Movies Rate and Discuss the Last Movie You Saw v.16

[AFanNotAFighter]

Realized a couple weeks ago that I may actually love Terminator 2, so spent the week watching all of its follow-ups.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines- Had no real expectations for this and went in just expecting some dumb fun. And man was I still disappointed. Nick Stahl is bad as John Connor, to the point that I thought the twist was going to be he's no longer the savior of mankind. The new female terminator is easily the worst antagonist of the franchise. None of the humor worked for me and actively dragged the movie down. The action was decent and I actually enjoyed the ending, but outside of that this was just a much much worse version of T2.
4/10

Terminator Salvation- Again never heard anything good about this one, so went in just hoping to get through this. But, unlike Terminator 3, I ended up borderline loving this movie. Thought the dystopian depiction of the future was great. Loved the realism of John Connor being seen as a savior to some of the human resistance while being viewed as thorn in the side of the remaining formal military leadership. Thought Anton Yelchin was great as young Kyle Reese. Seeing all the different versions of terminator/machines Skynet uses was awesome. Really liked some of the more subtle connections to T1 and T2. Really my only big issues with this movie come with the ending action sequence and some of the more overt callbacks to past films really didn't work for me.
7.5/10

Terminator Genisys- The only movie of the four follow-ups that I'd already seen. And my reaction on rewatch was about the same. Action was good enough, story was crazy enough and there was enough fan service that it was fun. But felt enough like a generic blockbuster that nothing really impressed me. Just kind of a turn your mind off popcorn movie to me.
5.5/10

Terminator Dark Fate- Easily the highest my expectations were going in, as this is basically the only one of these film I'd heard good things about. Really enjoyed the first act, the opening action sequence/fight between the new terminator and protector is great. On that same note, really enjoyed both the new terminator and human protector. But after that first act my enthusiasm dropped like a stone. The action sequences felt enough like a marvel or Fast and Furious movie that, outside of the opening, I just didn't care. I really have no interest in watching terminators fight in zero g or parachute a car out of a plane. I'm pretty split on how they used the legacy characters. The opening actually didn't bother me, and I like a lot of the stuff with Linda Hamilton. But she's a 65 year old woman and seeing her get thrown around and keep going was a little far for my suspension of disbelief. Arnold I was also split on, how storyline was interesting but there were massive logic issues there. Overall this is just more of the same old shit, rehashing T2 but worse.
6/10

My mind is honestly kinda boggled seeing how much people dislike Salvation and enjoy Dark Fate. To me Salvation is easily the third best film in the franchise and could definitely see myself bumping it up to an 8/10. Whereas the more I think about Dark Fate the more I feel like it'll drop down to Genisys's level or even bit below.

I agree on T3. I also hated the fact that the terminator was played by a fucking supermodel. Gimme a break. I want the terminator to be imposing and intimidating.

 

[AFanNotAFighter]

The Night of the Hunter(1955)
Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters
Directed by Charles Laughton
6/10

Considered a classic film noir but when I watched it this morning I was kind of meh about it. Perhaps it just hasn't stood the test of time.

Mitchum plays a serial killer posing as a preacher who gets caught stealing a car and meets a man in prison who is sentenced to death for murder and theft of $10,000. The man tells Mitchum the money is hidden but won't say where. After the man is executed and Mitchum is released he makes his way to the dead man's town and manages to get the townspeople to like him. He seeks out the dead man's widow and eventually marries her while constantly threatening her children because he believes they know where the money is secreted.

Mitchum does play a good and believable psychopath so perhaps that should be what you should focus on if you choose to watch the film.

Reluctantly recommended.

 

[BisexualMMA]

I agree on T3. I also hated the fact that the terminator was played by a fucking supermodel. Gimme a break. I want the terminator to be imposing and intimidating.

She wasn't done any favors by the script and direction. The inflatable boobs and having an orgasm when she tastes John Connor's blood are on the writing and direction.

I think she did okay with what she was given. But the idea of the female terminator was one of many symptoms of how they fucked up Terminator 3 with a "we need to shake things up and the audience needs some comedy" mentality. Liquid metal over an endoskeleton was already new...may as well have gone with something more naturally intimidating as the default skin. But everything else was so fatally flawed that there was no sense really in wasting another good actor on that character.

Too many jokes. The fact that the Master SGT William Candy scene was even written at all showed that they were fucked in the head before cameras even rolled. Jonathan Mostow had just directed U-571 so they thought he would be a good director for a Terminator movie. But it is almost impossible to direct a submarine movie and not have it look mechanical and dark and tense. They let him out of the submarine and he immediately goes and films a Terminator movie in the daytime in nice open parks and shit.

