Rate the latest movie you've seen.

[Hydra009]

The title, mostly.  Plus, according to wiki, Civil War is Captain America 3 and Infinity War is Avengers 3.

[Mr.Obvious]

Touché

[marom1963]

Live By Night ... a piece of crap! The photography was beautiful; otherwise, the movie was a piece of garbage. 2 hours to tell a story that was worth about 30 minutes.

[SGOS]

The Avengers 3: Civil War.
I liked it. Wasn't blown away. Will still watch sequels though.

Notice how the studios come out with similar movies at the same time?  Rather than provide a wide selection of interest and creativity, they all want to do the same thing. 

Capt America: Civil War
Superman vs Batman
X Men Apocalypse,

but it's not just the new Superheroes.  For a while they had earthquake flicks, then volcano flicks, then meteors headed toward Earth flicks, runaway bride flicks.  I guess it's some kind of business strategy.

[Mr.Obvious]

Notice how the studios come out with similar movies at the same time?  Rather than provide a wide selection of interest and creativity, they all want to do the same thing. 

Capt America: Civil War
Superman vs Batman
X Men Apocalypse,

but it's not just the new Superheroes.  For a while they had earthquake flicks, then volcano flicks, then meteors headed toward Earth flicks, runaway bride flicks.  I guess it's some kind of business strategy.

Overflood of 'darker fairy tales', 'the zombie hype', 'nostalgic classics cranking out a far too late sequel'... Aye, creativity be far gone these days.

Creativity takes courage.

- Henri Matisse

This is true. And in a big-business world, one will prefer a sure-fire hit that you know sticks with the audiences and will get you the minimum of cash you want, rather than taking a leap into the unknown and quite possibly crashing down hard.

[SGOS]

This is true. And in a big-business world, one will prefer a sure-fire hit that you know sticks with the audiences and will get you the minimum of cash you want, rather than taking a leap into the unknown and quite possibly crashing down hard.

But in the case of mirror movies competing (as a business strategy), it overwhelms audiences with exploding volcano movies that come all at once.  One is all I need to see, and then I'm could for a few years, before I need another one.  I keep thinking the studios would be better off releasing one volcano movie, and one courtroom drama, rather than two courtroom dramas or two volcano movies.

Maybe the demographic research says, "Audiences are wanting a comet collision movie at this time, but do not want to see an alien invasion movie for another two years."  Taken to the extreme it would be like all TV networks deciding to show 24 hour reruns of I Love Lucy, because it was most in demand. They would end up splitting the profits 6 different ways, and everyone would have to watch I Love Lucy all day long.

[Mr.Obvious]

But in the case of mirror movies competing (as a business strategy), it overwhelms audiences with exploding volcano movies that come all at once.  One is all I need to see, and then I'm could for a few years, before I need another one.  I keep thinking the studios would be better off releasing one volcano movie, and one courtroom drama, rather than two courtroom dramas or two volcano movies.

Maybe the demographic research says, "Audiences are wanting a comet collision movie at this time, but do not want to see an alien invasion movie for another two years."  Taken to the extreme it would be like all TV networks deciding to show 24 hour reruns of I Love Lucy, because it was most in demand. They would end up splitting the profits 6 different ways, and everyone would have to watch I Love Lucy all day long.

Well, I guess they've got some 'splaining to do.

[SGOS]

Well, I guess they've got some 'splaining to do.

Damn betcha!

[Hydra009]

Notice how the studios come out with similar movies at the same time?  Rather than provide a wide selection of interest and creativity, they all want to do the same thing. 

Capt America: Civil War
Superman vs Batman
X Men Apocalypse,

I dunno, the similarities in the first two could've just been coincidence.  Lots of superhero stories involve internal strife.  (also, both studios needed a conflict between heroes as a springboard for a later ensemble movie)  And Apocalypse is the classic sealed evil in a can -> unleashed -> almost takes over.  It's similar to a tremendous amount of films.

There's no longer a new and creative way to cook a fish, we've already exhausted all the options.  The best that can be hoped for is a very well presented fish.  Marvel accomplishes that most of the time.

[trdsf]

After watching Mamoru Hosoda's The boy and the Beast, I began to think of a growing problem in the west, when it comes to animation. Growing up watching works by Hayao miyazaki, it felt refreshing to see a new animation studio produce something on his level of quality, because of late, with the rise of cgi animated movies in the west, I've missed traditional hand drawn animation lately. There's just something missing in cgi animated films you can only get from traditional hand drawn animation.

I think it was a review of Beauty and the Beast where the critic, in commenting on the CG sections, stated (and I paraphrase here) that 'computer graphics have reached the stage where they look almost as good as when they were drawn by hand'.  It was not meant as a compliment for the state of the art...

