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[McNutt]

There’s an annoying little trick that Snyder does in most of the group scenes where Tig was “injected” later. He adds a blur effect to the other characters and tries to pass it off as a focus/depth shot...but it never really works in my opinion.

I'm watching this movie now and that blur effect is terrible. It's like the movie is shot using an old iPhone's portrait filter.

[Rumpy]

WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, however, was mind-bogglingly bad. I'm not even sure how you screw up a movie with this cast and this director. I mean this was directed by Joe Wright who directed Best Picture nominees ATONEMENT and THE DARKEST HOUR. You've got Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Julianne Moore, Anthony Mackie, Wyatt Russell. On paper this should, at WORST, be a pretty good film.

Yeah, I watched it last weekend and it's pretty bad. Great cast, but weak script. I thought it'd be a play on Hitchock's Rear Window, but nowhere near as good. Interestingly, while I adore Amy Adams, this is strike two for her Netflix movies, the other being Hillbilly Elegy.

[Holman]

Finished ARMY OF THE DEAD. Fun romp, groovy action scenes, weak characters, no memorable dialogue, good soundtrack.

However! I have afterthoughts, including a socio-economic interpretation, but of course spoilers:

Spoiler:

I think Snyder here wants to join the canon of anti-capitalist SF/dystopia (think THEY LIVE or SNOWPIERCER).

This is a movie about lower-class losers with few options hired to risk their lives and last chances securing lucrative assets for the economic 0.001 percent. Along the way they learn that others like them have been sacrificed before.

When the team faces the zombies, the audience realizes (even if the characters don't) that they're encountering not a horde of mindless inhuman animals but the rough foundations of a society based on something other than wealth and exploitation: an anti-Las-Vegas that must be destroyed by the powers that be.

I think Snyder intends this. The shots of heroes dying in the casino while hundreds of 100-dollar bills fly around are pretty obvious. And the whole idea of Las Vegas is that players lose and the house always wins.

But I also think he botches it. At the very least, there should have been a character more aware of the themes hanging over everything. Instead, our heroes to the end remain in it for the money, even when the money costs them everything. Also, the hints that these zombies are more than simply mindless could use a lot more development. We're told that they have a "kingdom," but we barely see a hint of it. The movie does nothing to earn its title.

The coda scenes can't seem to decide how we're supposed to feel about one survivor making it out with bags of cash. And of course the real villain is left just sitting on his couch, watching TV, which is something George Romero would never have allowed.

Also, cliffhangers are inherently lame.

[McNutt]

I was not a fan of Army of the Dead. The blur effect was minor, but the monster noises made by the lead zombie got old in a hurry. I didn't care for anyone on the team.

Spoiler:

So Martin is after the zombie head and nothing else. Why does he keep killing members of the team? All that does is lower his chance of success.

[Jaymann]

It’s not an exclusive, but a movie I’ve been wanting to see for a long time showed up earlier this week. It’s called Sleight and it’s about a young street magician who gets mixed up with the wrong people. However, he’s not quite as powerless as they think. It’s a low budget Superhero film without the capes and Lycra. I missed its original run, so I’m glad I can finally see it now.

I'm in!

Well worth watching. The actress who plays Holly is gorgeous, reminds me of a young Jessica Biel. I looked it up and her name is Seychelle Gabriel, hope she is destined for great things.

[hepcat]

I'm planning on watching it this week! But if you liked it, the director J.D. Dillard also has another good, low budget film on Netflix called Sweetheart. It has even better critical reviews than Sleight. However, it's a horror film. Albeit a thoughtful one.

Sweetheart is what put the director on my radar. He's still new, with only a few projects under his belt, but he's definitely getting noticed. I also like that he writes his movies, not just directs them.

[Isgrimnur]

It’s not an exclusive, but a movie I’ve been wanting to see for a long time showed up earlier this week. It’s called Sleight and it’s about a young street magician who gets mixed up with the wrong people. However, he’s not quite as powerless as they think. It’s a low budget Superhero film without the capes and Lycra. I missed its original run, so I’m glad I can finally see it now.

