Recommend (or don't) a movie thread v2

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Not surprising. Thanks for taking one for the team.

Cobra Kai was cheesy, predictable and cringey. But Johnny's character was fun and I went along for the ride as they milked every last piece of nostalgia possible from the franchise.

Time to let it be. Surely there are a million possible ideas out there for an underdog movie without going back to the same well.

California kid who learned Karate in a Strip Mall in Inglewood travels to Asia to fight some Monks and just get his ass unceremoniously kicked?

"The Karate Kid Ocho: Black and Blue!"

[missdpuck]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

Not sure where to post this but CNN aired a live broadcast today of the George Clooney Broadway play “Goodnight and Goodluck” and I forgot to set the PVR.

They don’t seem to be planning to run it again.

If anyone might have taped it and can burn a DVD or stick I would buy it.

Thanks.

Same here. Completely forgot about it. Damn.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by direwolf

That’s too bad, as I really enjoyed the Cobra Kai series. I was hoping this movie might be a fun spinoff from that, but I guess not.

They didn't capture any of the spirit of Cobra Kai. Take the worst episode of CK. This is 10X worse than that.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

They didn't capture any of the spirit of Cobra Kai. Take the worst episode of CK. This is 10X worse than that.

Oh I think I have to see this...

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by Locke

Oh I think I have to see this...

I took my six-year old to see it. Its too bad. I was ready to love it. And it had potential. It just... lacked any kind of inspiration whatsoever.

[Yeah_Baby]

Back at it again at MovieJawn

https://www.moviejawn.com/home/2025/...dding-crashers

[SutterBrother]

Had a friend in town for an early dinner. Turned out he hadn't seen Sinners, didn't know anything about it, so I took him and saw it a second time for myself.

Damn, that's a great movie. You pick up a bunch of little extras the 2nd time around. I hear it's streaming now, so if you haven't seen it, I recommend you do so.

Try to go in cold without watching trailers or reading anything though.

[DownInFlames]

I'm going to watch Watership Down. Looks like a fun movie about cute bunnies. The name seems weird, and surely it won't have any themes relevant to our current political climate. Oh well.

[Brendone]

Don’t think I’ve ever heard that movie described as “fun”.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Brendone

Don’t think I’ve ever heard that movie described as “fun”.

I took that as heavily sarcastic.

[DownInFlames]

I had to turn it off after 20 minutes. Please don’t tell me something bad happens to those poor bunnies.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Life of Chuck is a pretty special film

[Itse]

Re-watched the original Matrix, and damn that movie holds up so well. It's actually incredibly how much better it looks visually than that POS fourth movie, despite the supposed advancements in special effects.

Even my daughter enjoyed it, and she mostly watches movies with me just for company

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Itse

Re-watched the original Matrix, and damn that movie holds up so well. It's actually incredibly how much better it looks visually than that POS fourth movie, despite the supposed advancements in special effects.

Even my daughter enjoyed it, and she mostly watches movies with me just for company

Jurassic Park to The Lord of The Rings was basically peak visual FX. They could use it to augment real sets, animatronics, etc... but couldn't straight up replace everything.

It's so much cheaper to make things with CGI than it is to do practical explosions, miniatures, forced perspective, car chases, etc..., and it can be changed up until release so its a more attractive way to make movies for the people with the money.

[Ped]

Originally Posted by Coach

Jurassic Park to The Lord of The Rings was basically peak visual FX. They could use it to augment real sets, animatronics, etc... but couldn't straight up replace everything.

It's so much cheaper to make things with CGI than it is to do practical explosions, miniatures, forced perspective, car chases, etc..., and it can be changed up until release so its a more attractive way to make movies for the people with the money.

Still blows my mind they made all the orc armour in LOTR, including the differences in rank and stuff.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Ped

Still blows my mind they made all the orc armour in LOTR, including the differences in rank and stuff.

The Appendices of the extended cuts is also peak behind-the-scenes extras, something I truly miss about DVDs.

[Wormius]

I don’t think “bullet time” aged as well as it could have. It was cool at the time though. Plus one scene in the later movies with the thousands of Agent Smiths looked really off.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Coach

Jurassic Park to The Lord of The Rings was basically peak visual FX. They could use it to augment real sets, animatronics, etc... but couldn't straight up replace everything.

