1039 replies to this topic

[S K Y F A L L]

I want one more Harrison Indy. I don't think a reboot would work out so well... but interesting concept of just continuing the story like James Bond. They could start from after The Last Crusade and end before the Crystal Skull. 

[screamingmoonrock]

In  regards to Indy Jones, set it before the original trilogy, circa 1925-26 with a younger Indy 26-27 years old.  Involve Abner Ravenwood and their falling out over the teenage Marion 18-19 years old.  Plenty of years to create new adventures right up to 1935 and Temple of Doom, then obviously Raiders.

 

As for the lead, here we need a blue collar rising star, like what Eric Bana, Sam Worthington, Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Craig were in the beginning of their careers; or maybe a slightly more established actor.  My choice would be Jensen Ackles from Supernatural, Matthew Davis (who bears a resemblance to a younger Harrison Ford), Chris Pratt and my personal favourite Liam Hemsworth.

 

Any thoughts.

[seawolfnyy]

I just don't know if I could get behind a non-Harrison Ford Indiana Jones.

[Royal Dalton]

With Bradley Cooper I think it could work.

 

Although, supposedly, part of Ford's deal to do the new Star Wars films was that they'd fast-track two more Indiana Jones films for him to star in.

[Iceskater101]

I am not sure how I would feel about another Indiana Jones movie.. I don't want a reboot so if Bradley Cooper would do an Indiana Jones film, I would say he should do a story that takes place later. This still seems weird to me.

[S K Y F A L L]

Bradley Cooper would ruin it for me. A reboot just doesn't sound appealing to me because so many of the characters are irreplaceable. They shouldn't have stopped making them when they did, fools. I think one more to wrap up the series would be ideal. 

[Matt_13]

I've been saying for years that I want Bradley Cooper to take over. I think it would work tremendously well. That being said, I think damn near everyone just wants one more good Harrison Ford film. Crystal Skull was an insufferable train wreck. Ford deserves better. If they end it after one more good film I'd be totally fine with that, but at the very least we need one more good Indy film with Harrison. I'd be all for Cooper taking the reins if they went the reboot route afterwards, though.

[seawolfnyy]

The only problem with a 5th Harrison Ford Indy movie is that he is about to turn 72. He was too old for the role in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, what would he do now? As much as it pains me, I might just have to say it's time to let Indy move on.

[x007AceOfSpades]

I honestly think Bradley Cooper could do a decent job. I don't want a reboot trilogy, a prequel trilogy would be better and make much more sense. Going towards the reboot route is just proof that Hollywood doesn't know what to do in situations like these, and rather take a gamble and go with a prequel trilogy, they'd rather just start fresh. Could it be easier? In a sense, sure, but is it ideal to the fans? For me? No.

 

Crystal Skull was a bad film, that's that, it'd be great to get another film with Harrison Ford as Indy, since I don't want them to end it on this note with the franchise.

 

As for Terminator, Makes a little more sense, but I still think a proper plot synopsis should've been out by now.

[S K Y F A L L]

TMNT trailer;

[SecretAgentFan]

Strangely appealing to me.  (Although I was too old to like the original.)

 

Also, I don´t want to know what Megan Fox had to do in order to make peace with Michael Bay.

 

Wait... maybe I do want to know.

I honestly think Bradley Cooper could do a decent job. I don't want a reboot trilogy, a prequel trilogy would be better and make much more sense. Going towards the reboot route is just proof that Hollywood doesn't know what to do in situations like these, and rather take a gamble and go with a prequel trilogy, they'd rather just start fresh. Could it be easier? In a sense, sure, but is it ideal to the fans? For me? No.

 

Crystal Skull was a bad film, that's that, it'd be great to get another film with Harrison Ford as Indy, since I don't want them to end it on this note with the franchise.

 

As for Terminator, Makes a little more sense, but I still think a proper plot synopsis should've been out by now.