I'm in!

Well worth watching. The actress who plays Holly is gorgeous, reminds me of a young Jessica Biel. I looked it up and her name is Seychelle Gabriel, hope she is destined for great things.

She played Princess Yue in The Last Airbender film. I think it's all downhill from here on out.

[Jaymann]

I'm planning on watching it this week! But if you liked it, the director J.D. Dillard also has another good, low budget film on Netflix called Sweetheart. It has even better critical reviews than Sleight. However, it's a horror film. Albeit a thoughtful one.

Sweetheart is what put the director on my radar. He's still new, with only a few projects under his belt, but he's definitely getting noticed. I also like that he writes his movies, not just directs them.

Great movie, but after 30 seconds I realized I've already seen it.

[hepcat]

Been there.

[Zaxxon]

I do believe I am in...


Netflix’s Gunpowder Milkshake is about female assassins, guns ... and Paul Giamatti.





I love everything about this trailer.

[TheMix]

Agreed. Definitely in.

[Jaymann]

Giamatt-in

[Rumpy]

Not an exclusive, but I highly recommend The Upside. It's a remake of a French movie (Les Intouchables), about a paraplegic who hires an ex-con to be his caregiver, which apparently is based on a true story. In this case, Kevin Hart plays the ex-con and turns in one of his best performances (IMHO), while Bryan Cranston absolutely shines as the paraplegic. Together they trade witty banter effortlessly, with a mutual admiration for each other showing up in their chemistry. Nicole Kidman plays his Personal Assistant, and it's nice to see her in a subdued role for a change. As far as remakes go, this is a really good one.

[gilraen]

We saw that in the movie theater when it first came out. Agreed, definitely a very good movie.

[gameoverman]

Army of the Dead was disappointing. It feels like lazy filmmaking. I realize it's a zombie movie so it's not like I expected it to take itself seriously. I also appreciate that Snyder left his DC grim dark approach behind. It's just the simple things are poorly done. Example:
Two military guys run away from a problem. One of them stops and says this is far enough. Haha, what? You don't know what you're running from and you've only run about 100 yards. How can you say it's far enough? I think we supposed to infer that he's hurt and the pain is too much, or maybe he's just tired, but the way it's directed just feels off. Then Snyder rips off American Werewolf in London. I say rip off because Snyder doesn't bother to do his own thing with the idea, he just straight rips it off. It's like he's not even trying. If someone said this entire movie consists of scenes done in one take, I'd believe it.

Another thing is this movie feels too long. It's not boring per se, it's just that individual scenes serve their purpose then just keep going on. As an example I'd point to the scene where two friends are talking outside the wall. This scene's main purpose is to establish why a character would be motivated later to go to a very dangerous place. But this scene takes a lot longer than needed to establish that and the scene by itself is not interesting. In contrast, think of the scene in Pulp Fiction regarding the watch. That scene also serves to provide the audience with a character's motivation to go to a very dangerous place, but the difference is that scene is entertaining all by itself. I think the reason Army of the Dead's scenes lack that kind of punch is they needed a lot more polish and fine tuning. The core is there. The social media guy should be annoying yet I like the guy. That's a sign to me that there was potential in this movie. It's not a total trainwreck but it sure tries to be one.

[TheMix]

Well, I'm less than an hour in, so I may be missing the "best" parts, but I can't figure out how anyone can be complaining about the Tig scenes being obvious. Almost every scene has blurring in it. Any scene with more than 2 characters is pretty much a guarantee that one will be blurry. And most of the scenes with one or two also either have someone blurry, or the background is blurry. Hell, at one point a good 10 seconds of a zombie (I assume) was completely blurry. The entire frame. It's ridiculous. And so distracting that I haven't even been able to notice if something is even more off with the Tig scenes. It's like the camera operator was brand new and didn't know how to focus. I'm hoping once the action starts in earnest, that the blurry "effects" will easy up.