How the hell do you make a CEMETERY this inviting and pleasant in a TERMINATOR movie. Why is that shot in the day at all? But even if you are going to shoot it during the day why pick such a nice and inviting park?

I could go on and on but I won't.

 

[the ambush]

What are you doing man? That's not a mid 80s to early 90s straight to VHS action movie.

I see. It's time to get the mojo back!

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

Realized a couple weeks ago that I may actually love Terminator 2, so spent the week watching all of its follow-ups.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines- Had no real expectations for this and went in just expecting some dumb fun. And man was I still disappointed. Nick Stahl is bad as John Connor, to the point that I thought the twist was going to be he's no longer the savior of mankind. The new female terminator is easily the worst antagonist of the franchise. None of the humor worked for me and actively dragged the movie down. The action was decent and I actually enjoyed the ending, but outside of that this was just a much much worse version of T2.
4/10

Terminator Salvation- Again never heard anything good about this one, so went in just hoping to get through this. But, unlike Terminator 3, I ended up borderline loving this movie. Thought the dystopian depiction of the future was great. Loved the realism of John Connor being seen as a savior to some of the human resistance while being viewed as thorn in the side of the remaining formal military leadership. Thought Anton Yelchin was great as young Kyle Reese. Seeing all the different versions of terminator/machines Skynet uses was awesome. Really liked some of the more subtle connections to T1 and T2. Really my only big issues with this movie come with the ending action sequence and some of the more overt callbacks to past films really didn't work for me.
7.5/10

Terminator Genisys- The only movie of the four follow-ups that I'd already seen. And my reaction on rewatch was about the same. Action was good enough, story was crazy enough and there was enough fan service that it was fun. But felt enough like a generic blockbuster that nothing really impressed me. Just kind of a turn your mind off popcorn movie to me.
5.5/10

Terminator Dark Fate- Easily the highest my expectations were going in, as this is basically the only one of these film I'd heard good things about. Really enjoyed the first act, the opening action sequence/fight between the new terminator and protector is great. On that same note, really enjoyed both the new terminator and human protector. But after that first act my enthusiasm dropped like a stone. The action sequences felt enough like a marvel or Fast and Furious movie that, outside of the opening, I just didn't care. I really have no interest in watching terminators fight in zero g or parachute a car out of a plane. I'm pretty split on how they used the legacy characters. The opening actually didn't bother me, and I like a lot of the stuff with Linda Hamilton. But she's a 65 year old woman and seeing her get thrown around and keep going was a little far for my suspension of disbelief. Arnold I was also split on, how storyline was interesting but there were massive logic issues there. Overall this is just more of the same old shit, rehashing T2 but worse.
6/10

My mind is honestly kinda boggled seeing how much people dislike Salvation and enjoy Dark Fate. To me Salvation is easily the third best film in the franchise and could definitely see myself bumping it up to an 8/10. Whereas the more I think about Dark Fate the more I feel like it'll drop down to Genisys's level or even bit below.

Monica!

I too am willing to die on the “Salvation is the third best Terminator movie” hill. It’s much better imo than T3, Genisys and Dark Fate, which were all disasters.

I’m curious whether in a couple of years your ranking of Genisys and Dark Fate could change. For me I have Genisys slightly ahead of Dark Fate, but maybe on rewatch I’d swap them. Not like it matters, they’re both turds, but I found a few things in Genisys that conceptually interested me, like having a “Borg assimilated” John Connor Terminator as the bad guy. On paper that sounds kind of intriguing.

I think Genisys’s biggest sin was casting Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese. He’s supposed to be this scrappy survivor from a post apocalyptic Hell, not some buff dude twice the size of Michael Biehn

 

[ufcfan4]

Monica!

I too am willing to die on the “Salvation is the third best Terminator movie” hill. It’s much better imo than T3, Genisys and Dark Fate, which were all disasters.

I’m curious whether in a couple of years your ranking of Genisys and Dark Fate could change. For me I have Genisys slightly ahead of Dark Fate, but maybe on rewatch I’d swap them. Not like it matters, they’re both turds, but I found a few things in Genisys that conceptually interested me, like having a “Borg assimilated” John Connor Terminator as the bad guy. On paper that sounds kind of intriguing.

