Planet Rugby Forum

Jeff the Bear wrote:the notion of having a slow speed car chase in space was so monumentally retarded that my usually bulletproof suspension of disbelief abilities were blown clean out of the water.

Bullettyme wrote:

Kid A wrote:

Cartman wrote:Avengers opened to US$600 million + worldwide and all the MCU movies now total over US$15 billion combined - that's not far off a billion average when Avengers is done
Can't argue with that

Yep, the best movies are always the ones that make the most money for their major studio fatcat bosses.

They're basically a better Transformers really.

Brazil wrote:

Bullettyme wrote:

Kid A wrote:

Cartman wrote:Avengers opened to US$600 million + worldwide and all the MCU movies now total over US$15 billion combined - that's not far off a billion average when Avengers is done
Can't argue with that

Yep, the best movies are always the ones that make the most money for their major studio fatcat bosses.

They're basically a better Transformers really.

I was on a flight back from Greece recently, and they had that abortion of a Justice League film on. I was struck by how I could follow the plot exactly even without sound and whilst trying to work. It's a by rote Save the Cat film with all the beats exactly where you'd expect, all the characters behaving as you'd expect and all the symbolism and signifiers exactly where you'd expect to find them.

Jeff the Bear wrote:
Star Wars: The Last Jedi - 6/10: First third OK, last third OK, middle third just terrible...and the notion of having a slow speed car chase in space was so monumentally retarded that my usually bulletproof suspension of disbelief abilities were blown clean out of the water.

Why superfans love Avengers: Infinity War and hate Star Wars: The Last Jedi



They are both from ultra-geeky source material, with Marvel-style humour and box-office takings to shout about … so how come aficionados have given Last Jedi such short shrift?

SPOILER WARNING: Discussion of the films’ content follows, so proceed with caution


Wed 2 May 2018 11.21 BST Last modified on Wed 2 May 2018 17.20 BST

What is the true mark of success for a Hollywood blockbuster ? Its critical score, via Rotten Tomatoes? Its global box office take? A decent tilt at the Oscars in the year following its release?

Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi has passed muster in all three of the above categories. And yet there remains the nagging sense, nearly six months after the movie’s release, that the eighth episode in the long-running space opera may ultimately be seen as the most divisive so far.

Unlike Black Panther and this weekend’s Avengers: Infinity War, the two other Disney-produced films that have delivered the really big bucks at the global box office over the last six months, The Last Jedi was greeted with derision by large parts of its core fanbase. Never has the audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, an overlooked feature of the site, looked so relevant. While Black Panther (96% from critics) has a 79% “audience score”, and Infinity War (84% from critics) has a 93% “audience score”, The Last Jedi (91% from critics) was liked by just 47% of those who registered their opinion on the site.

Both Infinity War and The Last Jedi drew on ultra-geeky sources for much of their storyline. The Russo Brothers’ superhero epic took its inspiration from the cosmically nutty 1991 comic book series The Infinity Gauntlet, while adapting it heavily to fit the characters who have already been introduced to audiences over a decade of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The Last Jedi famously took its key twist – Luke Skywalker’s arrival on the mineral planet of Crait in temporarily invincible form – from a little known Star Wars tome titled The Jedi Path.

There are other parallels between the two movies, with many noting the Marvel-style humour that was present throughout The Last Jedi. The difference between the two films, and perhaps the reason why Johnson failed to keep hardcore Star Wars acolytes happy (while the Russos are currently basking in the afterglow of post-movie audience rapture), is that Infinity War rarely sends up its most preposterous excesses. There are more than enough laughs amid the misery of Thanos’s assault on the galaxy, but the Russos resist the temptation to lampoon the mad Titan himself, his gauntlet, or any of his deeply silly minions. All are treated with a reverence that will have helped to keep fans of the comics, and the wider MCU, feeling like their much-loved source material is being respected.

The lesson here for Johnson, who is directing a new trilogy of Star Wars movies, is that comedy is fine – the original trilogy also had its funny moments – but that lampooning those aspects of a much-loved saga that made fans fall in love with it in the first place is probably best left to the inevitable Lego Star Wars crossover movie. The equivalent move in Infinity War might have been for Thanos to have clicked his fingers, only to discover that the myriad cosmic gems he spent so long collecting from various members of the Avengers were fakes, and that we had all been worrying about nothing.

