Rate the last film with your terrible opinions

That's one of the puzzling things I was referring to in my earlier post - I can't quite understand why he made this particular adaptation. 

True. I guess he's quietly optimistic about it getting the go-ahead.

Maybe some of this more detailed chat could move to the Dune thread? It’s a little bit spoilery in here for those who haven’t seen it yet.

Good idea, sorry

Ah, sorry. I'll delete and move it over there.

For some reason it’s seemingly impossible to make a film based on a play without it coming across slightly theatrical in the performance. It almost always happens.

I guess you have so many tools at your disposal for telling a story with a film, whereas playwrights basically just have dialogue. And that makes the dialogue have its own style and cadence that still comes across in film.

The difference in the original Universal Dracula and the Spanish language version filmed at the same time really highlights how stagey films based on plays can be.

The English language version they essentially just point a camera at the play and let Lugosi do his thing. In the Spanish language version they use alternative angles and actually light the set in a meaningful way.

The action film equivalent of when you stumble across a good pile of ammo and weapons in a game.

The Creator (disney+)

I zoned in and out of the story and the characters never really grabbed me but I loved the look and feel of the world they were in. I’d have been happy enough to just have a story about people living and getting by in this setting.

Plus Edwards use of special effects is similar to Neill Blomkamp and Alex Garland where everything feels solid and real and looks like it would have a practical place in the world. As opposed to the direction the MCU has gone in where everything is green screen and half the characters have even had their clothes CGIed on over mocap suits.

Worth of watch for sure.

Red Rocket (netflix)

Its a bit awkward to say I thought this was excellent because it is the story of a desperate and gross man trying to groom and exploit an underage girl but its another Sean Baker masterclass in capturing life on the fringes of society.

Its a much more conventionally structured and filmed movie than Tangerine or The Florida Project but its capturing a very similar feel and as much as the story focuses on Mikey and Strawberry’s relationship is the characters around them that bring it to life. I’m not sure you can keep mining this sort of material indefinitely but each of these three films captures something special.

And whoever does his cinematography is a genius because these films all look incredible.

Speed 2: Cruise Control - 6.5/10

Nowhere near as bad as its reputation. Not great but its a fun romp that should not have been the sequel to Speed, mainly due to a serious lack of speed. It also suffers for billing Sandra Bullock as the lead but its clearly been written and directed with Jason Patric as the main protagonist, she is left with pretty much the standard 1990's female love interest role.

However it has Willem Dafoe doing his best Norman Osborn impression and he's brilliant, also I'd argue Patric is better than Reeves (who was awful in the 90s). It also has Jango Fett in it and he's half decent too.

It has a massive budget and you can see it on screen, the action is good and the villian is top tier, IMO if it wasn't connected to Speed it would be remembered more favourably.

Its also very clear that it was written for Keanu and they had to scramble to put in some nonsense “actually Bullock only dates badass action hero SWAT team members now” justification for the emergency recasting while leaving the Keanu character intact for the rest of the movie to function

Yeah it's glaringly obvious that the part was written for  Jack Traven, I think Patric did the best with what he had though. 
It's why billing it as Sandra Bullock movie didn't work too as she's clearly not the lead (just a bigger star than Patric).

Agreed on the chemistry.
Also yeah good point it is a bit of a fever dream, still a fun romp though.
The bit that bothered me most was when the deaf girls parents got on the life boat even though they couldn't find their daughter, in the vain hope she might be on another one....

Yep said that in my mini review. It would be a lot better remembered if had just been an action movie called Cruise Control and they gave Sandra Bullock a different character. Saying that it probably wouldn't have got the same budget without the Speed name.