State your unpopular film related opinion - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Part 32

[The Batman]

1. It's hard to take the "Black Panther wasn't all that good" crowd seriously when you see the kinds of superhero films they will put on a pedestal. BP doesn't deserve a "Best Picture" nom, but a guy looking for magic space rocks is supposedly ten times more deserving.

2. It's become cool to overrate Timothy Dalton's James Bond. I say that as someone who has read the Fleming novels. Dalton was solid, but he wasn't some all time great version of the character.

3. I'd be more interested in a fifth Indiana Jones movie if they replaced Harrison Ford.

 

[Drizzle]

Last Action Hero is much smarter than people give it credit for.

It's not just Schwarzenegger doing self parody but a critique of Hollywood and a comment on the appeal of movies and the fantasy world vs the horrors of the real one.

On its surface it's cheesy and dumb, but there's a lot going on.

I get the feeling that with a better director it could have been a timeless classic.

On paper it's hard to see how it didn't become an instant classic considering Schwarzenegger was hot off T2 and one of the biggest stars in the world at the time and it was directed by John McTiernan to boot. But then you take into consideration that it opened a week after Jurassic Park. I was only five years old in the summer of 1993 but I remember that you couldn't go anywhere without seeing that iconic JP logo. Not even Arnold could escape the shadow of a Spielberg dinosaur blockbuster. I'm not about to compare the quality of the two either, since Jurassic Park did deserve all that attention. But if Last Action Hero was just released a month later, it more than likely would have done better. At the very least I'm glad it's seen more of a cult following in the past decade or so.

 

[Yowza]

Mine is that the MCU movies for the most part are conventional and derivative. It's actually a notion most people my age hold but I still have memories of reading the comics and always interested in the creative casting decisions and how things are gone about adaptation wise.

This forum of course that notion is very unpopular though.

 

[Batmannerism]

Mine is that the MCU movies for the most part are conventional and derivative. It's actually a notion most people my age hold but I still have memories of reading the comics and always interested in the creative casting decisions and how things are gone about adaptation wise.

This forum of course that notion is very unpopular though.

You're not wrong, they are very formulaic- it just happens to be a formula that has a massive appeal, like Coca cola or McDonalds.

 

[Yowza]

You're not wrong, they are very formulaic- it just happens to be a formula that has a massive appeal, like Coca cola or McDonalds.

Have you tried their new chicken sandwich? Just shameful attempt to follow Popeyes. They're crowd pleasers for theater going or for family time without getting too heavy. Quality wise I think situation has upped people's expectations for their entertainment suprisingly.

Hopefully the trend will uptick if that's the case and the mods on these forums will leave and be replaced by new ones.

 

[CocoReturns]

Watchmen (Director's cut) is one of the best superhero movies ever made.

Jackie Earl Haley gives in all-time great performance as Rorshach, Patrick Wilson is nerdy and affable as Drieberg, and the film is suitable broody and contemplative.

Can it replace the book-absolutely not. Does it stand on its own merits? I think it kinda does.

 

[Herofan]

^Patrick Wilson is very underrated, he's got a lot of range and also just effectiveness.

I hate the criticism that a movie "feels more like television," television isn't necessarily worse or lesser.

I don't really like parodies or spoofs, at least or especially if I like the original. My only exceptions of when I liked a spoof (as well as the original) are Spaceballs, Scary Movie and I guess Young Frankenstein (the latter more of a comedy with Frankenstein than really a spoof).

 

[Batmannerism]

Watchmen (Director's cut) is one of the best superhero movies ever made.

Jackie Earl Haley gives in all-time great performance as Rorshach, Patrick Wilson is nerdy and affable as Drieberg, and the film is suitable broody and contemplative.

Can it replace the book-absolutely not. Does it stand on its own merits? I think it kinda does.

I liked it, and definitely would watch the Director cut rather than the cinematic release.

I like Malin Akerman as an actress, but feel like she was miscast and kind of flat in this role - as was Billy Crudup, and the giant glowing blue penis was just ridiculous after a while.

I think it's nearly universally accepted that Jackie Earle Haley absolutely nailed the role of Rorschach, one of the best ever performances in a super hero film.

