Breathtakingly beautiful film. The first three quarters have familiar beats but they never get tiring leading to a pinnacle of a last quarter that absolutely broke me. Ends in a picture perfect “happily ever after”, which, for critics, could have been a gripe. But I don’t know who deserves the “happily ever after” more than these characters.
Please watch this beautiful film. If you have anything bad to say about it after, you’ll have to get by me first.
“What Will You Have After 500 Years?”
“You.”
Honestly if you start a movie with the end scene of this, you got a blockbuster on your hands. I thought this was very interesting.
Hardly any words can describe the emotional punch and moral divide this film gives you when watching. It, like it's predecessor, has trumped the movie that came before. With even more maturity built into the story than before. It shows the targeted audience extremely important lessons, displayed with animation that outshines some modern CGI in big blockbusters.
The scenery is gorgeous and the cinematography is outstanding. Not trying to outdo the previous films with the "look what we can do with the camera" gimmick. But improves the stability and grounds the viewer within the world. Vivid imagery that adds to the story and the style, this movie has many points other studios need to take a note from.
At first, the villain seemed typical and unneeded after the second film. But the wit and backstory they gave him, don't make us feel for him. Only adding to Hiccup's story and his choices throughout the film. Toothless is way more "himself" here. Seeming that Dean Deblois wanted to focus on him letting loose. It really pays attention to how this voiceless dragon, needs to have a compelling arc as well as his rider. This does lead to my one gripe about the film, the Light Fury. She represents a very important aspect in the film. Her introduction, however, didn't feel right and could have been a bit more coherent to how she acts throughout the rest of the film. Although, it all adds up to the end. For this really is the final movie in this amazing trilogy.
With this marking the end of these stunning and surprising films. They capture the story of a boy, who trudges through hard times to find life's hardest challenges and truths. And they ended it extremely wholesomely. It feels, complete. As if it always should have been this way.
9.5/10
The people are so stupid in this film it's amazing, 10/10 for realism
[7.4/10] Watchmen is not a carbon copy, rehash, or recapitulation of, well, Watchmen, which is to say that the most admirable thing about this introduction to the television series is that it is clearly of the world and characters brought to life on the comic book page by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, clearly indebted to their approach and their style, but is also clearly its own thing. In an age where franchise extensions are ubiquitous and even nominally original films and T.V. shows offer reheated versions of familiar tropes, that in and of itself is refreshing.
That’s not to say that “It’s Summer and We’re Running Out of Ice”, that mouthful of a title for an opening episode, doesn't take pains to remind you what its inspiration and source material is. The catch, and the thing that makes the premiere a little more admirable than other late sequels, is that those references and remembrances have a twist that reminds you of what came before while channeling it into what’s happening now.
So you have the chance to see the iconography of smiley face through a classroom baking demonstration. You have the same circular visual motifs in aerial shots that create the tableau of a clock face. With that, you have an ambient sound track of ticks to make the audience nervous, for clocks and bombs and more, at the same time some characters literally verbalize the onomatopoeia. You have police cruising around in something akin to Nite Owl’s ship. You have a crowd of Rorschach worshippers quoting his most famous speech from the comic. You have, as promised in the final pages of the original graphic novel, the legacy of a Robert Redford presidency. You have little baby squid falling from the sky and concerns that batteries from old Dr. Manhattan-technology cause cancer. If you’re a fan of the original Watchmen, there’s plenty to latch onto here.
But the trick is how those homages are used -- as a bridge to the current setting and the exploration of topics that were, at best, tangential to what the original Moore/Gibbons comic were exploring. “It’s Summer” ends in the same way as the first issue of Watchmen started, with a murder mystery over the untimely death of a member of the old guard, and his blood dripping down on his pin of choice, only now, the victim is a police sergeant, not a masked vigilante, and the blood is dripping down onto his police badge, not the iconic yellow expression that’s come to represent so much.
And therein lies the difference, and what makes Lindelof’s Watchmen admirable. It’s using the same iconography and approach to get at something different, something timely about the tenuous connection between law enforcement and race and justice in the same way that nuclear annihilation was timely in the 1980s. It represents a transformation of Moore and Gibbons approach, something that channels their spirit, without just following a cookie cutter roadmap or reconjuring the same conflict and themes in a shiny new box.
I like that approach. I like the themes that Lindelof and company are chewing on in this opening stanza. I like the character at the center of the narrative. I like the concept of police identities being hidden and every interaction rigorously authorized and recorded as something to wrestle with. I like the notion of the post-squid attack United States having to deal with Rorschach-worshipping, hard right, conspiracy theorizing domestic terrorists as the legacy of *Watchmen*s most famous character.
I am intrigued (if a bit apprehensive) about how the typical dynamics are mixed and inverted, with the conservative white vigilantes going after a police force that, in this opening episode at least, prominently features African Americans. I like the bizarre dichotomy between Nixon and Redford as opposing symbols on that axis. I like an aged, secluded Ozymandias clearly still haunted by the memory of Dr. Manhattan.