Anyone who has seen Infinity War’s brutally crushing finale, with half the galaxy’s heroes going up in smoke in an instant, will know that would have been a cruel way to waste an audience’s time. We need to be invested in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, in Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther, in Chris Pratt’s Star Lord, for us to care when they are flicked into the void. And while Marvel has at times been content to chuckle at the sillier sides to all these superheroes, the studio has always been carefully to retain our sense of awe at the MCU’s essential machinery.

For when comedy descends into lampoonery, the last laugh is ultimately on studios. Infinity War looks likely to become one of the top five movies of all time at the global box office by the time it leaves cinemas, thanks to impressive word of mouth. The Last Jedi, hampered by antipathy from hardcore fans, eventually limped to an underwhelming $1.3bn, despite a stellar opening weekend.

There is a danger for the film-maker, it seems, in too much postmodern mickey-taking. For you risk seeing half your audience disappear before your eyes.

Last Jedi humiliated Luke Skywalker, missed every single opportunity to pick up where JJ Abrahms had left off from The Force Awakens, missed every cue given, made a mockery of Jedi training to the point where a character who hadn't seen a lightsaber days before can best a Jedi Master whos studied for decades. The milk, jesus, the milk. The throaway lightsaber bit, the Mary Poppins Leia bit, the lame ending, when Luke couldve redeemed himself by lifting his X-wing out of the sea and flying to the rescue, destroying all the ATATs with awesome lightsaber defence, the f**king casino scene purely to shift toys was it? cos it served no purpose. the bland leads. fudge i could go on all day - basically the director ruined SW and i've been a fan since the 70s.
Did he even understand Lukes character at all? Nothing stops this guy from hoping, nothing - he even took on the emperor and Darth because he hoped he could make him see the light...now hes sitting on a rock in the middle of nowhere, sulking because Kylo turned out bad and he tried to kill him??? wtf? Luke would never do that - the whole thing was a bizarre mess

The Last Jedi was an absolute catastrophe of a film which will surely go down in history as one of the worst movies ever made. I was 4 years old when I saw the original Star Wars on its release so like many of my generation my relationship with Star Wars seemed one of unconditional love. The Phantom Menace was bad - very bad, but the Last Jedi has to be seen to be disbelieved.

I am no fan of CinemaSins style plot-hole counting videos, but lets remember some of the LJ highlights:

Poe Dameron prank calls Star Destroyer staffed by Ade Edmonson?
Bombs in space?
Luke drinks Space-Walrus breast milk?
Leia flying in space?
Space casino camel chase?
Very slow Empire-Resistance chase lasting entire film?
Force-projected Luke?
Jedi Island frog-nuns?
And on, and on and on.....

Brazil wrote:

Bullettyme wrote:

Kid A wrote:

Cartman wrote:Avengers opened to US$600 million + worldwide and all the MCU movies now total over US$15 billion combined - that's not far off a billion average when Avengers is done
Can't argue with that

Yep, the best movies are always the ones that make the most money for their major studio fatcat bosses.

They're basically a better Transformers really.

I was on a flight back from Greece recently, and they had that abortion of a Justice League film on. I was struck by how I could follow the plot exactly even without sound and whilst trying to work. It's a by rote Save the Cat film with all the beats exactly where you'd expect, all the characters behaving as you'd expect and all the symbolism and signifiers exactly where you'd expect to find them.

danny_fitz wrote:

