What was the last movie you've seen?

[prfsnl_gmr]

+1

Fantastic Mr. Fox is great. Nothing to worry about there. I do suggest, however, reading through the book first. It’s not too long and is a fun family read.

The guns everywhere did bother me more than I would've thought and the captain's arc with being a drunkard I was on the fence about.

Same here. I found the realistic firearms a bit jarring for a family film. (It’s true to the source material, however. I read through some of the old comics, and Tin-Tin is handy with the steel, if you know what I mean.)

I guess...

Character killed with light saber or blaster =

Character killed with realistic firearm =

Not sure why that is...

.....

Last night, my wife and I watched The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946). It is Kirk Douglas’ feature film debut and an absolutely fantastic film noir. I loved it, and a really great transfer is currently available for streaming on Prime Video. Highly recommended for fans of old movies.

[Stark]

Thanks for the recs on Fantastic Mr. Fox bros!

[samsonlonghair]

I went to see Solo: A Star Wars Story on Saturday. I’m not writing a full review unless somebody asks for one. Here’s the short version:

Solo is a fun popcorn flick. Nothing more and nothing less. Don’t expect too much and you won’t be disappointed. It wouldn’t really hold up well under critical analysis, but it doesn’t need to. Just turn your brain off for two hours and enjoy the ride. Solo is more fun if you don’t think too hard.

[marurun]

It wouldn’t really hold up well under critical analysis

This fits almost EVERY SINGLE action movie out of the House of Mouse for the past couple decades.

[samsonlonghair]

It wouldn’t really hold up well under critical analysis

This fits almost EVERY SINGLE action movie out of the House of Mouse for the past couple decades.

That’s a broad statement. I assume you’re not counting Marvel movies, because Marvel has bee consistently knocking it out of the park.

Disney had a good thing going with Pirates of the Caribbean, but they’ve run that franchise into the ground now.

As for Lucasfilm under Disney:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens opened to universal acclaim from both critics and fans alike.
Rogue One was something of a critical Darling. Fan reactions were divided, but certainly critics praised Rogue One.
Star Wars 8 made a ton of money, but fans and critics alike gave the movie poor reviews.
Solo was panned by fans before it even came out. Critics just seemed to keep asking whether or not anyone actually wanted to see this movie in the first place. Box office returns have been disappointing for Lucasfilm/Disney.

[MrPopo]

I was tickled pink by the fact that Lando makes references to the plots of all three of the Lando Calrissian Adventures books. There was at least one giant lore fan on the writing team.

[marurun]

I thought you meant critical analysis as in plot and character analysis, not movie critic reviews.

[samsonlonghair]

I thought you meant critical analysis as in plot and character analysis, not movie critic reviews.

Oh, Pardon. My bad. To me the two aren't so different. Any professional critic worth his salt really should apply plot and character analysis, but then again, not all movies are made for that. Kinda like how I tore Deadpool 2 apart from an analytical standpoint, but it didn't really matter because all the writers were trying to do was make the audience laugh (and also to thumb their noses at certain genre conventions). So I guess that from an effective standpoint, a critic could just ask if a comedy makes the audience laugh or if an adventure movie is fun for the audience. That's where Solo shines. It's not a good movie, but it is a fun movie!

I was tickled pink by the fact that Lando makes references to the plots of all three of the Lando Calrissian Adventures books. There was at least one giant lore fan on the writing team.

Oh no doubt! There's tons of stuff in here just for the ultra-nerdy fans.

I love that they canonically solved the old problem "parsec is a measurement of distance, not time" by allowing Han to plot a shortcut through the Kessel run. They even set up that Han habitually brings this record up at random times just to brag and exaggerate his own story. Apparently some nerds don't dig it, but I flipping' loved this little tidbit.

I also like that Lando is intentionally mis-pronouncing "Han" throughout the movie. This Explains why Billy Dee Williams was mispronouncing the name in Empire Strikes Back (either that or B.D.W. was the only person in America who hadn't seen Star Wars ).

And of course, everybody loves that Han shoots first in the shootout scene. You could feel nineteen years worth of fanboy vindication pulsing in the air.

[MrPopo]

Fun fact related to your spoiler:

They actually did a similar thing in the Han Solo Trilogy (not to be confused with the Han Solo Adventures, which were contemporary with the Lando Calrissian Adventures). Han is going on the Kessel run where he runs into trouble that Greedo alludes to when he confronts him in the cantina. As part of his escaping from the Imperials he flies closer to the black holes of the Maw than anyone had done before, which he was able to do because he was that crazy and the Falcon was that good, and at the end it is a similar "the odometer shows I only traveled 12 parsecs" situation.

[marurun]

I think the reason I sometimes have trouble with “it’s fun if you don’t think too hard,” is that seems like almost every popular action film these days. I contend that an action or adventure film can have a coherent, reasonable story and good characters (villains and protagonists) and still be lots of fun. As much as I enjoy the Marvel films, I think they have lots of unecessary weaknesses that they don’t have to have. And pointing that out is often dismissed with “don’t think so hard.” It isn’t that I am thinking too hard. The films aren’t thinking enough.