 

It would make sense to make films that deal with Indy before "Temple of Doom".  So, kind of prequel-y, although there is no need for exposition, nor for a reboot.  Just show us Indy´s adventures during the 20´s and 30´s of the 20th Century.  Those times were best for Indy-stories anyway.

 

Interesting.  This is one franchise that can be rejuvenated again and again without explaining anything.  Harrison Ford will always be the older Indy.  The next actor will just be the younger Indy.

[tdalton]

Thank God I was already disinterested in TMNT since I heard that Michael Bay was the creative force behind it.  Loved the movies, cartoon, and the videogames growing up, but will be giving this a pass.

[seawolfnyy]

 

 

Awful initial reviews for Divergent. Poor Shailene Woodley.

You can always fall back and watch The Descendants with her.

 

 

Shailene Woodley is a much better actress than I thought. I mean I thought she was really bad in the Secret Life of the American Teenager, but she really redeemed herself in the Descendants. She was great in Divergent (screw what the critics think, I like the movie..)

 

Exactly, it only matters what you think.

[x007AceOfSpades]

Sabotage - 1.5/5 - Directed by David Ayer - Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger

This review reportedly contains spoilers.
David Ayer's Sabotage follows an elite DEA Team that take down large Cartel operations. When they steal $10million from bust, they money is later stolen by someone unknown. Months later, they slowly are being picked apart one by one. Is it the cartel or is it someone from within?

 

I like Schwarzenegger and I like Ayer. I haven't been disappointed with Ayer yet, and I was hoping this would make up for his previous film Escape Plan There are several things wrong with David Ayer's Sabotage. If you're expecting a no holds barred action fest, look somewhere else, because you aren't going to find it here, especially with Arnold.

 

The film follows loosely the Agatha Christie story "And Then There Were None" with the characters being off and later coming to realizations that it's one of there own. Could this work for a type of action film? Maybe, but haven't we seen plot twists like that before? We think maybe it's the cartel, before thinking one of the agents is doing it. When you finally reach the end and you are set on the final person being the key to all of this, it takes a left turn and it's revealed that Arnold was behind it all, or at least that he took the money.

 

It seems pointless since it's nothing but a facade he's putting on and we see throughout the film that he cares for his team and his team cares for him just as much. Upon viewing it, you start to think of it as a double standard and it feels like a cheap, unnecessary twist that slaps you in the face.

 

The characters are all unlikeable too. You might see some familiar faces in there, but they just walk around like a bunch of biker rejects with their mean gruff attitudes that try to make them feel like they are better than everyone else. You can't connect to these people and you sure S*** don't feel anything when they die.

 

Another issue is the script and the direction. Ayer did a great job with End Of Watch, but here it feels like a huge downgrade. He tries to choose cheap thrills and weak action scenes to help move each scene forward, but with a script as bad as the direction, what are you going to get? The action scenes feel like fake house raids, which most of them are, and gore doesn't make it feel like any sort of a "gritty cop movie" or whatever you wanna call it.

 

Oh and Arnold isn't looking cool or old school or whatever you want you call it with his ridiculous Tintin-esque haircut that turns into some bad fade/bowl cut. For a man who is supposed to be this bad ass tough leader, that haircut really brings it down a massive notch.

 

This was a film I was looking forward to, but in the long run, ended up being a weak action film in and out. If you are looking for a good post politics career Arnold Schwarzenegger film, go watch The Last Stand cause you aren't going to find anything here.

 

LOOKING FORWARD TO: (Most anticipated are highlighted in bold and red)

Inherent Vice

Exodus

Gone Girl

Carol

Enemy

Godzilla

The Monuments Men

Non-Stop

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Noah

Dom Hemmingway

Transcendence

X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Edge Of Tomorrow

Deliver Us From Evil

Dawn Of The Planet Of Apes

Hercules: The Thracian Wars

The Giver

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For

Jane Got A Gun

The Green Inferno

The Drop

The Judge

Fury

Horrible Bosses 2

The Hobbit: There And Back Again

 

HAVE SEEN:

