The Movie Thread.

[Tawmis]

Just watched the new MORTAL KOMBAT movie on HBO MAX.

I expected to be just entertained - the movie was... incredible. It was a legit, real, movie. Not the campy MK movies we'd seen before.

There was fighting. Gore. Even some nicer moments.

This movie out right surprised me with how good it was.

Flawless Victory.

[Rath Darkblade]

Oh? *curious* What was the plot? Did the characters have any (or much) depth, or were they just cardboard cut-outs?

Curious Rath is Curious.

[Tawmis]

Oh? *curious* What was the plot? Did the characters have any (or much) depth, or were they just cardboard cut-outs?

Curious Rath is Curious.

The characters are solid. There's not a ton of depth - but they are each very unique.

It is Mortal Kombat - so there's... 4?... fatalities which are.... very bloody. But it's the over the top bloody. So that kind of kills it from being "gross bloody."

One of the fatalities literally had me yell, "Oh $#!+!"

[Rath Darkblade]

Oh? *curious* What was the plot? Did the characters have any (or much) depth, or were they just cardboard cut-outs?

Curious Rath is Curious.

The characters are solid. There's not a ton of depth - but they are each very unique.

It is Mortal Kombat - so there's... 4?... fatalities which are.... very bloody. But it's the over the top bloody. So that kind of kills it from being "gross bloody."

One of the fatalities literally had me yell, "Oh $#!+!"

Now I'm even more curious. Why "Oh $#!+!"? I'm wondering what happened, that's all.

As for "not a ton of depth, but they're each very unique" ... well ... sorry, but what do you mean by "unique"?

I mean, the characters in MK1 are also unique -- i.e. in their attacks, their fatalities, the way that they kick each other's butt ...

[Tawmis]

Oh? *curious* What was the plot? Did the characters have any (or much) depth, or were they just cardboard cut-outs?
Curious Rath is Curious.

The characters are solid. There's not a ton of depth - but they are each very unique.
It is Mortal Kombat - so there's... 4?... fatalities which are.... very bloody. But it's the over the top bloody. So that kind of kills it from being "gross bloody."
One of the fatalities literally had me yell, "Oh $#!+!"

Now I'm even more curious. Why "Oh $#!+!"? I'm wondering what happened, that's all.
As for "not a ton of depth, but they're each very unique" ... well ... sorry, but what do you mean by "unique"?
I mean, the characters in MK1 are also unique -- i.e. in their attacks, their fatalities, the way that they kick each other's butt ...

I don't wanna spoil the "Oh $#!+!" moment - it's a cool, very unexpected, over the top fatality scene.

As for unique - what I mean is - each of them stands out on their own.

Like the other two MK movies, they felt like cardboard cut outs. Anyone could have read those lines.

This one - each of them has a very unique voice - and just enough story to know who they are.

They also explain how some of them have "powers" - they don't just HAVE them.

And the actor who plays KANO steals a lot of the show with his dialogue - until a specific turning point.

[Rath Darkblade]

Ah, OK. I don't mind spoilers -- please feel free to share.

It's also cool that they tried to explain the "powers", instead of just "having" them. (I have the power to travel in time! All right, I can only travel forward in time -- and only a second at a time -- but ...)

[Tawmis]

Ah, OK. I don't mind spoilers -- please feel free to share.

Head here for spoilers.

[Rath Darkblade]

It's a good question: how the heck does Liu Kang summon a dragon? And why doesn't he do it more often?

[Tawmis]

It's a good question: how the heck does Liu Kang summon a dragon? And why doesn't he do it more often?

Well, as I said - each of them who bares "the mark" - has powers they can channel. The dragon thing is a part of it - but more so, he uses his fire ability to make it happen...

[Tawmis]

Watched Suicide Squad - the DC movie made to look like a Marvel movie with violence and blood turned up to 11.

It's odd - because, it's written by James Gunn (who wrote - well, based his movie off the Guardians of the Galaxy comics by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning), and has the guy who plays Yondu (blue dude, leader of the Ravengers), and in GotG2, Stallone makes an appearance - well, Suicide Squad has all three reunited.

And... it starts in a prison. Which reminded me, yet again, of GotG.

Stallone basically plays a violent/uber hungry Humanoid Shark (King Shark) version of Groot. (Two strong, muscular dudes, voicing low vocabulary characters).

Suicide Squad also pulls the same trick as Guardians of the Galaxy - and took completely unknowns (except for Harley Quinn) and made them enjoyable.

The blood is turned up to 10 - especially with scenes with King Shark.

But overall, the best DC movie to date, for me.

Do not look at spoilers below unless... uh, you wanna get something potentially spoiled. Or somethings DEFINITELY spoiled.

