Last film you watched and your rating

I do think that the MCU is reaching a point where previous homework is sort of needed. I’ve said before that I think it’s pretty reasonable that anyone walking into a direct sequel should have either watched the first one or not complain about there being stuff in the sequel that they don’t understand. But with something like the MCU, it does get unreasonable to expect someone to be fully up to date on all movies and spin offs and tv shows for it to make sense.

I reckon future MCU projects should come with a ‘recommended watching’ list. Like, someone watching Dr Strange 2 should have, at the very least, watched Dr Strange and Wandavision for it to even be vaguely coherent. With my to-watch list, I’m probably going to miss Ms Marvel and Moonknight, and other circumstances notwithstanding I only saw Hawkeye almost by accident. I’d kind of like to be told in advance if the movie I’m about to watch needs me to have seen them for it to make sense.

Yeah, I checked out of Marvel films a while ago. I don't mind a little bit of pre-requisite viewing to assist me in remembering one or two things (like the previous film in a trilogy or something), but needing to watch a separate TV series first which very few people have access to has broken my personal threshold.

As for the suggestion of reading wiki's to swat up on everything beforehand, for me that's just a big no. I'd rather skip the movie completely and do something else with my time if that's what's needed. But then I'm probably not the target market any more, so I doubt the money men will be missing me.

The problem now with the MCU, is that they've made sure that unlike the movies, the TV shows are hidden away on Disney+ with no hope of ever getting a physical disc release or any kind of distribution elsewhere.

Vermilion wrote:The problem now with the MCU, is that they've made sure that unlike the movies, the TV shows are hidden away on Disney+ with no hope of ever getting a physical disc release or any kind of distribution elsewhere.

That legitimately annoys me, just so they can drive people to their streaming service.

Disney in general aren't big on physical media anymore, mostly because of D+. Which is a real shame, especially for the vast catalog of 20th Century Fox movies they now own.
I'm not holding my breath for a 4K transfer of Aliens anytime soon. :cry:

Streaming is great, but you're very much at the mercy of whatever compression algorithm they use and how much bandwidth they deign to allocate for any given show.
I was re-watching Star Trek Discovery on Netflix a few months back and it was absolutely plagued with compression artifacts. It looked awful, because they clearly were allocating it less bandwidth than they had at release.

Physical discs do not have that issue and, assuming the HD or 4K transfer has been done well, you get far more information available for any given frame of video.

I've really came back around to physical in the past couple of years and I'm slowly building up a decent library of 4K and Blurays.

Cheeky Devlin wrote:
Vermilion wrote:The problem now with the MCU, is that they've made sure that unlike the movies, the TV shows are hidden away on Disney+ with no hope of ever getting a physical disc release or any kind of distribution elsewhere.

That legitimately annoys me, just so they can drive people to their streaming service.

Disney in general aren't big on physical media anymore, mostly because of D+. Which is a real shame, especially for the vast catalog of 20th Century Fox movies they now own.
I'm not holding my breath for a 4K transfer of Aliens anytime soon.

Streaming is great, but you're very much at the mercy of whatever compression algorithm they use and how much bandwidth they deign to allocate for any given show.
I was re-watching Star Trek Discovery on Netflix a few months back and it was absolutely plagued with compression artifacts. It looked awful, because they clearly were allocating it less bandwidth than they had at release.

Physical discs do not have that issue and, assuming the HD or 4K transfer has been done well, you get far more information available for any given frame of video.

I've really came back around to physical in the past couple of years and I'm slowly building up a decent library of 4K and Blurays.

I find it so incredibly frustrating, there's no legitimate reason why there can't be a physical disc release even if it involved a 6 month wait after the intial streaming release (which would be more than reasonable, and on par with many cinema releases).

People deserve to have the choice over whether they choose physical media or streaming, they shoudn't be forced into the latter, especially when the quality of it varies so significantly (plus a lot of folk still don't have fast enough internet to allow for the picture quality to be as good as a blu ray anyways).

This issue also applies to the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime, which isn't as bad as Disney in this respect (some shows/movies of theirs do come out on disc, such as The Crown, Hill House/Bly Manor, Annihilation, Cloverfield Paradox, the first two seasons of 13 Reasons Why etc), but there is still a lot of their stuff which never comes out, including Stranger Things, which is even more annoying when you realise that it has been granted a physical release in america, only those discs are region locked so we can't import them.

I fear things are only going to get worse too, even The French Dispatch has been denied a physical release here in the UK despite it being released in cinemas, i imported my copy from the US as it was region free (wasn't the greatest film, but that's beside the point).

Doctor Strange 2 should have at least had mention of Wanda/Scarlet Witch in the title. The film is as much about her anyway and it would at least give some indication that it might be a good idea to be up to date with her as well beforehand.

Top Gun: Maverick - 9/10

Easily the best blockbuster I've seen in years and one of the best Hollywood sequels, period. The last 30 mins were astonishing.

mcjihge2 wrote:
Peter Crisp wrote:
mcjihge2 wrote:Knives out. 9/10 good film. On channel 4 online for the next week.
But Daniel Craigs accent is so bad.

