Rate the latest movie you've seen.

[Munch]

Definitely how the scotsman would have wanted to go out, roasting someone. That said his spirits meant to still be around, and will be in the final episode.

Recent one of jack getting his sword back and defeating his demons, I was kind of sad to see his long hair and beard go, him going right back to his same old attire just felt kind of lackluster after all the shit he's been through, it should have some kind of change to show that time passing.

[Baruch]

Definitely how the scotsman would have wanted to go out, roasting someone. That said his spirits meant to still be around, and will be in the final episode.

Recent one of jack getting his sword back and defeating his demons, I was kind of sad to see his long hair and beard go, him going right back to his same old attire just felt kind of lackluster after all the shit he's been through, it should have some kind of change to show that time passing.

We need the regular, who is not here much, but a Scotsman ... to explain the swearing ;-)

I did like him in the first new episode, dressed as a Sassanid Persian knight.  Beard is appropriate on that.

[Cavebear]

Definitely how the scotsman would have wanted to go out, roasting someone. That said his spirits meant to still be around, and will be in the final episode.

Recent one of jack getting his sword back and defeating his demons, I was kind of sad to see his long hair and beard go, him going right back to his same old attire just felt kind of lackluster after all the shit he's been through, it should have some kind of change to show that time passing.

Samurai Jack changes in interesting ways.  This season, for example, he has shed his robe.  I think it means he is going to his basics and when he finally confronts Aku in the past with all his experience, he will either be nearly naked or in his full original regalia.

[Munch]

Samurai Jack changes in interesting ways.  This season, for example, he has shed his robe.  I think it means he is going to his basics and when he finally confronts Aku in the past with all his experience, he will either be nearly naked or in his full original regalia.

Well I suppose it does just represent him being on a dark path and now finding himself again. I more meant like having scars from his experience. The fact in this season he's killed people, not robots but people, spilled blood, should be deeply damaging to him, and it has shown. If they made his face more worn, like the rigors of fighting and age wearing him down, and yet he's still prepare to stand and fight Aku to the bitter the.

[SGOS]

Guardians of the Galaxy II  10/10

Excellent movie, and a Wow, considering it's a sequel.  Superhero movie sequels usually just introduce a new villain and come up with a new storyline.  While Guardians does this, it has a different feel.  The story itself could be summarized in two minutes, but it wouldn't just be a summary.  You could explain all the details in that limited time.  It's simple, but still very clever.  You don't actually become introduced to the story until an hour into the film, except for a brief foreshadow at the very beginning.  I'd have to see it again to watch for other foreshadows that may not be as obvious.  Mostly, the first hour is just an accumulation of things that the Guardians do, kind of like just drifting about in space trying not to be killed by hostile life forms, until the main problem is presented.  But that first hour, as irrelevant as it may seem is filled with dazzling special effects that are interesting in themselves.  There is also a lot of Camaraderie and poignant moments of relationship building in the first hour.  Like Dr. Strange, the special effects are not limited to explosions, but things that lend themselves well to 3D IMAX theater, and like Dr. Strange, I think the movie would lose something in a flat environment.

But even with the simple story and sometimes irrelevant details, the film passes muster on my most critical test; "Did I enjoy the film?"  The very end is a visual feast, and I had to remove my glasses and wipe my eyes once, because I had tears that interfered with my vision.  Yeah.  It got kind of emotional for me at the end, sappy and unmanly for a superhero movie as that might be.

I'll be curious what others think.  I have the feeling that others might not score it the way I did.  Both the first Guardians and the second surprised me and were not what I was expecting.

[Hydra009]

Mostly, the first hour is just an accumulation of things that the Guardians do, kind of like just drifting about in space trying not to be killed by hostile life forms, until the main problem is presented.  But that first hour, as irrelevant as it may seem is filled with dazzling special effects that are interesting in themselves.  There is also a lot of Camaraderie and poignant moments of relationship building in the first hour.

Good.  Guardians of the Galaxy works because of the different personalities bouncing off each other.  If them shooting the breeze isn't interesting, then it won't be interesting when they have to save the day.

I'll be curious what others think.

I'll let you know in a week or two.  I have some pressing IRL stuff to wrap up first.  After that I'll be able to kick back and enjoy myself.

[Munch]

Just saw guardians too myself. Gonna drop all this in a spoiler tag to talk freely about it all.

[spoiler]This was a fun romp, and I was smiling though so much of it. It did have some surprises I wasn't expecting. The first being that in the MCU, Ego is Peters father, the living planet. since in the comics peters father is J'son or Jason of Spartax, and according to the movies writers j'son doesn't exist in the MCU, so its just an accepted fact that Ego is Peters father. I'm okay with that, since the movieverse does change some things around sometimes, and it was a reason to bring Ego into the story in an interesting way.

The Sovereign were kind of lackluster in their execution, but while some reviewers complained about them being so, they weren't the main antagonist of the story, Ayesha was on the sides of the main plot like how the ravagers were, and just another element to add extra conflict in. some might find that a clusterfuck for the story, but this is marvel comics, stuff like this happens all the time in comics, so it didn't detract from the plot for me as much as I thought it would, plus the idea of the Sovereign as this almost third reich perfectionists means they could be used again down the line.