What they did to Captain Boomerang surprised me; since he was in the first one. That disappointed me.

Also when they killed Flag at the end, that too surprised me and disappointed me.

At least Rat Catcher 2 survived. I cared about her, only because of her rat, Sebastian, really.

[notbobsmith]

Don't you mean The Suicide Squad? I was trying to figure out what this film is. It has some of the characters/actors returning, but they don't give it a "sequel name" like a number "2" or at least a subtitle. So is it a sequel, reboot, or a do-over? Or do they just don't care that much, hence just adding a "The" to the title.

[Tawmis]

Don't you mean The Suicide Squad? I was trying to figure out what this film is. It has some of the characters/actors returning, but they don't give it a "sequel name" like a number "2" or at least a subtitle. So is it a sequel, reboot, or a do-over? Or do they just don't care that much, hence just adding a "The" to the title.

You're right - they make no reference to the previous Suicide Squad movie. Just a few return from that version. So I've got no idea how it ties in. But that's DC for you. Can't get their $#!+ straight.

[DeadPoolX]

Don't you mean The Suicide Squad? I was trying to figure out what this film is. It has some of the characters/actors returning, but they don't give it a "sequel name" like a number "2" or at least a subtitle. So is it a sequel, reboot, or a do-over? Or do they just don't care that much, hence just adding a "The" to the title.

You're right - they make no reference to the previous Suicide Squad movie. Just a few return from that version. So I've got no idea how it ties in. But that's DC for you. Can't get their $#!+ straight.

In some cases, but Justice League: The Snyder Cut was absolutely amazing. The version of Justice League released in theaters was wrecked by Joss Whedon trying to turn it into a "light-hearted family movie" and that didn't work at all. The Snyder Cut, however, was the original film that Zack Snyder made and what should've been released instead. I imagine all of this changed when he bowed out after his daughter's suicide and Whedon took over on that movie, ordering tons of reshoots, changing the story, dialogue, and so on.

If you have the chance to watch Justice League: The Snyder Cut, I'd strongly recommend doing so. It's definitely one of the best films (story, characters, dialogue, and special effects were fantastic!) I've ever seen, and I've watched a lot of movies. It's so different from the trash that Whedon made it's hard to believe it covers the same material.

The one downside to The Snyder Cut is that it's four hours long. Yes, FOUR hours. But since you're watching it at home, it doesn't really matter. You can pause it or stop it and continue the next day or whatever.

I know it also sounds like any movie that's four hours long would drag, but Maia and I were so absorbed that it didn't feel long at all. Avengers Endgame felt longer, and that was "only" three hours.

In the spirit of full disclosure, Maia and I also really enjoyed Batman v Superman. Neither of us could understand why some people disliked it so much. We think that maybe people either didn't get the references (and there were a ton of them designed for comic book fans) or they didn't pay close attention to the movie and got confused. Whatever the case, BvS has the single best Batman fight scene in the history of cinema and most people — even those who hated the film — agree on this.

Maia and I both think Ben Affleck was great as both Bruce Wayne and Batman. That's important because none of the other actors who've portrayed the character have ever fit both personas. Some were good as Batman, but not Bruce; likewise, some were better as Bruce, but didn't feel right as Batman. Affleck, in our opinion, was the first person to actually fit both.

As for other DC movies... yeah, they're not great. Man of Steel was pretty good until the end battle which dragged on; Suicide Squad was just annoying and felt aimless; Birds of Prey was beyond stupid, and Aquaman felt like a braindead superhero movie from the 90s.

[MusicallyInspired]

I didn't like BvS because they blew way too many story arcs all in one movie that they could have spread out to multiple movies (MCU style)....and BLEW the biggest moment in the trailer. The whole thing felt super rushed. Otherwise I had reasonable fun with it.

Overall, I'm not the biggest fan of Snyder's dark DC universe. It works as an "elseworld story" though. And I think Cavil is a fantastic Superman. It's a shame WB won't let him back to reprise the role. I just wish it was more of the classic optimistic Superman from the Christopher Reeve films. But I hear the new Superman & Lois show is fantastic in this way and is kind of a breath of fresh air compared to all the other Arrow-verse CW travesty string of DC shows.

Anyway, I still haven't seen the Snyder Cut but I want to.

[BBP]

I'm thinking ultra-hard what the last film is I saw for the first time, unless you count the three minutes I saw of Police Academy 7 yesterday and the bits of 2019's Cats that all but destroyed the happy memories I had from watching the show way back when.
Still can't think of any more recent than Chicago, which I first saw shortly before Corona.

Anyway, never been much of an action film fan and never much liked super hero stuff either. Hope we can move on to the next fad soon.