernatural aspect. The movie does do a good job of ratcheting up the tension.

Now I've just got to get him to check out "The Omen".

Then on my own, I crossed another one off my bucket list.

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"The Hunt for Red October" (Sundance) is one of those classics that everyone's seen except me. Nicely taut, suspenseful movie, even if I have seen some of those tropes before (like tricking a torpedo into striking the wrong target). The performances are great and the plot has any number of twists and turns. I can see why it's a classic.

 

[Thomas Veil]

"Pandorum" (Tubi) is a deep space sci-fi movie about colonists sent from a dying Earth to another planet. Naturally everything goes to hell. There are mutants onboard, and the few normals who wake up along the way are suffering from varying degrees or "pandorum", or space psychosis.

The title of the film was originally going to be the name of the ship, then it became the name of the psychosis. Typical of this movie that really doesn't know whether it wants to be a sci-fi survival movie or a zombie flick. Avoid.

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OTOH, "Dead and Buried" (Prime) is a more scary and orderly movie. People who wander into this small coastal town are being savagely attacked and murdered. The premise is reminiscent of some of the more bizarre episodes of "The Avengers"...only this is a lot grislier. The townspeople are sinister to say the least, and the reason these murders are happening is frankly preposterous. Still, if you're in the mood for an enjoyably dumb horror movie, you could do worse.

 

[Thomas Veil]

“The Naked Gun” (2025) (Paramount).

Oh dear.

This just struck me as 95% warmed-over jokes from the original films—some raunchier, though. Believe it or not, the funniest gag comes at the end of the story, a takeoff of Police Squad!’s closing credits.

And call me ageist/sexist, but Neeson and Anderson are too old for the roles they play. Leslie Nielsen was around 60 when the original came out, and he and Priscilla Presley were playing on the older man/younger woman trope.

Here, Neeson is even older (and more tired-looking) than Nielsen. I can say that because he’s around my age. Anderson may be a bit younger than Neeson, but she actually looks the same age as him. At some point the suspension of belief as a sexpot wears thin.

Disappointing, but at least I didn’t spend movie theater money to see it.

 

[Thomas Veil]

Ryan Coogler's "Sinners" (HBOMax), would benefit from about 20 minutes less setup. It takes forever for the story to get going.

It makes up for it, though, by honoring some of the more obscure vampire “rules” and for its comment about the societal hierarchy of the undead vs. the living. (Plus, how often do you get to see Irish vampires?)

Overall I’d say if you haven’t already seen “From Dusk Till Dawn”, see that first. The two movies share some similarities, but the latter is more likely to spoil the former for you, rather than the other way around.

“Sucker Punch” (HBOMax) was on my movie bucket list. It’s very artistically done, though the action sequences do get repetitive. Worth a watch. It’s not just a visual treat but it’s easy to feel for the main character.

 

[Huntn]

Wargames (1983)- Cyberthriller, a high school student tries to hack into a game company to play it’s latest game, but does not realize he’s connected to DOD computer tasked with controlling the US’s nuclear arsenal for a WWIII scenario. It learned by playing games, and just wants to play a game, along with chess, Geothermal Nuclear War. 😐 Entertaining…with young Mathew Broderick, and Ally Sheedy.

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