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MAY 2017 MOVIE DISCUSSION THREAD


J.T.

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I was kinda disappointed with Sleight.  For an R rated movie, it sure is a Nickelodeon-ish version of a crime drama laced with some superhero stuff and a fairly pedestrian soundtrack.

Jacob Latimore has tons and tons of chemistry with Seychelle Gabriel and has charisma to burn and is arguably the best movie big brother ever to his little sister played by Storm Reid.  Dulé Hill is also fairly awesome as a pure bad guy.  The story is just so cliché ridden and simply isn't there to support these characters.

JD Dillard's loose direction for Dope  was fucking awesome (GO SEE DOPE RIGHT NOW~!), so I have no idea why he held the reins so tightly this time around.

I was also a bit annoyed by the swerve.

Spoiler

It isn't sorcery.

You're told by the story that Bo is a budding engineer with a genius intellect who wasn't able to go to college, and his "telekinesis" is actually the result of an device embedded into his right shoulder (which like Tony Stark's arc generator in IM2 is slowly infecting Bo's body) that generates an electromagnetic field around his arm and allows Bo to manipulate metal objects.

That's cool and all and I am all about smart black dudes getting to show of their skills, but straight up magic or psychic powers would've been a lot cooler.

I'd go see a matinee if you're curious about it, but I wouldn't spend afternoon or evening premium movie dollars.

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7 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Moved JT's post over to start a new movie because he is the only one stupid enough to see a WWE movie in the theater

The two WWE movies I've seen that had little to zero WWE people in them (Sleight, The Call) actually weren't entirely awful.

Matter of fact, they had the potential to be much better than they were..

The only WWE worker in The Call was David Otunga (who was smart enough to stick to the script) and I don't remember seeing any WWE workers in Sleight, unless JTG was in a quick cameo as one of Dulé Hill's enforcers.

 

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I was flipping around on cable the other night and saw a WWE-produced crime movie from last year called Term Life. Has anyone watched it? It's based on a graphic novel and has a really stacked cast (Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Hailee Steinfeld, Taraji P Henson, Jonathan Banks, Terrence Howard, and Bill Paxton.)  It was also directed by Peter Billingsley (Ralphie from A Christmas Story.) It seemed like a real oddity and I don't remember WWE hocking it during any shows. I'm probably going to give it a shot when I have time. 

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3 minutes ago, (BP) said:

I was flipping around on cable the other night and saw a WWE-produced crime movie from last year called Term Life. Has anyone watched it? It's based on a graphic novel and has a really stacked cast (Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Hailee Steinfeld, Taraji P Henson, Jonathan Banks, Terrence Howard, and Bill Paxton.)  It was also directed by Peter Billingsley (Ralphie from A Christmas Story.) It seemed like a real oddity and I don't remember WWE hocking it during any shows. I'm probably going to give it a shot when I have time. 

I remember it being cancelled, picked up, and cancelled again.  I never heard anything about it seeing any sort of release.

I may also have to check this out.

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Watched Small Crimes on Netflix yesterday, enjoyed it.  A seedy noir where a guy gets out of jail after a 6-year sentence and almost immediately gets sucked back into some shady dealings.  Finding out who he is and why he was in jail in the first place is part of the fun (at least it was for me - it seems that any plot summary will tell you this right away).  Written and directed by E.L. Katz who also did Cheap Thrills, and Macon Blair has a co-writer credit along with a minor role in the movie.

I gotta say, with The Discovery, I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore, Win It All, Tramps, and now this, it's been a very solid year for Netflix original movies.

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43 minutes ago, J.T. said:

I remember it being cancelled, picked up, and cancelled again.  I never heard anything about it seeing any sort of release.

I may also have to check this out.

I saw it. The dialogue is pretty bad, and Jonathan Banks has very little to do. You can skip it.

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33 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

J.T. forgetting Oculus gives me a kick

I was gonna post that, but maybe he didn't see it in a theater.

I also weirdly saw The Call in a theater (as the 2nd half of a drive-in double feature; 1st half was the Evil Dead remake) and had been thinking about checking out Sleight.

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I continue to brain fart on the fact that Oculus is another WWE joint that did not totally suck and did not contain any WWE workers in the cast.

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10 hours ago, J.T. said:

 

JD Dillard's loose direction for Dope  was fucking awesome (GO SEE DOPE RIGHT NOW~!), so I have no idea why he held the reins so tightly this time around.

Are you talking about this 'Dope'?

Cuz I watched it this weekend and enjoyed it quite a bit.  Thought the plot and ending was a little too convenient but the cast, especially the three leads and double-especially Kiersey Clemons, had tremendous chemistry and star-power.

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13 hours ago, caley said:

Are you talking about this 'Dope'?

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Cuz I watched it this weekend and enjoyed it quite a bit.  Thought the plot and ending was a little too convenient but the cast, especially the three leads and double-especially Kiersey Clemons, had tremendous chemistry and star-power.

 

Yep, that's the one!