Last Jedi humiliated Luke Skywalker, missed every single opportunity to pick up where JJ Abrahms had left off from The Force Awakens, missed every cue given, made a mockery of Jedi training to the point where a character who hadn't seen a lightsaber days before can best a Jedi Master whos studied for decades. The milk, jesus, the milk. The throaway lightsaber bit, the Mary Poppins Leia bit, the lame ending, when Luke couldve redeemed himself by lifting his X-wing out of the sea and flying to the rescue, destroying all the ATATs with awesome lightsaber defence, the f**king casino scene purely to shift toys was it? cos it served no purpose. the bland leads. fudge i could go on all day - basically the director ruined SW and i've been a fan since the 70s.
Did he even understand Lukes character at all? Nothing stops this guy from hoping, nothing - he even took on the emperor and Darth because he hoped he could make him see the light...now hes sitting on a rock in the middle of nowhere, sulking because Kylo turned out bad and he tried to kill him??? wtf? Luke would never do that - the whole thing was a bizarre mess

comets wrote:Just saw 2014 Horror film, IT FOLLOWS, its definitely one of the top 5 horror films of this millennium. 9/10.

comets wrote:one of the top 5 horror films of this millennium.

clementinfrance wrote:Kill list should be up there too.

bessantj wrote:Watched Rampage last night. It's about as bad or as good as you think it is.

Spoiler: show

Nieghorn wrote:

bessantj wrote:Watched Rampage last night. It's about as bad or as good as you think it is.

Any good fanservice moments for arcade fans, like teetering on the edge of a building while looking over a shoulder and down, breathing indigestion fire after eating something explosive, or falling straight down off a building while looking at the camera?

Spoiler: show

Jay Cee Gee wrote:

Salient wrote:

Jay Cee Gee wrote:
The vast majority of everything is shit and forgettable and what you describe has always been the case with horror films.

The Babadok
The Witch
It Follows

But by all means continue.

Do you know what 'majority' means?

bessantj wrote:

Nieghorn wrote:

bessantj wrote:Watched Rampage last night. It's about as bad or as good as you think it is.

Any good fanservice moments for arcade fans, like teetering on the edge of a building while looking over a shoulder and down, breathing indigestion fire after eating something explosive, or falling straight down off a building while looking at the camera?

Spoiler: show

There is not.

Nieghorn wrote:

bessantj wrote:

Nieghorn wrote:

bessantj wrote:Watched Rampage last night. It's about as bad or as good as you think it is.

Any good fanservice moments for arcade fans, like teetering on the edge of a building while looking over a shoulder and down, breathing indigestion fire after eating something explosive, or falling straight down off a building while looking at the camera?

Spoiler: show

There is not.

Jokeshop! I loved that game when I was a lad. I'll bet there's no fist punching through a wall to grab and eat a buxom woman in a red halter top / bathing suit either!

danny_fitz wrote:
The comments are pretty scathing of the TLJ

Last Jedi humiliated Luke Skywalker, missed every single opportunity to pick up where JJ Abrahms had left off from The Force Awakens, missed every cue given, made a mockery of Jedi training to the point where a character who hadn't seen a lightsaber days before can best a Jedi Master whos studied for decades. The milk, jesus, the milk. The throaway lightsaber bit, the Mary Poppins Leia bit, the lame ending, when Luke couldve redeemed himself by lifting his X-wing out of the sea and flying to the rescue, destroying all the ATATs with awesome lightsaber defence, the f**king casino scene purely to shift toys was it? cos it served no purpose. the bland leads. fudge i could go on all day - basically the director ruined SW and i've been a fan since the 70s.
Did he even understand Lukes character at all? Nothing stops this guy from hoping, nothing - he even took on the emperor and Darth because he hoped he could make him see the light...now hes sitting on a rock in the middle of nowhere, sulking because Kylo turned out bad and he tried to kill him??? wtf? Luke would never do that - the whole thing was a bizarre mess

The Last Jedi was an absolute catastrophe of a film which will surely go down in history as one of the worst movies ever made. I was 4 years old when I saw the original Star Wars on its release so like many of my generation my relationship with Star Wars seemed one of unconditional love. The Phantom Menace was bad - very bad, but the Last Jedi has to be seen to be disbelieved.

Kid A wrote:

comets wrote:one of the top 5 horror films of this millennium.

