rate the last film you watched

[Phoenixx]

Characters like the Genie are quite hard to do in a live action without abusing CGI, some movies are just a lot better animated, they are not ment to make a live-action. I watched this one, unlike Mulan, and it left me so empty lol.

I liked Aladdin tho, but Jafar?? WHY IS HE PRETTY? EXCUSE ME?

The only live-action i've liked so far when it comes to Disney, is Beauty and the Beast, i think it was pretty nice and the songs were soo beautiful to watch.

The CGI for genie actually wasn't half-bad, I just really didn't like Will Smith as the character. Didn't think it was a good choice, imo. But I'm not sure who else could play that role off the top of my head.

The guy that they picked for Aladdin wasn't bad either, but I didn't care for a lot of the others. Jasmine didn't feel right either. Didn't understand why that particular actress for the handmaiden. I don't remember her name, but I do recognize her from New Girl lol. I agree with you about Jafar though too, haha. He was a pretty boy and I don't know why either. He didn't look very sinister to me.

Beauty and the Beast was pretty good. I particularly loved The Jungle Book. That's the best one yet for me. CGI done properly! Maybe that's why I get so annoyed with these remakes. Because you have these films that WERE DONE RIGHT, and then you have this trash like Mulan and Aladdin lol.

 

[LoyalXenite]

Ok, writing my last post a doubt came to my mind:

Is an animated film only that with 3D models like Toy Story, or also those made by hand like Lion King? in that case, what's the difference with a cartoon? if there is one.

I think animated has become an umbrella term now for all non live action options

 

[vj288]

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings -- 9/10

Added note, I'm still not sure how this ties in with the rest of the Marvel universe. There was an end-credits scene but ended up missing most of it. Something I'll have to Google later.

I think it ties in loosely like a lot of origin stories (think Ant-Man or Guardians of the Galaxy) and will become more enmeshed as the world of characters grow ("Hey, Ant-Man, want to come fight in a Super Hero Civil War?"). There were a few moments that explicitly grounded it in the MCU, partially to remind the audience that it WAS an MCU movie I would guess, because at times I found myself forgetting it was! One was during the big underground fight club scene where you saw Wong (Dr. Strange) fighting against Abomination (Hulk). The other I saw was

Spoiler: Slight spoiler

When the Dad was talking about how "The Mandarin" was inspired by him to instill fear in Iron Man 3, and then of course there was Trevor!

End Credit scenes were pretty good as always. I was more excited about the one without Shang-Chi in it, but both leave plenty of room to speculate where Shang-Chi is going to fit in with the MCU!

Another aside, it also seems like the Disney+ shows are going to play a more important role in the universe as a whole than any other show has up until this point (like Agents Of SHIELD, Agent Carter, the Netflix shows, etc). Post-credit scene in Black Widow (6.5/10) directly connected to parts of Falcon and the Winter Soldier (7/10) and there's a chance part of the post credit scene of Shang-Chi connected to Loki (8.5/10). And WandaVision(9.5/10) is going to lead into the Dr. Strange (12/10, speculatively) movie it appears. To anyone who hasn't seen them, I'd suggest them all!

 

[Phoenixx]

Another aside, it also seems like the Disney+ shows are going to play a more important role in the universe as a whole than any other show has up until this point (like Agents Of SHIELD, Agent Carter, the Netflix shows, etc). Post-credit scene in Black Widow (6.5/10) directly connected to parts of Falcon and the Winter Soldier (7/10) and there's a chance part of the post credit scene of Shang-Chi connected to Loki (8.5/10). And WandaVision(9.5/10) is going to lead into the Dr. Strange (12/10, speculatively) movie it appears. To anyone who hasn't seen them, I'd suggest them all!

Yes, I've heard that. I need to get my butt into watching those and getting caught up! I really like that they're producing these shows that also have large ties into the movies and really connecting them like they did with Agents of Shield.

Side note: I like how you rated each movie you listed, haha. Dr Strange was really fantastic. Definitely one of my top 5 Marvel films.

 

[PugofCrydee]

Squid Game. 6.5/10

Unusual concept, but I enjoyed it.

 

[LoyalXenite]

Squid Game. 6.5/10

Unusual concept, but I enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed this one, I hope they do another season

 

[PugofCrydee]

I really enjoyed this one, I hope they do another season

Yea they left it open for it didn't they. I'm guessing they will, I hope so too. The moral dilemmas the players face is interesting.

Have you seen Alice in borderland? Similar thing, I think I enjoyed it more than squid game actually.
Also, if you like the conflicting moral dilemma thing, you might enjoy "The circle" and "The platform" (all on Netflix). All are pretty good

 

[LoyalXenite]

Yea they left it open for it didn't they. I'm guessing they will, I hope so too. The moral dilemmas the players face is interesting.