Having said all that, the film just doesn't quite pull off a lot of its ambitious reach - still an achievement for bringing a reasonably faithful adaptation to the big screen.

 

[Drizzle]

Watchmen (Director's cut) is one of the best superhero movies ever made.

Jackie Earl Haley gives in all-time great performance as Rorshach, Patrick Wilson is nerdy and affable as Drieberg, and the film is suitable broody and contemplative.

Can it replace the book-absolutely not. Does it stand on its own merits? I think it kinda does.

I've always liked Watchmen. What's funny to me is that at the time I was perfectly fine with them ditching the squid in favor of blaming the explosion on Dr. Manhattan in the last act since I felt it was too random of an occurrence in the book. Fast forward a decade later after seeing how well the squid was done in its brief appearance in the Watchmen series and I kind of wish Snyder had kept it in.

 

[CocoReturns]

Affleck looks better as a middle aged dude

 

[DyeLorean]

I thought he weirdly looked like George Clooney in that scene from Zack Snyder's Justice League.

 

[CocoReturns]

"as was Billy Crudup, and the giant glowing blue penis was just ridiculous after a while."

I liked Crudup's "awkward nerd" interpretation of Dr. Manhatten, but to give him an 8 inch sausage makes him seem vain and gross. I wouldn't mind if he wore the speedo the whole movie

 

[Deck Rickard]

Last Action Hero is much smarter than people give it credit for.

It's not just Schwarzenegger doing self parody but a critique of Hollywood and a comment on the appeal of movies and the fantasy world vs the horrors of the real one.

On its surface it's cheesy and dumb, but there's a lot going on.

I get the feeling that with a better director it could have been a timeless classic.

I feel like the movie is a fun ride but the end is where it sort of falls apart because the kid just goes back to his **** life. Now, to your point, that makes sense because it’s trying to show that the real world isn’t a fantasy like a typical action movie. But for a movie that’s more of a comedy than anything else, it all just ends on a huge downer. They try to play it off for laughs but I don’t think it works. That’s why the end of say, The Neverending Story works better because the kid at least gets to be a hero and gets revenge on the bullies who tormented him.

 

[Deck Rickard]

"as was Billy Crudup, and the giant glowing blue penis was just ridiculous after a while."

I liked Crudup's "awkward nerd" interpretation of Dr. Manhatten, but to give him an 8 inch sausage makes him seem vain and gross. I wouldn't mind if he wore the speedo the whole movie

I have to defend this choice by Snyder. The most powerful being in the universe should have impressive junk. It looked small and pathetic in the comic.

 

[CocoReturns]

Snyder said the "black and grey" version is the definitive version. I tried to watch it, and it feels like a setting on VLC rather than an actual remaster. But yeah, it'd probably be a lot of fun to watch on a 60s tube tv

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Let’s have a moment of appreciation that we never had to sit through Zach Snyder’s versions of Bizzaro, Mxyzptlk, Krypto, Supergirl, etc.

 

[flickchick85]

Last Action Hero is much smarter than people give it credit for.

It's not just Schwarzenegger doing self parody but a critique of Hollywood and a comment on the appeal of movies and the fantasy world vs the horrors of the real one.

On its surface it's cheesy and dumb, but there's a lot going on.

I get the feeling that with a better director it could have been a timeless classic.

It has always been a timeless classic to me.

But yes, the script has quite a lot of wit to it. Which is hardly a surprise considering it's Shane Black.

 

[Captain Tired]

Let’s have a moment of appreciation that we never had to sit through Zach Snyder’s versions of Bizzaro, Mxyzptlk, Krypto, Supergirl, etc.

Snyder's Krypto would have probably been like Cujo.

 

[Batmannerism]

I have to defend this choice by Snyder. The most powerful being in the universe should have impressive junk. It looked small and pathetic in the comic.

In the graphic novel Dr Manhattan is tall and well proportioned but not the weughtlifter beast we see in the film. Maybe its Snyder's obsession with the male physique ? Think Cavill, Affleck and Momoa and all their shirtless scenes in his films, and then think about 300, a pattern starts to emerge...

" Say Billy, do you like films about Gladiators?"