Now that's got me thinking. Obviously some horror films are mashups and it can be a subjective genre. But I'd go:


1. Let the Right one in
2. A Tale of Two sisters
3. The VVitch
4. The Devils Backbone
5. The Eyes of My mother

Honourable mentions:

Raw, Berberian Sound Studio, I saw the Devil, The Ring, The Babadook

Yer Man wrote:

danny_fitz wrote:
The comments are pretty scathing of the TLJ

Last Jedi humiliated Luke Skywalker, missed every single opportunity to pick up where JJ Abrahms had left off from The Force Awakens, missed every cue given, made a mockery of Jedi training to the point where a character who hadn't seen a lightsaber days before can best a Jedi Master whos studied for decades. The milk, jesus, the milk. The throaway lightsaber bit, the Mary Poppins Leia bit, the lame ending, when Luke couldve redeemed himself by lifting his X-wing out of the sea and flying to the rescue, destroying all the ATATs with awesome lightsaber defence, the f**king casino scene purely to shift toys was it? cos it served no purpose. the bland leads. fudge i could go on all day - basically the director ruined SW and i've been a fan since the 70s.
Did he even understand Lukes character at all? Nothing stops this guy from hoping, nothing - he even took on the emperor and Darth because he hoped he could make him see the light...now hes sitting on a rock in the middle of nowhere, sulking because Kylo turned out bad and he tried to kill him??? wtf? Luke would never do that - the whole thing was a bizarre mess

The Last Jedi was an absolute catastrophe of a film which will surely go down in history as one of the worst movies ever made. I was 4 years old when I saw the original Star Wars on its release so like many of my generation my relationship with Star Wars seemed one of unconditional love. The Phantom Menace was bad - very bad, but the Last Jedi has to be seen to be disbelieved.

Just finished watching that movie.

Hmmm.

Well.

Um.


There were a handful of interesting ideas, but can't anyone TELL A FüCKING STORY anymore?

So we start with "Escape from Hoth" and end with "Battle on Hoth" and spend most of the rest of the movie marvelling about how fücking dumb most of the characters are or which scene from Empire/Jedi they're ripping off.
Oh, and could anyone except Mark Hamill actually act? Despite the fact he was pissed at where they'd taken his character he still stole every scene he was in. Or mentioned in. And he's hardly an Oscar winning acting talent - the rest were dire.

Came across this - a look at the financials and how impossible it looks for Disney to ever re-coup the 4 Billion they spent to buy the Franchise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHskNv5uVe4

Last Jedi made $1.3B
Not for Disney it didn't - they'll be lucky to get much above $700M - and will have spent (at least) $450M on making are marketing the movie.

And they need about $650M per year in Star Wars revenue to make even a modest 5% return on that investment.

fraz wrote:

naki wrote:

fraz wrote:Has anyone else seen Thor Ragnarok?

Definitely the funniest super hero flick to date, puts Deadpool well and truly in the shade. Waititi is achingly funny as the rock monster Korg, and his ad-lib directorial style really seems to have gelled with Hemsworth in particular. Waititi's next contract is going to be worth squillions after how well this film is going to do.

Hilarious cameos from Matt Damon and Sam Neill as well

Saw it yesterday, but made the mistake of watching with Singaporeans who don’t always get the subtleties and it was embarrassing my son by being the only one in the theatre laughing most of the time (except for the slapstick. Everyone loves slapstick).

I haven’t kept up with the Marvel movies so couldn’t be bothered with the plot, but I’d agree that it was a very entertaining film. Hemsworth and Ruffalo in particular seemed like comedy pros.

Getting universally good reviews. 95% on rotten tomatoes

This will sound terrible but I did basically the same thing; I watched it in Chatswood. Badly embarrassed my wife by howling with laughter at the myriad of jokes that the almost entirely Chinese audience didn't get

There were so many wonderful easter eggs in there for Aus/NZ fans. My favourites were:
- "tell her she's dreaming" (at which I was literally the only person who laughed)
- the crowd in the coliseum chanting "THUNDER THUNDER" in an almost exact replica of the opening of the video clip for the AC/DC classic Thunderstruck
- the names of the spaceships "Commodore" and "Statesman"

I'm sure there were more that I missed.

Floppykid wrote:Finally got around to watching Foxcatcher.
Didn't really click with me, being honest.
The performances were all good, and the wrestling scenes were very interesting in terms of the visual language.

But the film felt over long, and the last third had some tonal/plot shifts that felt odd/confused/I must be stupid.

