It's being reviewed as the spiritual successor to Inglourious Basterds.
It's being reviewed as the spiritual successor to Inglourious Basterds.
The reviews I have seen have indicated it is John Wick with way more "show, don't tell" and coherent storytelling.
And the dog doesn't die.
What I find hilarious is that the last video posted is for Transformers: The Last Knight. So you guys really hold it in high regard 
That Sisu trailer does look good.
It's being reviewed as the spiritual successor to Inglourious Basterds.
Oh no.
Maybe I should pass.
In terms of the violence and the anti-Nazi themes, Top_Shelf. Not a fan of IB?
In terms of the violence and the anti-Nazi themes, Top_Shelf. Not a fan of IB?
Yeah. I've got thoughts on IB.
I say all of this as a real fan of Tarantino. Like Jules, I am trying, real hard, to not hate on IB.
The opening scene is one of his best.
But by the end we were just watching the worst freshman year (of high school) fantasy of Nazi killing. Like, it is literally the type of story my friends and I were writing as shock "jokes" in our composition classes to get a rise out of the teacher at our private school.
It is the dumbest Tarantino film (I haven't seen OUATIH yet tho).
But. If it's a smartly done flick where Nazis are getting thrashed, I'm in for that!
Apparently it is. A lot of reviews talk about how it "shows, but does not tell". Not sure the main character ever speaks. Maybe to his dog. I think that's in the trailer. But it does not have the problem that Tarentino faced, which was how to subvert WW2 film tropes and exaggerate them to the degree that he could create that fantasy ending to the war without people necessarily guessing how it would go. I think he did a pretty good job of that. He starts out showing the serious side of the conflict, the high stakes, then he slowly turns it from a drama into an action/spy thriller, with homages to many past movies, and then slides in the wish fulfillment right at the end, as if the movie had been made before the end of the war. If you understand the ending as American over the top war propaganda, it makes sense. But in a very meta way.
OUATIH is probably not what you're expecting. It's a good movie. You'll probably enjoy it if you liked "Hail, Caesar!".
Thanks Robear. I'll check it out.
I hadn't heard that take on IB, so maybe I should rewatch and see if it strikes me differently?
I really do appreciate Tarantino as an auteur and usually I cannot stand those types of folks. Maybe it's because of how he treats class. But that's a D&D type thread!
It is the dumbest Tarantino film (I haven't seen OUATIH yet tho).
Seen most all of Tarantino's stuff, going all the way back to seeing True Romance in the theaters. OUATIH is my favorite thing he's ever done, by a good margin.
I'm not a Tarantino super fan though. Most of his movies strike me as having moments of real greatness and deep flaws. I really like OUATIH though.
Top_Shelf, to me, that's the gimmick of the movie. It draws from all the contemporary and post-war movie tropes, so that you expect a certain ending, and then continuously subverts them. The opening scene is horrifying, like Schindler's List or some other Holocaust film, but it's played straight while Cristoph Waltz chews the scenery like a B-Movie SS villain. And then we shift to the "Dirty Dozen" spoof, but again, so over the top it's fantasy wish-fulfillment. We know this story, as well as the first one, and we know where they will end, so we settle in for the familiar ride.
But eventually we find that we are in an entirely different place than we thought we were headed to.
Spoilers for the few folks who have not seen the film.
The Nazi hunting proceeds pretty much as expected, heroic acts on both sides, codes violated all around, sterotypical characters completely in charge. But when we get to the spy sections - the woman and her cell plotting to kill Nazi officials, evading Waltz (almost), and our prison-breaking, Nazi-killing bad boys of Democracy getting wrapped up in their plot involuntarily, with the breakpoint being a ridiculous fight in a basement bar that is nonetheless deeply emotional for the viewer... The movie changes, because now you really care for a lot of these characters and you strongly suspect they will die in the near future. You just wonder what kind of mayhem they will pull off before that time.
To me, the whole point of the subversion is to allow the break into complete fantasy to be palatable to the viewer, but importantly, in the style and intent of the old propaganda movies rather than the drama it starts out as. The ending is almost slapstick, moments of high tension, betrayal and beat-the-clock thriller stuff, but the denouement is pure 1943 "We're gonna kill them Natzis when they least expect it, now go join the fight!" propaganda. And of course, for the folks most deeply affected by the fate of Shoshana's family and millions like them, the ending is a glorious release. We know they all came to bad ends, but this invites us to contemplate an alternate ending for the war that would have been even more satisfying. It's the biggest subversion of them all, because it never happened and it violates the tropes of all the referenced stories in one go, and it's very emotionally satisfying, but it's also cartoon-like, which much of the propaganda of the time was. To me, it's a fantastic piece. It tries to manipulate the audience just like the old propaganda potboilers, which is an amazing thing to attempt when everyone knows how these stories end.
