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

You know I feel the same way about Clint Eastwood. I love him as an actor but I can't relate to him as a director.

To be fair and transparent I've probably only seen 10% or less of the films he's actually directed. But of those the only one I agree is a masterpiece would be Unforgiven. Million Dollar Baby, Gran Torino, Mystic River, American Sniper, Bridges of Madison County...none of them did anything for me.

To each their own I guess...

 

I used to like Eastwood as a director as an actor but I can’t stand the guy anymore, ever since he started injecting his projects with his jingoistic and sexist ideologies. After the way he smeared that (now deceased) female reporter for his Richard Jewell movie, I pretty much decided never to waste my time on any of his movies again. At least the newer ones. I’ll still watch his older films that I like (Unforgiven, Fist Full of Dollars, etc.) but I’m not interested in anything new that he puts out.

 

He's a dinosaur, no doubt about it...

Having said that, I think Eastwood would have made an amazing Wolverine like 50 years ago lol...

 

Yeah. Or the 1980s/90s version of Nick Fury. I think the character design was modeled on Eastwood.

 

Watching the Pitch Meeting for Batman Returns reminded me of why I damn near HATE that movie and feel it’s one of the most poorly written superhero films of all time. If you made a Batman movie like that today, it would get critically panned. I think people view it with rose-colored glasses because they love Pfeiffer and Keaton (even though he’s barely in it) and ignore that it’s pretty much a **** movie that makes no sense. Everyone in Gotham not named Bruce Wayne acts like a moron. The circus gang feels like something Burton meant to use in the first movie and just forgot to include, because an army of clowns fits much better with the Joker than it does the Penguin. And the Penguin running for mayor about five minutes after emerging from the sewers, the stupid Penguin Commandoes, Batman’s disappearing eye makeup and “armored” cowl that’s so flimsy he can rip it off like a Mission Impossible mask… it’s crap. It’s not in the same realm of bad as Batman & Robin but it sucks.

 

I watched both the first Batman and Batman Returns as an adult and couldn't understand how Returns has a great reputation. Performances and production design aside, it's a meandering slog.

 

(high five)

For sure. You know what’s really weird though? WB’s bizarre, long-lasting obsession with that movie. I’ve noticed that ever since WB pressured Burton to leave the franchise after the movie received a mixed reception and infuriated a bunch of uptight parents, it feels like they’ve covertly tried to uphold its legacy. Think about this…

- WB temporarily rehired Burton to do a Superman film

- They made a Birds of Prey series that was apparently a direct follow up to BR because Batman and Catwoman had a child with super powers

- They planned to make a Catwoman solo film with Pfeiffer and even after she was no longer interested and they changed the main character from Selina Kyle, they still gave her the same stupid origin from BR

- They cast a young actress in Gotham who looked like a young Pfeiffer

- WB finally got Keaton to come back and play Batman in this Flash movie and not only that, he’s wearing the BR costume.

There may be more examples but it seems like they’ve always regretted their decision to force Burton out. Just kind of interesting.

 

I think one of the best.

Not the lead or main focus but great when he does appear.

It's very strongly, even aggressively, cynical, I can see how that can be offputting (and it already is widely regarded as love it or hate it) but I love it for that.

 

The Batman is the first to embrace the eye shadow right? Kinda funny it took that long. Maybe I'm way off base but it feels like some old-school 'men don't wear make-up' thing, a fear that it might make Bruce look -gasp- feminine. I give Kick Ass a little credit for turning the tide, cause I still vividly remember watching Nick Cage putting on his eye make-up before battle.



Caught this on yt today ^ Keaton's disappearing make-up finally fixed haha.

 

I think Batman Begins (kind of) acknowledged it. After Batman takes Rachel to the Batcave and he gives her the cure to the fear poison, he takes his mask off and his back is to the camera. You never see the eye makeup but it seems like they filmed it that way because they didn’t want to have the disappearing makeup thing but also didn’t want to show him with the makeup on.

But anyway, yeah… I’m glad The Batman just went all in on it.

 

Batman's disappearing eye make up doesn't bother me as much as the disappearing black chinguard when Robocop takes off the helmet.