I think Genisys’s biggest sin was casting Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese. He’s supposed to be this scrappy survivor from a post apocalyptic Hell, not some buff dude twice the size of Michael Biehn

Oh I think you’re right and that it’s clearly the third best. I didn’t even particularly like it though. It struck me as a film that was neither here nor there. Didn’t really register. I liked the aesthetic and there were some solid ideas in there, but it was mainly just meandering and dull to me.

That movie gets a ton of props though for finally deviating from the send the cyborg back in time to kill humanity’s savior plot line. For me, that’s why The Terminator series could never really become an enduring thing. You can do that plot amazingly the first time around. You can do a cool twist on it the second time and have it work really well. But then you just are being redundant afterwards. I find it weird how you establish this whole lore but you end up just clinging to the same story beats instead of exploring and world building.

Sort of similar to how the recent Star Wars movies could have done something different but instead they opted to do A New Hope 2.0 and bring back the Empire errr First Order and all that.

 

[BisexualMMA]

Monica!

I too am willing to die on the “Salvation is the third best Terminator movie” hill. It’s much better imo than T3, Genisys and Dark Fate, which were all disasters.

I’m curious whether in a couple of years your ranking of Genisys and Dark Fate could change. For me I have Genisys slightly ahead of Dark Fate, but maybe on rewatch I’d swap them. Not like it matters, they’re both turds, but I found a few things in Genisys that conceptually interested me, like having a “Borg assimilated” John Connor Terminator as the bad guy. On paper that sounds kind of intriguing.

I think Genisys’s biggest sin was casting Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese. He’s supposed to be this scrappy survivor from a post apocalyptic Hell, not some buff dude twice the size of Michael Biehn

I think Terminator Salvation is going to and already is receiving a bit of a Predator 2 style re-evaluation. And the Star Wars prequels. People are going wow, we didn't know how bad it could have been. Arnold talks shit about Salvation but honestly he's being a bit of a prick just because it's the only one he wasn't in.

 

[RedBeard_]

Sound of Freedom

This is a fact based film about human trafficking. Very eye opening. It is hard to watch at times but definitely worth seeing.

8.5/10

 

[BobVulture]

Monica!

I too am willing to die on the “Salvation is the third best Terminator movie” hill. It’s much better imo than T3, Genisys and Dark Fate, which were all disasters.

I’m curious whether in a couple of years your ranking of Genisys and Dark Fate could change. For me I have Genisys slightly ahead of Dark Fate, but maybe on rewatch I’d swap them. Not like it matters, they’re both turds, but I found a few things in Genisys that conceptually interested me, like having a “Borg assimilated” John Connor Terminator as the bad guy. On paper that sounds kind of intriguing.

I think Genisys’s biggest sin was casting Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese. He’s supposed to be this scrappy survivor from a post apocalyptic Hell, not some buff dude twice the size of Michael Biehn

I could definitely see Dark Fate falling the most of any of the movies. The more I think about it, the less I like it. Of the bottom 3 films in the franchise (T3, Genisys, Dark Fate), it has the least interesting and most recycled storyline as well as the least grounded/Terminator feeling action.

Couldn't agree more on Jai Courtney, honestly the whole backend of the franchise is littered with miscasting. Nick Stahl, though the script doesn't do him any favors, was never gonna be a great John. Christian Bale gives a good performance but still just feels off to me. And Jai Courtney, Emilia Clarke and Jason Clarke, even though I don't think Emilia and Jason are bad in the movie, are so far off what I picture as Reese, Sarah and John that I couldn't even be mad.

 

[BisexualMMA]

I could definitely see Dark Fate falling the most of any of the movies. The more I think about it, the less I like it. Of the bottom 3 films in the franchise (T3, Genisys, Dark Fate), it has the least interesting and most recycled storyline as well as the least grounded/Terminator feeling action.

Couldn't agree more on Jai Courtney, honestly the whole backend of the franchise is littered with miscasting. Nick Stahl, though the script doesn't do him any favors, was never gonna be a great John. Christian Bale gives a good performance but still just feels off to me. And Jai Courtney, Emilia Clarke and Jason Clarke, even though I don't think Emilia and Jason are bad in the movie, are so far off what I picture as Reese, Sarah and John that I couldn't even be mad.