RoboCop - 1/5

Need For Speed - 4/5

Sabotage - 1.5

[seawolfnyy]

A younger Indy would be nice. Whatever they do with Indy 5, it has to involve the Nazis as the villains. The Russians just didn't work. I agree with you Ace, that I don't want to see the franchise die with Crystal Skull. Indy deserves better. That said, the script needs to be right. I'd like to know what Frank Darabont's draft was like before they greenlit Kingdom. Parts of his story made it into the film, but obviously not most of it. Either way, Indy deserves the right amount of time and care to make it right. If that means taking Lucas and Spielberg out of the picture (the two who so clearly ruined Indy 4), then so be it.

 

As for Terminator, I really don't much care anymore. The last good Terminator film was released in 1991. It's another franchise that really just needs to move to that big post-apocalyptic war in the sky. In my opinion, give us closure on the story and end it.

[x007AceOfSpades]

Well judging by the box office numbers for Schwarzenegger's Sabotage, I'd say he needs hope that this fifth Terminator does well, because since returning to leading roles, they haven't done so well, domestically that is.

 

It's a shame too. To have the biggest action hero of the generation (or last) return only to fade back out before his welcome back banner is waved down. I feel if Arnold doesn't have a hit soon, it may be up. I know it sounds crazy, but think about it for a moment.

[x007AceOfSpades]

Nymphomaniac - 4/5 - Directed by Lars Von Trier - Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg

Well, S***, what do I say about Lars Von Trier's Nymphomaniac. Well I guess I can say it isn't as fucked up and slightly depressing as the first Von Trier film I saw, Antichrist, though in it's own right, Nymphomaniac: Volume I is fucked up. However, it's a pretty good character study.

 

Charlotte Gainsbourg and Stacy Martin play Joe, a woman who suffers with nymphomania. One cold night, a man, Seligman, goes outside his him and finds Joe battered in an alleyway. Seligman takes her in his home and Joe begins to tell him storied of her life. These stories in particular relate to Joe's lust for sex. By the second volume, it is a few minutes longer but only features three chapters, which move at a well pace. This volume feels a lot more darker than the first volume did. The first volume was merely more or so the obsession of sex and being a Nymphomaniac. Here in volume two it's how obsession advances and becomes something worse.

 

By that we see Joe attending BDSM type of punishment since she can't get into normal sex anymore. It eventually leads to her life slowly coming down, but not drastically. And then she uses these methods that are used against her in the BDSM meetings and she becomes a sort of debt collector in a somewhat strange, yet good final chapter, the eighth which culminates everything and perfectly book ends it all.

 

Right off the bat, yes there are sex scenes and other means of sex(you should know what I'm trying to infer), but this isn't some nearly two hour long film that features sex scene after scene. The sex, or the Joe's nymphomania, is used to describe this character's life(obviously[redundant, I know]) It shows that while this is something that Joe loves, it may not be what the other people she has slept with have loved. It shows that this can potentially destroy other men's lives, of which we see in the third chapter. This is something that had me slightly thinking of Steve McQueen's Shame.This isn't glorified film pornography at all, and to think so is just blatantly absurd. The acting is great and the back and forth scenes between Charlotte Gainsbourg and Stellan Skarsgard are excellent and the metaphors are great. The rest of the acting is great, with some of the best coming in Chapter 3 from Uma Thurman. Loved her scenes.

 

The ending is something that I didn't like. Seligman helps Joe and in return, he listens to her tales. Doing so we look at him as a good man and not one of the evil and broken in this world. But by the end of the film he's just another perverted man, and while we think Joe may have redeemed herself of any sins and may have relieved herself of being a nymph, she kills Seligman. It's an ending that wasn't needed and should've ended with the two going to sleep, separately and that's that. You can look at the ending as Joe being at the breaking point and Seligman's actions just setting her fuse off. I feel the ending could've been improved greatly.