I actually thought his accent was great .

To be fair it does get better later on. But in the early parts of the film it was like,

Theres suppose to be a knives out 2 on the works right? - Is that going to be more Daniel Craig and his accent?

Glass Onion.

Rian Johnson apparently considered having Craig do a completely different regional accent for the sequel with no explanation.

Memento Mori wrote:
mcjihge2 wrote:
Peter Crisp wrote:
mcjihge2 wrote:Knives out. 9/10 good film. On channel 4 online for the next week.
But Daniel Craigs accent is so bad.

I actually thought his accent was great .

To be fair it does get better later on. But in the early parts of the film it was like,

Theres suppose to be a knives out 2 on the works right? - Is that going to be more Daniel Craig and his accent?

Glass Onion.

Rian Johnson apparently considered having Craig do a completely different regional accent for the sequel with no explanation.

With that title, he should be doing a scouse accent.

I may even opt to see that in the cinema again even though I have netflix.

There was a brief period of time over the last two years where it looked like film releases were improving for the better and the cinemas were dying. Fast-forward and Netflix are releasing original films exclusively in cinemas before their actual website.

I've watched a few recently.

Batman with Twilight Dude in 7/10. Was ok enough, but I'm just tired of these super hero rehashes. And ya know what, Batman is just 'dark'. I don't want any more of it.

Hotel Transylvania 3 or 4 or 5 - Dunno which one. Average kids film. 5/10. Would be a 7/10 if I was 11 years old. I've not seen the previous ones so maybe I was missing some of the previous plot.

The Lost City of Sandra Bullock - 6/10. Average chickflick.

Memento Mori wrote:There was a brief period of time over the last two years where it looked like film releases were improving for the better and the cinemas were dying. Fast-forward and Netflix are releasing original films exclusively in cinemas before their actual website.

Studios have always wanted VOD and to shorten theatrical windows. In 2011 Universal wanted to release a Ben Stiller comedy called Tower Heist three weeks after its cinema release, but cinema chains threatened to boycott all future movies from the studio. The status quo - where studios and cinemas roughly share 50/50 of gross - largely continued until Covid shuttered cinemas and studios had all the leverage. Hence we now have three- and six-week theatrical windows as the norm (bar exceptions where a star has exercised control, such as Top Gun: Maverick's three-month theatrical window), and studios one by one became streamers, focusing on subscription numbers rather than box office gross.

What's happened this year is two things: streamers are realising that the best-performing VOD movies are ones that had theatrical releases and thus built up word of mouth (Uncharted, The Lost City, The Northman), and secondly, Netflix's dire recent earning report have meant that some form of theatrical release is a win-win for investors, in terms of garnering decent initial earnings and building hype for a streaming release.

What we're seeing this summer is unsustainable. There is a noticeable lack of cinema releases (The Batman basically had March all to itself) and an overabundance of expensive new streaming shows everywhere. Meanwhile, Netflix is dropping $100m on a movie that no one has heard of that releases this Friday (Spiderhead) and $200m on a summer movie with minimal buzz thus far (The Gray Man).

As many could have predicted, what made the likes of Netflix of revolutionary will be less noticeable and streamers will start to resemble the old TV of days gone by. In the next few years you'll see lots of ad-supported Netflix models and schedules built around live sport, live reality TV and bingeable NCIS-style shite.

Avatar - 9.5/10

Yes, i'm sure you all disagree with this one, but i can't help it, i absolutely bloody love this film beyond all rational reason and i'm not afraid to admit it.

The world they built is incredible, the visuals haven't aged a day and still look amazing (it's just a shame i no longer have a TV with 3D capability), the story works well even though it's mostly been done before, and yeah, i just love everything about it.

I watched the special extended edition in two halves so there was quite a few extra additional scenes, yet it never outstayed it's welcome because the extra bits felt as if they should have always been there rather than been shoehorned in for no reason.

Can't wait for the second one, it may even tempt me to return to the cinema after 10 years.

Avatar is great. The internet loves to dunk on it but I think most people have decent memories of it. The sequel will be the biggest movie of the year.

Yeah I only saw it the once, but I remember enjoying it.

TopGun Maverick 8/10 One of the simplest movie plots I've ever seen, but somehow compelling and fun, and the perfect Navy Air Arm recruiting tool. Unfortunately you have to be under 26 to join.

I'd had the first one on in the background whilst doing something, and was confused that Goose and Val Kilmer aren't the same character and took a few mins to work out. Also didn't remember Goose dying in the first movie.

Also seems inconsistent when you need 2 people in a fighter jet and when you need 1.

Doctor Strange And The Long Title I Can't Be Bothered Typing Even Though I Have Now Written A Longer One

7/10

Decent and enjoyable. But not top tier Marvel and left me thinking it was a missed opportunity.

Dredd - 9/10

One of the best films of the 2010's, and one that more than deserved a sequel.

Just watched Top Gun Maverick.

It wasn't as good as I was expecting.
It wasn't terrible but it just didn't grab me.

7.5/10

I don't think it's going to be in my top 5 for 2022.

Last film you watched and your rating

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