Have you seen Alice in borderland? Similar thing, I think I enjoyed it more than squid game actually.
Also, if you like the conflicting moral dilemma thing, you might enjoy "The circle" and "The platform" (all on Netflix). All are pretty good

I have seen all of thos eand enjoyed them greatly, I think I liked Squid Games more than Alice in Borderland, but part of that is the protagonist was more likeable in Squid Games so I cared a lot more if he survived. The circle was deeply fascinating, I really enjoyed that one and have been considering using the premise for a dnd one shot campaign. I really enjoyed the platform except for the ending which I thought was lame , but the first 80% of the movie was great

 

[grapevine]

Jungle Cruise was good.

 

[PugofCrydee]

Shang chi and the legend of the ten rings.
(spoiler).

Went to the cinema to see this. I was hopeful seeing as I've really enjoyed a lot of the Marvel movies. But I was really disappointed. The plot was predictable, some of the scripting was again, very predictable. The scene where the mum and dad fight and mid punch they smile and longingly look at each other was almost.. embarrassingly corny.

The cgi was great though.

3/10

 

[PugofCrydee]

Locke and Key, season 2.
5.5/10

 

[Phoenixx]

Cruella - 8/10

Watched this a while ago and loved it. Never would've pegged Emma Stone for a young Cruella, but I think she played the part pretty well. The real star of this movie was Emma Thompson, of course. Always love seeing her. She knocks it out of the park every time, and of course this was no different. The fashion in this movie was superb too, as it should be given the context. Disney has been notoriously bad with a lot of their movies with cheap costumes recently, but they did a wonderful job here. I wish they would stick to focusing on original villain stories/prequels. They're doing a much better job with these than all the remakes.

Black Widow - 6/10

I wanted to like this more than I did, but honestly I can see where it got mediocre reviews. The story felt a little all over the place and rushed, especially towards the end. It did start off pretty great though, it just seemed to peak at the first quarter of the movie and slowly go downhill from there. Florence Pugh as Yelena carried this movie though and was an absolute joy to watch. Many of her sarcastic one-liners had me laughing. Without her, it would've been more of a flop honestly. I'm not a Scarlet Johannsen hater by any means, I do like her, but I expect more out of her with her performance as Black Widow, especially after the last 10 years. It has always fallen flat for me though, sadly enough.

Hawkeye - 8/10

Brand new mini-series on Disney+. I'm enjoying it. Another Marvel production that started off with the story a little all over the place leaving me asking more questions than I started with, but by the third episode or so they finally set their foundation and are building up to an exciting finale. I'm especially curious how this will flow in the MCU and what other movies or shows will tie into this. Now with Kingpin being addressed and coming more into focus, are we going to get some Daredevil crossovers? New show maybe? We'll see.

(Random side note: I never did finish Daredevil on Netflix when it came out a few years ago. The violence was starting to give me nightmares back then and had to stop watching it, lol. I don't know what it was, it didn't scare me or anything watching it, and it really wasn't all that gory. I'd love to pick it back up again sometime and finish it. Now that Disney owns Marvel, it would be cool if they stuck with the same actors from that show and bring them over to a show or crossover of their own.)

 

[PugofCrydee]

Brand new Cherry flavour. Season 1
7/10

Quite different, a bit trippy and a nice horror element.

 

[PugofCrydee]

Black Summer. Season 2

7.5/10

 

[PugofCrydee]

Wheel of Time , Season 1.

Had high hopes for this. I read the books many years ago and enjoyed them. I'm reasonably disappointed with the tv adaptation. Unnessecarily slow at times, long winded conversations that don't add to the story. One of the biggest disappointments was the casting. For the most part it was terrible. The choice for Egwene was just.. terrible. The guy that plays Rand Al'Thor has only 2 expressions..
A shining light was Moiraine, the Blue aes Sedai played by Rosemund Pike. She played the part perfectly.
4/10.

 

[Phoenixx]

Spent this week watching quite a few movies and shows.

Encanto - 8/10

Probably my favorite film I watched this week. The story was a little fast-paced, not as fleshed out as it could've been, but it was good. Some of the characters got more attention than others, imo, but I think that's expected when you're introducing 9 or so different characters and trying to tell their stories in a 90-minute time-frame. Overall it was colorful, fun, and the music is worth the hype. I'd definitely watch again.


Falcon and the Winter Soldier - 8/10

Interesting series. Don't really have much to say about this one. This meme is a decent summary:




Loki - 9/10

Forgot to add this one to the list and I don't even know how seeming this is the best Marvel series I've watched thus far. Don't want to say too much about this because it directly ties to Phase 4 of the MCU, but I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to Season 2.


Monsters At Work - 7/10

I really wanted to like this more than I did. I loved the animation and the detail, as was expected out of Pixar. I also really loved the little details they worked in from the very first film too, even 20 years later. (Holy shit I feel old) But the story itself, I don't know what it was about it. I just didn't care for it. I found myself dropping this halfway through to watch something else and only came back to finish it because I only had 5 episodes left. I'm glad I did because a lot of those little first movie details were at the end of this series. But it felt like a chore to finish and I'm not sure why. I still hope it gets a season 2 because I feel like there's more it has to offer.