 

While it features some interesting scenes(you know what I mean) everything is shot quite excellently. Yes that too includes the (many) sex scenes. For being a combined total of four hours, the editing isn't so bad at all, though they are split into two volumes essentially. If one thing is for sure, it's that again, it doesn't exploit sex in any way, at least I believe so. To some the sex scenes may be a bit over the top or too much, but if that's what you think, just watch Blue Is The Warmest Color. That film had drawn out, unnecessary sex scenes and played out like a a semi-decent late night Cinemax adult film.

 

Lars Von Triers style may not be for everyone, along with his film, but Nymphomaniac is actually a very well told story and an insightful character study. It may not be everybody and might be dismissed by some, but it's worth a watch if you got 4 hours to kill.

Now, about that director's cut...

FIRST TWO VOLUMES SEPERATE REVIEWS ARE ON MY LETTERBOXD

 

300: Rise Of An Empire - 0/5 - Directed by Noam Murro - Starring Sullivan Stapleton

I'm going to start off by saying that I think Zack Snyder's 300 is a decent action, classic war film. The graphic novel by Frank Miller was f****** epic, and even though Snyder did an absolute amazing job on the film bringing everything to life, the film is merely okay and over time I developed a some disinterest in it due to the mindless fan base that think it's some sort of masterpiece (It's the farthest thing from a masterpiece). The graphic novel was a marvel to behold blending real history with graphic violence. That's obviously what the first film was.

 

300: Rise Of An Empire drinks from it's punch bowl and tries too hard, in fact way too damn hard. The way the original ended was good, it ended the film on a perfect footnote. This is that unnecessary sequel that no one wanted. It's got excess of everything from the original. It isn't some cool action war film. It's a pile of garbage. This film follows the rise of King Xerxes (hence the subtitle) who rises to power after the death of his father. It loosely follows him strengthening his army before heading off to Thermopylae to face off against Spartan King, Leonidas and his 300 Spartans. Meanwhile Commanding the Persian naval fleet is Artemisia, who is leading the battle against the Greeks.

 

Did this film bother with continuity? At the end of the first film and graphic novel, it ends with Dilios telling the story of Leonidas and the 300 before they prepare to head into battle, at 3,000 strong. Here we see Dilios towards the end fighting alongside the Queen and the Greeks on the Naval side of the war. Oh and the Queen of Sparta, Gorgo fighting at the end was a joke. SPARTAN WOMEN NEVER FOUGHT IN BATTLE, NO MATTER THE CIRCUMSTANCES.

 

Other historical facts, during this naval battle, Artemisia never died and she was greatly against Xerxes and his plan to sail into battle against the Greeks, and the Greeks did more than what this film shows. A very, very small number of ships from Sparta aided, but didn't lead them to victory. Oh and Xerxes and his father Darius never appeared in the battle at the very beginning of the film, The Battle Of Marathon. If you are going to add fantasy to a historical film, by all means-whatever floats your boat, but get the damn history right. I studied Ancient Greece and Sparta not to see S*** like this.

 

Oh and why is 300 in the title besides being a sequel and featuring few Spartans? The film follows the Greek warrior Themistocles, an Athenian, NOT A SPARTAN. Should've just stuck with Xerxes or Xerxes: Rise Of An Empire. Oh and in the original film and graphic novel the Spartans are depicted as these honorable, bad ass people, who choose death before defeat. Here, in particular one scene, they come off as a bunch of asses who care more about their ego's.

 

While the first film was on a scaled back budget, they shot on green screens (or blue, don't remember) and it worked. Here, they use the same technique, though it looks worse, as everything looks like some video game painted world surrounding them. The CGI is ridiculously overused. It wasn't as bad in the original, but here, every chance they get to use CGI, they jump for. CGI blood everywhere in excessive amounts to the point where it looks too cartoon-y. Oh and more of that annoying slow motion for just about everything. Scenes of people walking, sex, talking. It's a headache seeing something that was so cool in The Matrix become this annoying, tired, trait in action films.