Of the three dog shit Terminator movies...I would say Dark Fate maybe has the best individual things...but they shouldn't exist. Some of the Arnold and Sarah moments are well done, but in order to even have the opportunity for them you have to have the entire framework of Dark Fate, which is utter rat puke. In isolation I like some of Sarah and Arnold's lines and actions. The characters just shouldn't even exist in the state they do to deliver them. Never mind how abominable Dani Ramos is. I didn't like much of anything else about the movie other than it being filmed and edited reasonably well. So the only semi-decent things about it were Sarah and Arnold at times, and they were mostly irrelevant and tacked on to the movie. It was kind of like Darth Vader being the best thing about Rogue One...while also being irrelevant to the core of the plot.

Genisys...absolute dog shit the moment the movie leaves 1984. I actually think a pretty good movie could have been made about old Arnold plus Reese plus pre-trained Sarah in 1984 vs. young Arnold and a T-1000. They had the whole movie ready to go...then it was over in half an hour and they made an entirely separate shitty movie to paste onto the end. Jai Courtney was horrible casting as Reese...unforgivable. Emilia Clarke is okay as the waitress version of Sarah...not the mercenary version. Jason Clarke is a good actor but a bad choice for John Connor. He played the role well in the opening but he just isn't the right guy. Turning John Connor into a cyber villain was another bad idea I thought which just reeked of a need to shake things up and subvert expectations and so on.

There is almost nothing I like about Terminator 3. I guess Arnold's tantrum while he smashes the car was an okay idea and Arnold turning around holding the coffin on his shoulder was an okay idea...but they were both executed in very middling fashion visually and dramatically. Was anything else a moment I sort of liked? Ugh, I would have to think.

 

[RedBeard_]

I could definitely see Dark Fate falling the most of any of the movies. The more I think about it, the less I like it. Of the bottom 3 films in the franchise (T3, Genisys, Dark Fate), it has the least interesting and most recycled storyline as well as the least grounded/Terminator feeling action.

Couldn't agree more on Jai Courtney, honestly the whole backend of the franchise is littered with miscasting. Nick Stahl, though the script doesn't do him any favors, was never gonna be a great John. Christian Bale gives a good performance but still just feels off to me. And Jai Courtney, Emilia Clarke and Jason Clarke, even though I don't think Emilia and Jason are bad in the movie, are so far off what I picture as Reese, Sarah and John that I couldn't even be mad.

I think a big part of the reason Christian Bale's version of John Connor feels off is because he had to bridge the gap between the clueless version of Nick Stahl's John Connor and the future John Connor we all expected. It was quite a task trying to act as the buffer between them. Writing is the main culprit there.

 

[BobVulture]

There is almost nothing I like about Terminator 3. I guess Arnold's tantrum while he smashes the car was an okay idea and Arnold turning around holding the coffin on his shoulder was an okay idea...but they were both executed in very middling fashion visually and dramatically. Was anything else a moment I sort of liked? Ugh, I would have to think.

To defend Terminator 3 just a little, it's really the only movie post T2 that actually progresses the story. Salvation is essentially a prequel. Genisys is so all over the place that by the end, it's like who the fuck knows where we're at. And Dark Fate basically ends in a spot where we're even less far along than T2. Dani destroys the terminator sent to kill her, but what about the new judgement day? And what leads anyone to believe that she's going to lead all of humanity?

 

[BisexualMMA]

To defend Terminator 3 just a little, it's really the only movie post T2 that actually progresses the story. Salvation is essentially a prequel. Genisys is so all over the place that by the end, it's like who the fuck knows where we're at. And Dark Fate basically ends in a spot where we're even less far along than T2. Dani destroys the terminator sent to kill her, but what about the new judgement day? And what leads anyone to believe that she's going to lead all of humanity?

I'll give Terminator 3 that it progresses the story. Though if it gets credit for simply getting to Judgment Day which was stated in T1 and T2, I would say Salvation probably deserves similar credit for having some progression after Judgment Day toward sending Reese back...though again, little of value that wasn't already stated in T1 and T2.

In terms of progressing the story...I would say T3 offers essentially nothing for two hours...and then the nukes go off. Up until that moment it was two hours of wheel spinning with the first of several rehashes of T2. Maybe I'm missing something but nothing is coming to mind.

 

[GSP_37]

Ramen Girl is on FreeVee 9 out of 10

 

[Loiosh]

SOUND OF FREEDOM

Good movie. Jim Caviezel plays a real life man who took substantial personal risks to rescue children from human trafficking rings.

It is beyond me how anyone in their right mind or with a moral compass can consider this movie to be controversial.