I just don’t love the execution of all of that just yet. This is HBO, so everything looks pretty damn good. There’s a slickness to the production, a fluidity to the action scenes, and an attention to detail in the cinematography and production design that let you know this is a high class production. There is style here and competence here, reflected in the quality of the shots, the construction of the world, and the performers enlisted to bring it all to life.
And yet there’s something oddly soulless about it all. For touching on such hot topics, and channeling such a well-felt story, “It’s Summer” struggles to feel like a real human story, rather than one of metaphors and abstractions finding convenient purchase in various characters. Pilots are tough, needing to introduce the major personalities, places, and conflicts of the story, and this one does it all ably, on top of drawing noticeable but not over the top connections to its inspiration. But there’s little here that grabs you with its realness instead of tapping you on the shoulder with its intriguing but strangely detached vibe.
Still, there’s enough here to chew on, and enough promise to keep coming back.# Watchmen the T.V. series gives away the game a bit in its 1921 silent film opening, giving us a cinematic throwback to match “Tales of the Black Freighter” from the comic. It’s a story about who can lay claim to being the arbiter of justice, who can rightfully wear a mask, and who can be treated and as worthy of enforcing the law in a time and place where racial tensions and disparities make that suspect. That’s what Lindelof and company want to get at in this, and their focus on the 1921 Tulsa ravaging of the black community that gets the son of one of the perpetrators hanged almost a century later, one who seems to have far more but overcome his father’s prejudices, it sets a tone for a show ready to touch a nerve, to challenge its audience, to get at the heart of current cultural divisions in this country.
It remains to be seen whether addressing those issues is enough to make up a compelling story, let alone one that carries the mantle of one of the definitive literary works of the twentieth century. Still, “It’s Summer” promises a series that takes its cues from the original Watchmen, but aims to emulate its spirit, not just its beats, which makes it worth seeing through beyond this first, solid but unspectacular outing.
8.5
what the actual fuck, gosh I loved it. a perfectly weird mix and Sebastian Stan is MADE for unhinged characters
This is an excellent example of using a great cast to make a good movie into a great movie.
Brilliant depiction of Lovecraftian horror. They got the vibes down right. Perfect.
Ooo who doesn’t love the “creepy alien things hidden away in caverns” thing.
Also, hail chthulhu :upside_down:
Don't you just wish you could wipe this show from your memory everytime you want to re-watch it?
The only question is, who could be powerful and large enough to imprison such a gigantic beast?
INASIAL - I'm not a spy. I'm a lawyer.
Ironically, by ending it the way they did, they actually found a way to potentially revitalize the show and set up some new storylines. Maybe let it percolate for a bit and then do "specials" once a year or some such. In any case, I will simply say...,Sploosh!!! And that's all I have to say about that.
This movie has a fun, original concept. Freaky Friday meets Jason Voorhees. And Vince Vaughn is an excellent cast due to his willingness to act goofy despite his huge, serial killer stature (he’s like 6’5”!)
Some of the forced exposition felt pointless and drawn out, but overall it’s a great popcorn flick. And the kill scenes are creative and crazy bloody, if that’s your thing.
Don’t go in expecting a great movie — go in expecting a FUN movie.
A slow burn of a horror film, this shares many of the characteristic of Hereditary (2018) not least from being a damn fine film. Like the latter, the film takes its time to build up a palpable sense of dread, but also explore the normality and mundanity of its characters and location, mining a lot of humour and goodwill from its central flawed character who only wishes to protect his family. It’s also expertly crafted with beautiful cinematography and a haunting soundtrack. But the tension lies in the film keeping its audience firmly in the same mindset of its hero, completely unsure throughout of where the film is going and what the truth is, right up until a final moments. Great stuff!
Oh god, that evil, vile, bathroom lady.
It's a fun and entertaining movie with a lot of gore but disconnect your brain first or you might left wondering why the killer gets shot a bunch of times but not only lives, comes back from an ambulance half-way to the hospital and is still able to fight three women like nothing happened.
An astounding finale on all levels. Poor Mark, to be put through all this shit. That leaves scars my man
"honey, you gotta stop stabbing him"
such an incredible way to return to barry. barry has gone even crazier, sally’s parents suck, hank and cristobal are in santa fe, and gene is going viral. that last scene was incredible. can’t wait for more
WTFIOH = Who the fuck is Owen Hendricks?
Omg I loved the comic books! This will be awesome! Alan Tudyk and my favorite comic books!? Wow!
Patriot Act combines my favorite things: comedy, politics and statistics. Hasan speaks about important stuff all over the world. Things you didn’t even heard of yet. Patriot Act is sad and funny at the same time and you can learn A LOT. I‘m so happy I found this show, really.
An enjoyable, fast paced and very entertaining romp. It's not meant to be taken seriously, so don't. I find it oddly amusing that this series contains demonic/spiritual possessions, black magic, otherworldly beings etc etc, but most of the criticisms are about it not being "believable" because it depicts people of colour in positions of power, in 18th century England. Bigoted much?
Now I'm afraid every time I hear, "made in Georgia," I'll start crying, like one of Pavlov's dogs!