 

The acting is worse than I anticipated. I liked Gerard Butler as King Leonidas in the first film because he was believable as this great leader and this epic bad ass warrior. Here, Sullivan Stapleton is blander than cream of wheat as Themistocles. Eva Green (I don't like her, and I still don't like being forced to stomach her when I watch Casino Royale) made this annoying Kristen Stewart-esque faces throughout the film. I'm supposed to believe her as this dangerous enemy, but she just portrayed her as any other Hollywood action film bad girl, no depth at all. Then Xerxes is AFK the whole time trying to seduce off screen(failed too) Leonidas and being kind and fiddling with hunchback dude and his gold jewelery. There is no depth to any of the characters and you certainly don't feel any connection to them what so ever.

 

Zack Snyder doesn't return, taking his place is Noam Murro who tries his best Zack Snyder impersonation behind the camera, but makes this look worse, since he focuses more on style and visualizations over the story and the historical facts and the characters. There could've been a chance that this could've been a decent follow up, despite not being needed, but He messes this up, just as much as Snyder's script. Same thing with you Frank Miller. Screw you for giving in and providing a (unpublished) graphic novel to the filmmakers. It tarnishes the original graphic novel greatly for me.

 

This film may be 90 minutes or so, but it dragged so much and the action scenes were so bland it was boring to watch. It was cool to have Gerard Butler say awesome motivational lines before battle in the first film, but when it's all Themistocles says, it's annoying and feels forced. I'm getting irritated just thinking about this. I could continue to go on with more, but I would just bore myself. This is nothing more than a horrible video game style film. Nothing cool or entertaining about it. 300: Rise Of An Empire is a film that irritates me more than any recent film has done. Save the time and money. Go buy the graphic novel or some history books and read the real story.

 

LOOKING FORWARD TO: (Most anticipated are highlighted in bold and red)

Inherent Vice

Exodus

Gone Girl

Carol

Enemy

Godzilla

The Monuments Men

Non-Stop

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Noah

Dom Hemmingway

Transcendence

X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Edge Of Tomorrow

Deliver Us From Evil

Dawn Of The Planet Of Apes

Hercules: The Thracian Wars

The Giver

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For

Jane Got A Gun

The Green Inferno

The Drop

The Judge

Fury

Horrible Bosses 2

The Hobbit: There And Back Again

 

HAVE SEEN:

RoboCop - 1/5

Need For Speed - 4/5

Sabotage - 1.5/5

Nymphomaniac - 4/5

300: Rise Of An Empire - 0/5

[Iceskater101]

Thank God I was already disinterested in TMNT since I heard that Michael Bay was the creative force behind it.  Loved the movies, cartoon, and the videogames growing up, but will be giving this a pass.

 

I mean I never really had high hopes for TMNT but this just looks really weird to me. 

[tdalton]

 

Thank God I was already disinterested in TMNT since I heard that Michael Bay was the creative force behind it.  Loved the movies, cartoon, and the videogames growing up, but will be giving this a pass.

 

I mean I never really had high hopes for TMNT but this just looks really weird to me. 

 

 

Agreed. 

 

I like the casting of William Fichtner as Shredder.  That might make it worth at least a Netflix rental when it arrives on Blu-ray.  Everything aside from that, however, just doesn't excite me the least bit.  It's a shame that something that could and should have been a good nostalgia trip had to end up in the hands of Platinum Dunes, as that all but assures that the film will be a creative failure.

[Iceskater101]

 

 

Thank God I was already disinterested in TMNT since I heard that Michael Bay was the creative force behind it.  Loved the movies, cartoon, and the videogames growing up, but will be giving this a pass.

 

I mean I never really had high hopes for TMNT but this just looks really weird to me. 

 

 

Agreed. 

 

I like the casting of William Fichtner as Shredder.  That might make it worth at least a Netflix rental when it arrives on Blu-ray.  Everything aside from that, however, just doesn't excite me the least bit.  It's a shame that something that could and should have been a good nostalgia trip had to end up in the hands of Platinum Dunes, as that all but assures that the film will be a creative failure.