7.8 / 10

It isn't the movie that's controversial, it's the interviews where the director calls trafficking a Democrat affliction and the star talks about adrenochrome. Imagine what Tucker, Shapiro, Crowder and Fox would say if a liberal made this movie and the director blamed trafficking on the right. Add to that all the controversy surrounding what Ballard actually did or didn't do and you have a steaming mess.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Venn diagram of pundits saying that and pundits defending Cuties has a pretty large degree of overlap. When being against child trafficking is considered political...shit has gone off the rails. Political weirdos.

I don't think the movie Cuties was the problem, it's the way Netflix marketed it. The film as I understand it is completely against child pageants and is from France, where they are now banned. Netflix went with the most disturbing ad campaign I have ever seen, and it kept me far away.

Yeah we've come to a strange place in society where stuff like human trafficking is considered part of right wing conspiracy.

It's part of a pretty famous conspiracy theory. If this film had been made by regular people there would have been zero controversy, but Caviezel has attended QAnon conventions and has spoken at length about adrenochrome.

I have no problem zoning all this stuff out and will eventually see this movie.

 

[BisexualMMA]

I don't think the movie Cuties was the problem, it's the way Netflix marketed it. The film as I understand it is completely against child pageants and is from France, where they are now banned. Netflix went with the most disturbing ad campaign I have ever seen, and it kept me far away.

I haven't watched it but I've seen clips in review videos back when the movie was being discussed online a lot. Based on what I saw the movie does look like a problem. The director was zooming in gratuitously on inappropriate parts of the body during dance routines and I think there was a scene where the kid takes an iPhone and stuffs it in her pants to take photos of herself. I haven't seen the movie so my criticisms do come with that disclaimer but based on the clips I saw in the discussion videos I really have no interest in ever watching it.

I also think that if a male director had made the exact same movie he would have probably been classified thereafter with the likes of Victor Salva.

All of that said...the film does seem to have some positive reviews but I think I have seen enough to make my call on this one. If it turns out I'm wrong...well between the clips of the actual movie and the abhorrent marketing they made their own bed in terms of turning me and many others away.

 

[Loiosh]

I haven't watched it but I've seen clips in review videos back when the movie was being discussed online a lot. Based on what I saw the movie does look like a problem. The director was zooming in gratuitously on inappropriate parts of the body during dance routines and I think there was a scene where the kid takes an iPhone and stuffs it in her pants to take photos of herself. I haven't seen the movie so my criticisms do come with that disclaimer but based on the clips I saw in the discussion videos I really have no interest in ever watching it.

I also think that if a male director had made the exact same movie he would have probably been classified thereafter with the likes of Victor Salva.

All of that said...the film does seem to have some positive reviews but I think I have seen enough to make my call on this one. If it turns out I'm wrong...well between the clips of the actual movie and the abhorrent marketing they made their own bed in terms of turning me and many others away.

From what I saw in the marketing I had no desire to see the film, and don't really need to be convinced child pageants are bad.

 

[revoltub]

Crazy Heart
-


It was good. The main thing that makes the film work is Jeff Bridges's performance. The rest of the film is a fairly well done character study.

I thought Maggie Gyllenhaal was very good in it but I found most of the parts with her to be the least interesting parts of the film. I thought the backstory and relationship between Bridges and Farrell was a lot more intriguing.

I have mixed feelings about the resolution of the movie specifically the last 20 minutes or so. It feels a bit rushed story wise, but maybe it would've messed with the pacing if it was fleshed out a bit more.

Robert Duvall was good in his small part as well. The film also had some nice shots, specifically the one where Bridges and Duvall are fishing.

I'd give it around a 7.

 

[BisexualMMA]

WEST SIDE STORY

All right it's Steven Spielberg I've got to give it a chance. Movie opens with an extremely long tracking crane shot that...insists upon itself. It swoops over and under everything to eventually reveal a construction site. A gang of tough street hoods gathers up and walks through the streets and...they do a sissy dance that ends with them in a fighting stance. The guys from the Beat It video would smack the shit out of these dudes.

Fuck it I can't do this / 10.

 

[revoltub]

WEST SIDE STORY

All right it's Steven Spielberg I've got to give it a chance. Movie opens with an extremely long tracking crane shot that...insists upon itself. It swoops over and under everything to eventually reveal a construction site. A gang of tough street hoods gathers up and walks through the streets and...they do a sissy dance that ends with them in a fighting stance. The guys from the Beat It video would smack the shit out of these dudes.

Fuck it I can't do this / 10.

Ha. I was pretty underwhelmed. I thought Elgort was miscast.

Mike faist was probably the best part of the movie.