[McNutt]

What was the American Werewolf ripoff?

[hepcat]

300: Furries on Fire

[gameoverman]

At the beginning, when the two convoy guys are running away after being stalked by the creature, one falls then they laugh as the standing guy reaches to help the other guy up and then the creature attacks from the side. As an homage it wouldn't have bothered me so much except these characters were armed military personnel. They were on a special high security detail. They had been told in no uncertain terms to leave the area, to get as far away as they could get. They knew something was after them, one guy even SAW the creature attacking people. Yet they stop to have a laugh and appear to be in no hurry to do much of anything, and that's only because that's how the AWiL scene played out.

[McNutt]

Ah, got it. That scene here was so incredibly dumb that I never even thought of American Werewolf, which I hold in high regard.

[Kraken]

Based on this thread I've decided not to watch Army of the Dead, so I watched the pitch meeting instead. Massive spoilers, obviously.

[YellowKing]

I love the Pitch Meeting videos because they affirm that I'm not crazy. I can't say I noticed every flaw he pointed out, but I was at a good 80%.

[Lassr]

I love the Pitch Meeting videos because they affirm that I'm not crazy. I can't say I noticed every flaw he pointed out, but I was at a good 80%.

I always know the funnier these pitch meeting videos are the worse the movie is, this pitch was hilarious!

[Zaxxon]

"Couldn't that wait like forty-five minutes?"

[hepcat]

I had to laugh at one of the biggest moments of stupidity that that video pointed out that I can’t believe I missed.

Spoiler:

It’s Tanaka’s vault, why couldn’t he just give them the code for it?

[Jaymann]

So what is up with those robot zombies?

[TheMix]

I had to laugh at one of the biggest moments of stupidity that that video pointed out that I can’t believe I missed.

Spoiler:

It’s Tanaka’s vault, why couldn’t he just give them the code for it?

That was the first thing that came to my mind in the initial diner scene.

[Isgrimnur]

[hepcat]

I have to agree.

[LordMortis]

I had to laugh at one of the biggest moments of stupidity that that video pointed out that I can’t believe I missed.

Spoiler:

It’s Tanaka’s vault, why couldn’t he just give them the code for it?

Rick Sanchez, you sunuvabitch, I'm in!

[Jaymann]

That is about the only thing that could get me to watch this movie...nope, not enough.

[YellowKing]

That was the first thing that came to my mind in the initial diner scene.

Yeah my wife and I immediately noticed that. I have two theories, one of which addresses another flaw pointed out in the Pitch Meeting video:

Spoiler:

Explanation 1: He doesn't know the combination, only the bank/corporation whatever that was knows it. Ordinarily if he needed money, he'd have an employee retrieve it, but now that everyone is dead he's locked out. This is also why he doesn't warn them about the booby traps - he doesn't know or care how his money is protected; that's up to security. But now there's no security left to get him in.

Explanation 2: Because the money is a big red herring anyway just to get the zombie head, he doesn't really care if they live and get the money or die trying. He just needs them to get far enough for his inside man to obtain the zombie head and get the hell out. So why didn't he just hire them to get the zombie head? Not motivation enough. What's an easier sell: "Go retrieve this cash, and you take a cut" or "Go retrieve this zombie head that I'll undoubtedly use for nefarious purposes and possibly bring about the apocalypse?"

I'm under no illusion that these are great explanations, but I do like coming up with theories to explain glaring plot holes.

[gameoverman]

I had to laugh at one of the biggest moments of stupidity that that video pointed out that I can’t believe I missed.

Spoiler:

It’s Tanaka’s vault, why couldn’t he just give them the code for it?