That said, there's some CGI movies I love -- The Incredibles and the Despicable Me series come to mind first and foremost -- but a CG Fantasia or Wallace and Gromit would just not be the same.  Part of the charm (for me, at least) in Fantasia is knowing that was all done the hard way, the amazing long zoom in the Ave Maria sequence, the airbrushing in the Nutcracker sequence.  It was a work of art, not of calculation.

There was a limited use of CG in Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, but it was strictly limited to the things that absolutely could not be done with Plasticine.  How did they know what could and could not be done?  They tried the Plasticine route first, before taking the 'easy' way out with CG.

It's a similar development to the replacement of film cameras by digital cameras.  Certainly the digital camera is easier, and certainly some remarkable digital photography has been done, and definitely digital makes weather and concert and sports photography so much easier because those are difficult under most circumstances...

...but there's something about film, about having to think about what you're doing before firing the shutter, about knowing you can't just take a couple hundred shots and cherry-pick the one or two good ones and delete the rest.  Film makes you think about what you're doing.  You can be mindful of your art with a DSLR.  You have to be mindful of it shooting real film.

[SGOS]

It's similar to a tremendous amount of films.

I was just wondering about the phenomena.  A competitive thing, with one studio not wanting to be outdone by another?  Or is there some kind of Hollywood collaboration going on?

The best that can be hoped for is a very well presented fish.  Marvel accomplishes that most of the time.

Marvel has created something of great interest among theater goers.  It's not really new; Superheroes have been around for a long time, but Marvel stands alone in a way that almost feels like a new genre.  To me, anyway.  I wait impatiently for the next Marvel movie and I'm getting anxious for the next one right now.  Dr. Strange will be out on DVD in a couple of weeks, and I'm wanting to see it for the 4th time.  I'm on Amazon's alert for when it comes in.

[Hydra009]

I dunno of any collaboration, but they both seem to be in a race to hit the market with the bigger and better films lately, so that could be it.

And speaking of Dr. Strange, I recently saw that one myself.  I guess I should probably review it.

Admittedly, I'm biased against magic-based superheroes and favor technology-based superheroes.  I feel like magic makes the setting too disconnected from reality on Earth (I can conceptualize Doom attacking NYC or Sentinels rounding up mutants, but for some reason, a summoning circle calling Dormammu to downtown Tallahassee doesn't grok with me) and magic can easily lead to ridiculously overpowered abilities (I can handle above-human capabilities, but someone who can snap their fingers and win every time is too OP for me).  So bear my bias in mind.

I really liked the special effects - especially that mirror-shard effect and walking upside down and whatever this is.  The plot was nothing new but it worked.  It had some pretty epic moments.  I kind of have mixed feelings about Mr Strange, though.  I empathized with him towards the end, but I wasn't feeling the first half of his arc.  He was kind of a douche before and after his magical training.  Tony Stark was/is like that too, but you get to see that he has a good heart underneath all the douchebaggery.  Plus, Tony's douchebaggery was entertaining and could be seen as a cover for his otherwise painful life.  I didn't really get that with Dr Strange.  Even after getting magical ability, he still acted like an asshole. Also, even Tony was less reckless.  You'd think that a doctor of all people would know better than gunning it down the highway.

I don't think Benedict Cumberbatch was the best fit for the role.  He was okay, but something just seemed off about him in that role.  I can't quite put my finger on it.

Don't get me wrong, it was a good movie, but it didn't really excite me like a lot of other Marvel films have excited me.

[SGOS]

summoning circle calling Dormammu to downtown Tallahassee doesn't grok with me

LOL  That's what I got when I first saw the coming attractions, and I thought it was going to be like that for me, but for some reason I really connected with it.  It was my favorite film from last year.

The plot was nothing new but it worked.  It had some pretty epic moments. 

And small moments too, like when he goes back to the emergency room for help the second time.  His girlfriend now knows he's got magic, and is OK with it, but when she comes around the corner and his magic cloak is just hanging in mid air, she just rolls her eyes like the magic is starting to annoy her.  I wait for that scene.

He was kind of a douche before and after his magical training.

Cumberbatch works fine for me.  He is arrogant for sure, but the arrogance works well in the epilog that sets up the sequel during the credits, when Thor is a bit flummoxed by the new guy in Marveltown, when Strange promises  to fix Thor's problems in Asgard, and magically refills beer mugs, which seems to earn a quiet surprise and special appreciation from Thor.

[Hydra009]

magically refills beer mugs

Free refills!  I take back 50% of my aversion to magic.

[Baruch]

Does anyone think a neurosurgeon would be warm and cuddly?  Pullease!