 

Yeah, I love that movie but it was a niggle of mine as well. Its like the lowe half of his helmet suddenly didnt exist.

Also, tactically, it was only somewhat damaged and would have still provided a lot of protection, there's no practical reason to take it off - its for dramatic effect only.

 

I like Wild Wild West.

 

OMG how did I never notice this! Hahahaha

 

I wouldn’t go so far as to say I like WWW but for some reason, I remember enjoying it more than Men in Black back in the day. I think that’s because, in the case of MIB, it got so overhyped for me that when I finally saw it, I was a bit underwhelmed. Plus I saw it at a drive-in, which did the visuals no favors. I guess I didn’t expect much from WWW so I mostly had fun with it.

 

It's like a magic trick. I never noticed until quite recently.

 

I hate the Deadpool movies.

I recently said in another thread that the only CBMs I hate are the Schumacher Batman movies and a couple others. I forgot to add the Deadpool movies to the list...

I find them snarky, obnoxious, and nowhere near as clever as they think they are (similar to some people I know).

I could easily live without ever seeing another Deadpool movie.

 

Yeah, 1 didn't do much for me, but Cable, Domino and Julian Dennison as Rusty in 2 made it watchable. Also enjoyed Colossus v juggernaut

 

I quite like Terminator 3 and Nick Stahl is by far my favourite John Connor.

 

In retrospect, Terminator 3 has aged quite well to be honest. The car chase alone is *chef's kiss*. Don't get me wrong, there's still a lot of questionable stuff, but overall is probably the most coherent of all sequels after T2.

 

Yeah T3 certainly hasn't been hurt by the 3 other sequels that followed. I'm much more content with its familiarity after several bizarre tangents and misfires.

 

To me it's a guilty pleasure or, less generously, a guilty half-glass-full. I liked Kline and Smith in general, in it they still had a few moments but were pretty badly written/misused. Branagh also had moments, improved his material slightly but still felt pretty dragged down by it.

 

Josh Brolin should have played Cash in 'Walk the Line' instead of Joaquin Phoenix.

Matthew Mcconaughey should have played Shelby in 'Ford v. Ferrari' instead of Matt Damon.

 

I recently rewatched The Crow. I remember watching it when it came out in -94, but not sure if I've watched it since. Anyhows, I remember reading a couple of reviews back then before watching mentioning this was the director (Alex Proyas) first feature film, and he had a backround as a music video director (with stars like INXS, Fleetwood Mac, Crowded House, Mike Oldfield, Sting etc). I saw some promotion pictures, and got interested.

Tbh, it actually felt like watching a contemporary high budget music video back then. I've no idea how much of a true adaption this was to the 90s comic, but I felt everything was mostly just over the top in an annoying way. The whole dark/gothic theme mostly came out silly.

Brendan Lee was good though as the antagonist, and so was Ernie Hudson as the good cop and Michael Wincott as the main villian. So yeah, a great cast and the action were sometimes entertaining, but I just didn't get the over all praise for it.

I know lots of people love this flick still today, hence I decided to rewatch it the other day and maybe change my mind. But yeah, it still feel mostly like a 90s high budget music video to me. Sure, some good action/shoot out scenes and what I mentioned above, but still quite a forgettable dated film compared to other 90s action flicks back then.

Proyas second film was Dark City in -98, which I've just revisited. It surely has it flaws, but for me there's a lot more to love there. A sci-fi/mystery/noir story which I enjoyed then and now, way more than his first offering.

 

After seeing it, The Batman isn’t better than Chris Nolan’s entries. There are some scenes finally depicted in live action that I hadn’t seen before — but the overly bleak tone is a turnoff (like the Riddler) as well as the three hour runtime. It’s a good movie but a very overrated one… but I’m not yearning for the sequel.

And Into the Spider Verse is NOT the best Spider-Man movie— highly overrated as well. I’m sick and tired of hearing that. And while the animation is extraordinary— the shifting style hurt my eyes at times. And all those extra Spider characters are NOT FUNNY (and looking at you, Peter Porker). It just makes me want to see Miles Morales in a live action film. Forget the sequels.