Anyway in the comics his genitals are very ordinary size, which fits in with his character who DNGAF about how people perceive him, because he's pretty much God - the whole comic is about him becoming detached from human affairs, which is ultimately why he leaves Earth. So the average sized junk perfectly reflects that attitude.


Something that I hated about the Watchmen HBO series is that it reversed significant the character arcs in Watchmen, which were part of which made the original so unique.

They could have told most of the story, particularly the racial politics story, without any of the Watchmen characters at all. I feel like Watchmen got overlaid onto the story in a cynical attempt at brand recognition- now there's an unpopular opinion.

 

[MilkmanDan]

Watchmen (Director's cut) is one of the best superhero movies ever made.

Jackie Earl Haley gives in all-time great performance as Rorshach, Patrick Wilson is nerdy and affable as Drieberg, and the film is suitable broody and contemplative.

Can it replace the book-absolutely not. Does it stand on its own merits? I think it kinda does.

Patrick Wilson does a great job as Dreiberg. Which kind of amuses me since he was actually my fancast for Ozymandias. I thought he would have been perfect as the "golden boy" superhero with a dark side. As I recall my pick for Dan Dreiberg was Marc Ruffalo.

 

[Schlosser85]

Unpopular opinion, I dug Matthew Goode as Veidt.

But Ruffalo would have been a good Dreiberg.

 

[Batmannerism]

Unpopular opinion, I dug Matthew Goode as Veidt.

But Ruffalo would have been a good Dreiberg.

He was okay in the role - personally I would have loved to see a big name, like Cruise, in the role.

I wasn't 100% sold on him as Veidt - maybe Snyder's direction, as he's not the best at building characters, which is why I feel like the Watchmen characters were very hit and miss, e.g. Haley was probably THE definitive portrayal of Rorschach, whereas Crudup as Dr Manhattan was pretty lame....trying to avoid glowing penis metaphors.

Unpopular opinion - having Dr Manhattan as the "villain" made more sense than the giant psychic squid attack.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I think my problem with Goode as Veidt was how obviously villainous they make him. Like, I knew he’s the antagonist because I had read the comic, but even if I hadn’t, I think I would have been able to figure it out from like the first or second scene he appears in. Also, Snyder did a terrible job of aging him up. Did he even try to? Goode looks the same age through the entire film. Maybe that was intentional; I suppose since Veidt is a scientific genius, it could stand to reason that he found ways to retain his youth but this was never explained (cue some Snyder fanboy telling me that “Snyder shouldn’t need to explain every little thing because he requires the audience to think for themselves” or some ****).

 

[Drizzle]

I think my problem with Goode as Veidt was how obviously villainous they make him. Like, I knew he’s the antagonist because I had read the comic, but even if I hadn’t, I think I would have been able to figure it out from like the first or second scene he appears in. Also, Snyder did a terrible job of aging him up. Did he even try to? Goode looks the same age through the entire film. Maybe that was intentional; I suppose since Veidt is a scientific genius, it could stand to reason that he found ways to retain his youth but this was never explained (cue some Snyder fanboy telling me that “Snyder shouldn’t need to explain every little thing because he requires the audience to think for themselves” or some ****).

Weird choices with the character aside (including that awful wig), I'd even say that Matthew Goode was more miscast than Malin Akerman in that movie. A lot of people complain about Akerman, but at least Laurie in the film still felt like Laurie from the comic. Goode didn't really effectively portray Veidt to me which makes him the weak link in the cast. I thought that Jeremy Irons's portrayal in the series felt more like the character but I realize it's also unfair to compare the acting capabilities of a legend like Irons to Matthew Goode. Apparently even he felt he was miscast:

Goode: 'I shouldn't have been in Watchmen'

I just wish that they had gone with Jude Law as Veidt as they originally wanted to. He would have felt more appropriate for the role.

 

[Schlosser85]

Personally I think Irons plays Veidt too mustache-twirling and hammy. If anything he plays him more overtly "muhahaha" villainous than Goode did. And his recording a video monologuing his whole evil scheme to President Redford (lol) feels like exactly the kind of "comic book villain" shtick that Veidt mocks in the original comic and movie.