Pete's Dragon (2014 Remake) - 7/10

I barely remember the original animated movie, but I have a feeling this was a lot different. I didn't hate it, definitely didn't love it. It was okay. Worth a watch but I won't watch again.


We Bought A Zoo - 7/10

Cute. Can't believe how old this movie is already because I feel like it came out yesterday. Matt Damon looking fine as always. Weird in-movie chemistry though between his character and Scarlett Johannsen's character though. At least I wasn't comfortable with it. Still a decent movie.


Peanuts Movie - 6/10

Storyline was pretty meh. I really liked how they animated classic black and white Peanut strips though in little scenes. And stayed fairly true to Schulz' work. The animation of this movie was superb though. Definitely one of it's kind, never seen animation quite like it. I hope to see more work similar to this even with the acquisition of Blue Sky Studios by Disney.

 

[Phoenixx]

Arcane Season 1 - 10/10

It's rare for me to find perfection in any series or movie, but holy cow this was it. The only very slight complaints I had was with the season finale, where I felt the pacing was a little too jumpy, but that was to be expected with trying to tell 4 different stories in a 40 minute time frame.

Now I know nothing of League of Legends other than it's a video game. I believe it's a MOBA-style game? Not something I'm normally into, so I most likely won't be playing it even after watching this. That being said, you definitely don't even need to be into the game or know anything about it to enjoy this as a standalone show, which is pretty freaking great.

I don't even know where to begin with this. I'm just so amazed by the artwork and animation of this show. I absolutely love the stark differences between the Undercity and Topside. Not just setting-wise obviously, but the lighting, the way the characters are drawn and colored, the soft textures of Topside making it look like the haven it's written to be even though it has it's own inner corruptions at work with its politics. The gritty, dark graffiti-esque style of the Undercity highlighting it's toxicities although it's people aren't always trying to screw each other over as they are trying to help as they're all dealing with the same shit. Oh my gosh, and the character development. Ugh, so good!

I also really love the fact they do not shy away from mature themes. Kids die. You see that. People suffering in the pits of the Undercity, dealing with addiction. Yep you see that too. I feel like a lot of shows get so wrapped up in the stories of its main characters that they don't take the time to show what goes on in the background, so you don't really get a feel for the environment as a whole. But this you do. And I really, really love that. You understand where each character is coming from with their decisions and how they've grown, even if you don't agree with their actions.

Oh and the music! Ugh, I'm gonna need to find that soundtrack ASAP.

I haven't had a chance to do any research on who produced the series, did the animation, etc. But you bet I'll be looking for more of their work.

 

[Phoenixx]

Space Force Season 2 - 6/10

Even after 2 seasons I still don't quite know what to make of this show. I struggle getting myself to watch it, but then when I finally feel like I force myself to I do find myself enjoying some of the dialogue and humor, especially with General Naird, Dr. Mallory, and Tony (the media man). There's some great scenes and one-liners -- "And America ate it up like a meth-sprinkled, deep-fried Snickers bar you get at a state fair." -- but everything else just feels like a drag in between the humor. I still feel like this show doesn't know where to stand at times, or where some of the characters' stories are going. But I will say that compared to last season, it is slightly more solid. However, with how forgettable last season was, and the fact that it's been two years since, it was a little difficult getting back into this and figuring out where everyone left off. Hell I still don't even remember how General Naird's wife ended up in jail, but she's quickly taken such a back seat, nearly non-existent in this season, that it doesn't really matter. The relationship building between other side characters, especially between Ang and Chan, felt pretty forced and oftentimes I didn't enjoy nor care about watching that side of the story building. Steve Carrell's character is played so well, especially alongside Dr. Mallory and Tony, that I craved more of their scenes in between all the dry filler.

All that being said, I do hope there is a third season, especially with how that finale ended season 2.

 

[Sammie_Kay]

5cream2022 3.5 stars but would watch again maybe

 

[Phoenixx]

The Boys (currently watching Season 1) - 8/10

Decided to try out Prime this week since I was offered a free trial for the month. Tried it before in the past when it was just becoming a streaming service and wasn't impressed. Prime still kinda sucks, especially the UI, but there's a few shows I'm keeping my eye on and The Boys is one of them.

I've heard of this show before but never looked into it or knew what it was about. So far I'm 4 episodes in to Season 1 and I'm absolutely loving it. The cast is decent, but Karl Urban steals the show. Butcher is currently my favorite character, he's just so well written, so well played. I'm eager to learn more of his back story and why he does what he does.

I was reading through the credits after the first episode and saw that this was developed by Eric Kripke. Didn't know that either so that was a neat surprise!