I don't know how stuff like that actually works, so I assumed that

Spoiler:

Electrical power, and/or the lack of it is in play. I figured that when the city fell and power got cut, that puts things like vaults into some kind of backup security mode. He might know exactly how to easily open it under normal circumstances but not now. I mean, I imagine that if I had a high security vault I'd have some kind back up power supply for it. If something happened that killed main power and maybe caused the backup power to run for so long it no longer works, that's a sign that something extraordinary is going on. I wouldn't want that vault to be easily opened in that case. So until that building is operating normally again, no one is getting in that vault except a safecracker.

[hepcat]

Except for the fact that the very first thing they did when they got to the casino in question was turn on the power.

[stessier]

Finished all the Kim’s Convenience available on Netflix.

What a truly delightful show. Need more!

The next (and final) season hits Netflix on June 2nd.

[Pyperkub]

Shadow and Bone (excellent YA-ish series) starts Friday:

https://www.netflix.com/title/80236319

We binged the first four episodes of this tonight. I really like it! Great world-building and characters. I haven't read the books, but my wife has, and she much prefers the show.

We finished this a week or so ago, and enjoyed it. Unfortunately, it appears as if they waited before greenlighting S2:

Shadow and Bone season 2 release date

We expect Shadow and Bone season 2 to come out in about 1.5 or more years, but Netflix hasn't officially greenlit the additional episodes. We've instead opted to look at the ample amount of evidence that suggests Netflix will — and then reverse-engineer to figure out the show's return.
Shadow and Bone season 2 renewal news

We expect Shadow and Bone season 2 renewal news very soon. In March 2021, a report from What's on Netflix claimed that Shadow and Bone season 2 was already approved internally at Netflix, but that the streamer has just yet to announce it.

[gameoverman]

Except for the fact that the very first thing they did when they got to the casino in question was turn on the power.

Well what I was getting out is that a power outage wouldn't be that threatening. So I'd expect the vault security to revert to normal once power was re-established. If power does not return promptly, I'd expect the backup power to keep things in a normal state. However, what happens if main power is out so long that the backup system is used up? That would be an extremely threatening development, something has gone horribly wrong. At that point I'd expect vault security to be in a kind of lockdown mode which would require specialists to come and reset things, or a top safecracker to come in and subvert the lockdown mode. I would not want my vault to go back into normal mode just because someone switched on the power after all that time.

So this means even if he knew the combination to open it, that information was worthless if the loss of power triggered a combination reset or something.

[Jaymann]

And unless it was literally at ground zero, would a nuke even destroy the vault?

[hepcat]

So this means even if he knew the combination to open it, that information was worthless if the loss of power triggered a combination reset or something.

Did they even show how Dieter opened the safe? It wasn't a "dial" lock, was it?

And unless it was literally at ground zero, would a nuke even destroy the vault?

Indiana Jones has taught me that a refrigerator would be even safer.

[gameoverman]

He did fiddle around with something and it looked he was trying to 'feel' for clicks with his fingertips. I'm going with the assumption that he, being a top safecracker and knowing about that type of vault, would know what kind of tactic he'd need to open it if he could open it.

I'm gonna be honest here and say that I thought most of this movie was so poorly thought out that I'm not at all surprised that Snyder didn't put much effort into the central bit, the actual opening of the vault. I got the feeling his thinking was "It's a vault, the safecracker is good at his job, what more does the audience need to know" so I made up a possible scenario for why the boss didn't have the code.

Stuff like the convoy is more difficult for me to accept. They are a special assignment operating from a high security area. I'm supposed to believe they have no preset plan on what to do in the event of basic potential problems like a crash? The guy in charge really has to call in and wait for instructions? That's the kind of thing that I can't explain away other than to say this is really stupid. I mean, if you're the commander back at the base and you send them out like that it means you won't be telling them to clear the area until after you've been told the thing is open. It's too late at that point. I think it would have been more tense and shocking if those guys were completely prepared for problems like this and they immediately started dealing with the problem and still got wiped out.