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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/get-filmmaker-jordan-peele-signs-first-look-deal-universal-999913

Universal Pictures is saying “Get in” to Get Out filmmaker Jordan Peele.

The studio has signed Peele to a first-look overall production deal with his Monkeypaw Productions banner.

Under the two-year deal, Universal stakes a claim to Peele’s next film, an untitled social thriller that he will write, direct and produce. That project is looking to have a larger canvas than Get Out as the budget will be about five times bigger than his low-budget movie Peele made with producer Jason Blum.

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So I finally got around to watching The Wolf of Wall Street. It's very much like a remake of Goodfellas... and it shares the problems Goodfellas has. Both times Scorsese is trying to document the seductive lifestyles of the truly immoral, and both times he allows himself to get seduced by it. He makes it look like these are victimless crimes, the heroes of the story are just having fun, making themselves a good living by doing things that are technically illegal but not that big a deal... and they're ruining people's lives. Lots of peoples lives. But every time they get to 'this is against the law' Leo just does this charming rogue smile and says "But you don't want to know about that". So when it gets to the criminal investigation part of the story, because we've been told the story of a lovable guy who bent the rules a little bit(which everyone else in that business does as well, and worse), you get the feeling that his punishment outstrips his crimes.

Don't get me wrong, it's a good film. But on a fundamental level, I didn't agree with what it was saying. I enjoyed watching it,  I didn't like it.

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1 hour ago, J.T. said:

It always frightens me when a guy who makes a near masterpiece with a small budget is given a larger budget.

It shouldn't because the guy has to continue with his career. His talent should determine his success and outlook and not the budget of his next film. He made two films. One didn't do well at all, and the other one helped him secure a deal. It's the natural progression of a director's career. In addition, being a black director, it's definitely not a certainty that this money will stick around for him to get. If I am at Universal, the first thing I'm doing is forming a pact or alliance with Will Packer and F. Gary Gray so I can get mentored on both the directing and producing side of the game. That's his best bet especially if he wants creative control, wants to continue making this money, and wants these studios execs out of his fucking way. Plus, he can parlay this into getting TV shows on NBC and whatever channels that NBCUniversal owns. I get people wanting him making independent films, but there is a ton of upside if he can play his cards right. People need to have faith that someone who has been in the industry for awhile now can maneuver his way around to gain further success.

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9 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

It shouldn't because the guy has to continue with his career. His talent should determine his success and outlook and not the budget of his next film.  

Directors who have traditionally worked miracles with modest budgets often find themselves either overwhelmed or they become overindulgent when they have cash to burn.

Everyone wants to see Jordan do well, but not all directors are good at dealing with big budgets because big expectations come with big budgets and also the creeping influence of studio execs that think they know better when they probably don't.

One clown does not make a rodeo and one hit movie won't give Peele the cred he can turn into studio power so that he can retain creative license over his stuff.

 

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Just now, J.T. said:

Directors who have traditionally worked miracles with modest budgets often find themselves either overwhelmed or they become overindulgent when they have cash to burn.

But literally hundreds of directors have made great bigger films after making one moderately budgeted film. Plus, the one thing that I don't want to see studios determining that a black director should stay at a certain level when it's already evident that said black director is more talented than white people who are being given 5 or 10 times the budget. 

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27 minutes ago, J.T. said:

Everyone wants to see Jordan do well

 

Apparently not because this is some really bizarre line of thinking. If he does what I said to do in my first reply, he should be perfectly fine.

Matter of fact, the worst case scenario, he has a couple of films get panned, gets dropped from his deal, and has money to fund movies people wanted him to make in the first goddamn place. Best case scenario is everything I said in the first reply.

What's funny is I thought Get Out was merely okay, but I seem to have more faith in him and his talents than people who loved the film. 

4 minutes ago, S.K.o.S. said:

FTR Get Out had a $4.5m budget.  Five times that would be around $25m, which can't be considered big for a movie.  That was the size of the budget for Hidden Figures.

FIVE TIMES OH LAWD HOW HE GON MAKE  A 25 MILLION FILMZ?!

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2 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

If I am at Universal, the first thing I'm doing is forming a pact or alliance with Will Packer and F. Gary Gray so I can get mentored on both the directing and producing side of the game.

This. I'd talk to any and all black directors/producers that have been in the game awhile for advise. There are bound to be plenty of stumbling blocks and outright blockades set up for him on the road ahead. 

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43 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

 

This. I'd talk to any and all black directors/producers that have been in the game awhile for advise. There are bound to be plenty of stumbling blocks and outright blockades set up for him on the road ahead. 

In addition, this would be the time to have them use their influence to help you get ideas approved that typically wouldn't be approved. Sometimes, you got to call in some favors.

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1 minute ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

In addition, this would be the time to have them use their influence to help you get ideas approved that typically wouldn't be approved. Sometimes, you got to call in some favors.

If there is anything Hollywood has taught up and coming directors and producers, it Is always a good thing to have a marker in your pocket.

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