 

 

I thought the actual Turtles look weird and Megan Fox is... an interesting choice to say the least.

[tdalton]

 

 

 

Thank God I was already disinterested in TMNT since I heard that Michael Bay was the creative force behind it.  Loved the movies, cartoon, and the videogames growing up, but will be giving this a pass.

 

I mean I never really had high hopes for TMNT but this just looks really weird to me. 

 

 

Agreed. 

 

I like the casting of William Fichtner as Shredder.  That might make it worth at least a Netflix rental when it arrives on Blu-ray.  Everything aside from that, however, just doesn't excite me the least bit.  It's a shame that something that could and should have been a good nostalgia trip had to end up in the hands of Platinum Dunes, as that all but assures that the film will be a creative failure.

 

 

I thought the actual Turtles look weird and Megan Fox is... an interesting choice to say the least.

 

 

I thought so as well.  I guess they felt they had to do something to make them visually different from other takes on the characters. 

 

As for Megan Fox, I was stunned that they cast her in the film.  Given her history with Michael Bay, I thought for sure that they'd never work together again.

[Iceskater101]

Yeah she did call him Hitler after all.. I don't know why she would want to work with Hitler again.

[tdalton]

I get why she would want to go back.  She doesn't really have anything of note on her resume since the second Transformers film.  I'm still curious as to why Bay would bring her back after her comments about him, especially when there wasn't much of an uproar over him recasting the female lead in Transformers 3 with a model with zero acting experience.

[S K Y F A L L]

THE EXPENDABLES 3 character posters

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/66779

http://www.comingsoo...s.php?id=116110

http://ca.ign.com/ar...3-poster-debuts

http://www.joblo.com...e-expendables-3

http://collider.com/...r-harrison-ford

[thecasinoroyale]

All 'The Expendables 3' character posters together: http://www.iamrogue....eir-muscle.html

 

 

They look great visually and every single character just looks brilliant. This could even top 'TE2'. A shame Van Damme can't return.

 

Any favourites? Ford and Schwarzenegger stand out for me.

[S K Y F A L L]

Ford, Gibson, Crews, Snipes stand out to me. 

 

EDIT;

 

 

Wonder what Snipes says at the end of this trailer. Anyone speak french?

Edited by S K Y F A L L, 03 April 2014 - 08:26 PM.

[x007AceOfSpades]

All 'The Expendables 3' character posters together: http://www.iamrogue....eir-muscle.html

 

 

They look great visually and every single character just looks brilliant. This could even top 'TE2'. A shame Van Damme can't return.

 

Any favourites? Ford and Schwarzenegger stand out for me.

 

There's really nothing great about them, they don't really stand out for me. Rare if any poster does that nowadays.

[thecasinoroyale]

Oh, they're nothing to write home about, but there's that look of half-posing/half-natural about them, and at least it's not littered in photoshopped explosions and stuff.

 

Less is more and it works for this.

[Professor Pi]

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  WINTER SOLDIER

 

Might be the best Marvel movie yet.  I really did enjoy it more than any Iron Man movie.  Funny, great fight scenes, witty dialog, character depth, intricate plot mirroring topical concerns with the NSA intelligence agency.  A direct sequel to First Avenger, and you can go right into this one without seeing the Avengers, though there's plenty of throwaway references to the other MCU films.  Cap has not been one of the more interesting Marvel characters, but they've added a realism and existential cynicism to his character arc this time out, as well as fleshing out ( ) Natasha Romanova's character as well.  The last hour kicks into high gear and delivers the punches blow by blow.  And stay through the credits for both easter egg bonus scenes.

[tdalton]

SEEN:

 

Mitt - 3

In the Blood - 2.5

 

 

LOOKING FORWARD TO:

300: Rise of an Empire

Noah

Draft Day

Sabotage

Transcendence

Godzilla

Edge of Tomorrow

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

The Expendables 3

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

The Equalizer

Gone Girl

Exodus

The Unknown Known