The movie was primarily focused on Starlord finding ground with his father, who ends up being the main antagonist of the movie. I've never really read much about Ego in the comics, so didn't know what direction they would take him in, but there was a creeping sense of something not being right about him. I actually found it kind of chilling for a marvel movie, showing that Ego drew all his children in, who were born after his humanoid replicas were sent off across the universe to 'spread his seed' with women there, to actually draw all his children back, and kill them, and dumping their bodies in a hole on his own body to be pretty freaky for a marvel movie at this age rating. But it did make for a really fun final battle.

Starlord was great, gamora was great, her developing some ground with her sister Nebula was a good bit of development, especially now that Nebula is woken up to the fact what Thanos is and what she wants to do to him. Rocket was great, and i loved the development between him and Yondu. And really, Yondu was awesome, I loved the dynamic built here, in how Peter wanted to find his real dad, wondering since he was a kid who his real father was, and yet when he found out his father was a genocidal planet bent on universal domination, the fact Yondu was there beside him and proved to be more a father to him then his real one was a great plot point, making the final scenes of him sacrificing himself to save peter all the more heartbreaking.
For me the weakest elements were Groot and Drax, not that they were bad, but just that their wasn't much development with them. Drax was so dam lovable in his crazy way, but I hoped their be more development for him, instead it just reverted to what we already knew about his family. Groot feel like less of a character in this and more just the comedic element, I've wanted to know some more about him, like his origin, how rocket found him, how they first meet, maybe rocket explaining his backstory as groot says I'm am groot' over and over, just something to give some element into his backstory.

One of the final scenes too, had something that didn't peg to be at first, when Ayesha in the post credit scene, explains how she's developed a way to create a perfect being, showing the pod they will use, with her intent to create a new being to kill the guardians, and she will call him Adam. I didn't honestly peg at first what that meant, since the cosmic elements of marvel are few and far between to me, but as I was leaving the cinema it dawned on me, gold skin, extremely powerful, in connection to cosmic beings, Adam bloody Warlock. So we're be seeing him show up.

That said, this movie was fun, great special effects, love the cast, just a crazy rollarcoaster, whats great about these movies is how they can just go all out crazy with what they do, because their in space, so they can have planets blowing up, new worlds being discovered, giant mechanical constructs, space battles, all that good stuff, so whatever faults it might have, i loved it, and will watch again/buy on blueray.

I'll give it a good 8.5/10[/spoiler]

[SGOS]

All the crazy characters: a green woman, a blue guy that guides a silly arrow by whistling, a tree, a raccoon, and a band of looneytoon ravagers.  By all accounts, Guardians should have been a screwball failure that appeared to be written by an 8th grader, but it avoids that somehow.  I identified with the characters and had feelings for them.  It defies the logic of ordinary story telling, but somehow it works. 

On the way home, I was thinking about the well known actors with established careers reading the manuscript before they consented to taking on the job.  What made them think this thing might be a success, rather than a dead end for their careers?  Actors seem to be bending over backwards just to have a chance at a cameo spot in a Marvel movie, any Marvel movie.  I get that, but the Guardian premise seems like a risky venture that for reasons that don't make sense to me, becomes a success.

[Munch]

All the crazy characters: a green woman, a blue guy that guides a silly arrow by whistling, a tree, a raccoon, and a band of looneytoon ravagers.  By all accounts, Guardians should have been a screwball failure that appeared to be written by an 8th grader, but it avoids that somehow.  I identified with the characters and had feelings for them.  It defies the logic of ordinary story telling, but somehow it works. 

On the way home, I was thinking about the well known actors with established careers reading the manuscript before they consented to taking on the job.  What made them think this thing might be a success, rather than a dead end for their careers?  Actors seem to be bending over backwards just to have a chance at a cameo spot in a Marvel movie, any Marvel movie.  I get that, but the Guardian premise seems like a risky venture that for reasons that don't make sense to me, becomes a success.

Concepts aren't what make or break a movie or story, characterization is what makes it, you can take the silliest of concepts, but if you give great characterization to the players, it becomes memorable. Take gravity falls for example, the summery, two kids go to live with their uncle in a town and weird things happen, it sounds like the plot of a goosebumps episode. But by clever writing, good characterization and witting dialogue, they made a show that won  awards.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

Couple days ago I finally got to see the original Japanese cut of "The Return Of Godzilla" (1984). Oh my god, this movie is so fucking dull, and the effects are terrible even by Godzilla standards. I would honestly recommend the American "1985" version over this. At least that version is funny.

[Hydra009]

All the crazy characters: a green woman, a blue guy that guides a silly arrow by whistling, a tree, a raccoon, and a band of looneytoon ravagers.

Two green women, dammit.


Gamora


Mantis

[Shiranu]

GotG: Really Fucking good.

Teared up at the end. No shame.

[SGOS]

Two green women, dammit.

In the film version she is flesh colored, but yeah, she'd look good in green too.  She is also a fun character.  Gifted with superpowers, but naïve.

[Hydra009]

In the film version she is flesh colored, but yeah, she'd look good in green too.  She is also a fun character.  Gifted with superpowers, but naïve.

In the comics, she's friendly and likable, which juxtaposes well with cantankerous Rocket.  Not naive, because her empathic powers give her a good (but not perfect) read of the room.  She can fight, but she noticeably holds back (unlike Gamora), doesn't harm more than necessary (unlike Rocket), and prefers nonviolent solutions when possible.  It's implied that her empathic powers contribute to her dislike for violence, since she likely experiences some of the pain she inflicts.

[aitm]

Life of Dogs...or something like that....if you love dogs, as I do, you can't help but want such superstitious nittwittery to be true... so it pulls on your emotions. But all the same, if you love dogs, well....you love dogs.