Another thing is, I just don't like Tatum.

Steamin Beamin wrote:Finally watched Baby Driver. Wish I hadn't bothered. 3/10.

Salient wrote:

Jay Cee Gee wrote:

Salient wrote:

Jay Cee Gee wrote:
The vast majority of everything is shit and forgettable and what you describe has always been the case with horror films.

The Babadok
The Witch
It Follows

But by all means continue.

Do you know what 'majority' means?

You really aren't the sharpest tool in the shed are you, in the training game we would refer to you as a "slow learner"

The Exorcist
The original Dead Trilogy
Evil Dead 2
Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein
A butt load of Amicus movies

You getting it yet, or are you going to continue being a blowhard making sweeping comments you previously read on the interwebs rather than actually thinking for yourself.

Bit of trivia for ya, over 48 horror movies released in the first three months of 2018, clearly you have seen most of em because you know your Eddy the expert and all.

Jay Cee Gee wrote:

Salient wrote:

Jay Cee Gee wrote:

Salient wrote:

Jay Cee Gee wrote:
The vast majority of everything is shit and forgettable and what you describe has always been the case with horror films.

The Babadok
The Witch
It Follows

But by all means continue.

Do you know what 'majority' means?

You really aren't the sharpest tool in the shed are you, in the training game we would refer to you as a "slow learner"

The Exorcist
The original Dead Trilogy
Evil Dead 2
Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein
A butt load of Amicus movies

You getting it yet, or are you going to continue being a blowhard making sweeping comments you previously read on the interwebs rather than actually thinking for yourself.

Bit of trivia for ya, over 48 horror movies released in the first three months of 2018, clearly you have seen most of em because you know your Eddy the expert and all.

Haha, just saw this little hissy fit.

Firstly, you've mistakenly thought I'm running down horror as a genre. I'm not, I'm saying that the majority of it is probably shit in the way that the majority of everything is generally shit. You list some classic horror as evidence, but there were undoubtedly loads of other cheapo horror films that came out that year that were shit. As were loads of action films, loads of comedys etc.

All I said was the majority of everything is shit and horror has tended to rely on jump scares and gore in general - obviously not every horror film is shit and obviously they don't all have jump scares and gore. Calm down, no one is bagging your favourite genre - I was actually defending it you dick.

Kid A wrote:

Steamin Beamin wrote:Finally watched Baby Driver. Wish I hadn't bothered. 3/10.

Generous giving it a 3. It's awful. If that was a first time director and not the darling Edgar Wright, it would have been universally slated.

RuggaBugga wrote:Watched a couple of films recommended of here last weekend:

Incendies -stunning 10/10. Didn't even know it was the Arrival guy till I read it here.

Gook -9/10 brilliant as well although I may be of an age and appreciate it more.

Jeff the Bear wrote:

Jay Cee Gee wrote:

Salient wrote:

Jay Cee Gee wrote:

Salient wrote:
The Babadok
The Witch
It Follows

But by all means continue.

Do you know what 'majority' means?

You really aren't the sharpest tool in the shed are you, in the training game we would refer to you as a "slow learner"

The Exorcist
The original Dead Trilogy
Evil Dead 2
Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein
A butt load of Amicus movies

You getting it yet, or are you going to continue being a blowhard making sweeping comments you previously read on the interwebs rather than actually thinking for yourself.

Bit of trivia for ya, over 48 horror movies released in the first three months of 2018, clearly you have seen most of em because you know your Eddy the expert and all.

Haha, just saw this little hissy fit.

Firstly, you've mistakenly thought I'm running down horror as a genre. I'm not, I'm saying that the majority of it is probably shit in the way that the majority of everything is generally shit. You list some classic horror as evidence, but there were undoubtedly loads of other cheapo horror films that came out that year that were shit. As were loads of action films, loads of comedys etc.

All I said was the majority of everything is shit and horror has tended to rely on jump scares and gore in general - obviously not every horror film is shit and obviously they don't all have jump scares and gore. Calm down, no one is bagging your favourite genre - I was actually defending it you dick.

Actually, I'm bagging it...it's a shit genre.