It's so much cheaper to make things with CGI than it is to do practical explosions, miniatures, forced perspective, car chases, etc..., and it can be changed up until release so its a more attractive way to make movies for the people with the money.

This is true but also amazes me. Some of it is just so, so bad! We know what can be done with CGI but like the last swatch of DC movies...just so bad! Like glaringly bad and it takes you out of the movie.

And...Jurassic Park and LOTR are in worlds entirely of their own. The prospect of even making LOTR the way they did it? I cannot foresee it ever, ever happening again.

The financing, the detail, the work, the schedule, the actors....they must have thought Jackson was a stark raving lunatic!

And then you see the behind the scenes on the DVDs? Oh my God what an experience that must have been...

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Locke

This is true but also amazes me. Some of it is just so, so bad! We know what can be done with CGI but like the last swatch of DC movies...just so bad! Like glaringly bad and it takes you out of the movie.

And...Jurassic Park and LOTR are in worlds entirely of their own. The prospect of even making LOTR the way they did it? I cannot foresee it ever, ever happening again.

The financing, the detail, the work, the schedule, the actors....they must have thought Jackson was a stark raving lunatic!

And then you see the behind the scenes on the DVDs? Oh my God what an experience that must have been...

Yeah they sadly probably won't ever make movies like that again.

CGI feels bad now basically because that whole side of the industry is pushed and exploited like no other sector. They're not unionized so there's no protections on hours or rates, and producers think they can change things up until the very end and give them impossible timelines.

It's basically the opposite of Jackson and LOTR. Care, planning and attention to detail. They spent 2 YEARS in prep before cameras even rolled. Scouting locations, camera tests to make sure the visuals worked, building whole towns and armies worth of armour with meticulous research and craftsmanship. It's amazing any studio gave them the resources to do it, and for Jackson too, who at the time was an extremely niche small-time horror director. The fact he made those movies for under $300 million TOTAL is absolutely insane.

Today's VFX can be remarkable. There is great artistry in a lot of it. When things are pure animation like Love Death and Robots, or Spiderverse, it can showcase some incredible stuff. It's the mixing of life and CGI that has become lazy and rushed. You still need a layer of real to help blend the illusion. Like the animatronic head of the T-Rex up close or its foot stepping into mud, or the sick Triceratops. Seeing those things actually interact with the environment vs CGIing everything that's not the people is what helps bridge the realities. So even if the actual CGI isn't that detailed, when you see it up close and it's real, it makes the whole thing feel so much better.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Coach

Yeah they sadly probably won't ever make movies like that again.

CGI feels bad now basically because that whole side of the industry is pushed and exploited like no other sector. They're not unionized so there's no protections on hours or rates, and producers think they can change things up until the very end and give them impossible timelines.

It's basically the opposite of Jackson and LOTR. Care, planning and attention to detail. They spent 2 YEARS in prep before cameras even rolled. Scouting locations, camera tests to make sure the visuals worked, building whole towns and armies worth of armour with meticulous research and craftsmanship. It's amazing any studio gave them the resources to do it, and for Jackson too, who at the time was an extremely niche small-time horror director. The fact he made those movies for under $300 million TOTAL is absolutely insane.

Today's VFX can be remarkable. There is great artistry in a lot of it. When things are pure animation like Love Death and Robots, or Spiderverse, it can showcase some incredible stuff. It's the mixing of life and CGI that has become lazy and rushed. You still need a layer of real to help blend the illusion. Like the animatronic head of the T-Rex up close or its foot stepping into mud, or the sick Triceratops. Seeing those things actually interact with the environment vs CGIing everything that's not the people is what helps bridge the realities. So even if the actual CGI isn't that detailed, when you see it up close and it's real, it makes the whole thing feel so much better.

LOTR overall is insane. Just entirely. Which is why I cant see it ever happening again.

Its brilliant. I'm one of those guys that re-watches it once a year, minimum.

But from an external point of view? The budget, the work, the attention to detail the prep, Jackson himself, everything! And, as you mentioned, for $300M TOTAL will never happen again.

And the fact that it was Jackson and he's not making a film and hoping it takes off to finish the series, he's making all 3 all at the same time. No matter what.

For instance, if 'A New Hope' hadn't crushed it at the Box Office? Theres no Empire Strikes Back.

Just amazing. And similarly to Lucas, Jackson at the time didn't really have the cred for a project of this magnitude but by sheer force of will he made it happen.