Well now I REALLY have to rewatch it. Never heard that take before. All I've ever come across is, "Brad Pitt is an aMazInG aCtOr in that! Isn't it neat to carve on people? Holo-whuh? Never heard of it. Freedom fries y'all! Wheeeee!"
That's just mine. But I grew up watching all these WW2 movies and Cold War spy thrillers. That's the take that just makes sense to me. Otherwise, it's sort of mindless drivel that gets worse as you watch it.
For example, consider what happens to our Nazi hunters. Their first part of the movie is classic "send the misfits out to kill" on a mission they won't survive. Okay, that's a kind of movie we know - they will fight against heroic odds, go to difficult places, lose beloved characters, kill villainous enemies, rescue prisoners, and still the remnants will triumph over amazing odds. Cue patriotic music and a montage of the ones who died, in memorable poses!
But in this one, they do their stuff, and then they get caught in a spy novel. And what happens to direct action guys in spy novels? If they have to do spy stuff, they suck at it! And that's what we see happen. They get into a completely different meatgrinder, a different story, but they still try to do their thing. And they end up with an action movie shootout - expected, although in a strikingly odd location - but one that takes out the main *actual* spy! So who has to take over his mission? The yahoos who can't even spell properly, much less adopt an "accent"! Now they are spies and infiltrators! But they are still heroes, so they give it their best, but even Brad Pitt's character knows it won't hold up under Waltz's scrutiny. And they go out, but like spies, not like grenade-throwers. (And Waltz, the cultured, intelligent, driven, sardonic, giggly, narcissistic psychopath - seriously, he's several villains in one multi-lingual package.) To me, that's... I've not often seen a movie so intent on breaking tropes while still respecting the characters. :-)
We watched the D&D movie. It was decent. It wanted to be Guardians of the Galaxy but didn't have anything close to the heart and comedy. It also may have had too many D&D references for a non-D&D audience to understand. But that is always a fine line to walk, between fan-service and being approachable for non-fans.
Watched The Artifice Girl and really liked it. This is a low budget sci fi movie dealing with serious issues. Best to go in blind on this one. This movie is all performance. There is no action. Only has a few actors and only a few locations. The acting holds it all together to the very end.
This movie is nothing like M3gan but it would be fun to watch them back to back.
We also watched Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves last night and my god, I just loved it so much. Joy from beginning to end. I need to rewatch it but it might be close to tied with Hot Fuzz as favorite movie.
Wel also watched Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves last night and my god, I just loved it so much. Joy from beginning to end. I need to rewatch it but it might be close to tied with Hot Fuzz as favorite movie.
Yeah, I just watched it with my family. Very well done; seems like they went all-in on references and authenticity to the source material.
They really got the flavor of a well run campaign down.
Yeah, you could tell whoever wrote this seriously knew their sh*t.
The only thing that didn't work much for me was the father/daughter relationship. And the mother was a non-entity getting the stereotypical fridge treatment.
Despite that, the movie is blast.
Watched Dungeons and Dargons: Honorable Thieveries. Found it perfectly serviceable if largely predictable fluff.
One thing: did anyone else get real r/SapphoAndHerFriend vibes from the cute tiefling druid and the girl she rescued from the goons? I was surprised and a little disappointed that the movie seemed to shrug and half-heartedly pair her with the half-elf sorcerer in the end, especially since it was otherwise pretty free of forced romance arcs. Liked that they managed to stick to their guns about Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez being platonic best friends and co-parents.
Best part of the movie was the paladin, who did a better job at the straight-faced "constantly takes things literally" schtick in a couple scenes than two GotG movies' worth of Drax, sorry Dave Bautista.
You take that back!
Dave Bautista is a national treasure!
He is? Where do they keep him? We must let him out! That’s a terrible crime.
Mayhaps I should have said, "Dave Bautista knows a very good dog!" for those that have seen GotG 3.
It's being reviewed as the spiritual successor to Inglourious Basterds.
Eh, I can sort of see where they're coming from, but it's also utterly incorrect. There's killing nazis, there's blatant exploitation inspiration, especially from spaghetti westerns. But that's also where it ends. It's more Sergio Leone than Tarantino.
I'm still down for it. Has it hit streaming yet?
I'm still down for it. Has it hit streaming yet?
Just showed up at Amazon
Free or buy?
Lol if I have to pay to see a Nazi get a knife stuck in his head, that's okay.
I thought we had a John Wick thread somewhere?
Anyway had to watch it in 2 parts because damn how long.
Still f*cking great.
That overhead fight in the building, incredible.
Arc and steps have been mentioned. Felt like a lot of CGI cars in the first that took out of the moment a few times, but the latter was great.
Mr Nobody was a nice add.
Donnie Yen was great as always. Still probably my favorite part of Rogue One.
I did laugh about the boat ride.
didn't really get that close to the goal did it? Could have cut out one fight scene just from that hehe
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