The Panda

It's not like its drops have been anything to brag about.

Decent likely isn't worth an awards push by Disney though.

True. If they're only losing a few million on it per film, and all the guy cares about is making the art, then there's no reason he can't keep it going. It's just like any normal hobby, it sinks a percentage of your personal income, but because you love doing it, it's worth it.

Boo, even seeing Marvel vs DC pinned is too much for me. I'm sick of this debate, it's a plague.

After some thought, this is more like a B+ movie. It isn't better than This is the End, and despite the hilarity, it hasn't stuck with me like that movie did. After letting it settle it, it's still raucous but not A grade quality.

A Deadpool Eye in the Sky Finding Dory Hunt for the Wilderpeople Kubo and the Two Strings The Little Prince The Nice Guys Zootopia B The BFG 10 Cloverfield Lane Captain America: Civil War Hail, Caesar! Into the Forest The Jungle Book Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping Sausage Party The Shallows Sing Street Star Trek Beyond Talullah Warcraft C The Angry Birds Movie Bolgen Central Intelligence The Conjuring 2 The Finest Hours Jason Bourne The Legend of Tarzan Miracles From Heaven Nerve Hardcore Henry Risen The Secret Life of Pets X-Men: Apocalypse D Alice Through the Looking Glass The 5th Wave Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Dirty Grandpa The Divergent Series: Allegiant God's Not Dead 2 Jane Got a Gun London Has Fallen My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 Suicide Squad Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows F 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Bengazi The Choice The Darkness Independence Day: Resurgence Nine Lives Norm of the North Ratchet and Klank

This was LAIKA's best film by a good distance. I mean, Coraline is pretty great as well, but I stand by that. It was very moving, fun, and visually stunning.

Maybe this is just the year of animation, or maybe I'm going loonie-toonie, but color me very impressed with this movie. It was a visually arresting, exciting, and emotionally resonating take that reminded me of a cross between the best of Asian Folklore and a great Legend of Zelda game. The mature themes of memory, loss, forgiving, looking for the good in what should be bad, parentage, taking care of a dying parent, sacrifice, all of them speak pretty powerfully. The simplicity of the score takes you in and you're left with something very special. The only problem I had was that it was very easy to see all of the big plot points coming in advance and the very end doesn't fully utilize and soak in the emotional beats as well as it could have. Between this and Zootopia (and the Little Prince), it's hard. But it could very well be not only the best animated film of the year but one of the best movies of the year. A

And why on earth do you think that'd be the opening crawl? Johnson isn't stupid, there's plenty of information glossed over (as well as time that went by) that can be used to fill the opening crawl. Also, that's hardly more of a TV Cliffhanger than ESB was. TFA is a more complete movie by itself than ESB and that doesn't stop ESB from being universally hailed (including by me) as the best of the series. They set out to make a trilogy with these movies, so of course it ended with loose ends and on a scene that'll leave you wanting to come back for the sequel. There'd be something wrong if TFA ended and I wasn't wanting to pop in the sequel right after. I also wouldn't consider the TV comparison as a bad thing, given the best cinema I've watched this year has ironically been a few high quality TV Shows like Stranger Things and Game of Thrones.

After rethinking it through ESB ANH TFA ROTJ ROTS AOTC TPM I could flip flop TFA and ANH though.

The time gaps don't matter. They aren't necessities to tell a good Star Wars story. Just because there isn't a time gap doesn't mean the movie is going to literally open right with Luke and Rey, all it means is the movie won't be more than a day or so after TFA. They can create a good story with or without time gaps (or a bad one, as the prequels proved). They have a specific story in mind they are trying to tell, and this isn't because they don't understand Star Wars. Star Wars is a massive universe for filmmakers to play in, nothing else is really mandatory (although traditions like the opening crawl and the credits rolling to theme should always be apart of it, imo), especially something trivial like if the director wants there to be a gap in time or not. This is the silliest complaint I've heard all year. Oh and btw, TFA had the best cinematography and choreography of the series.

For me 100% It's Star Wars

Can we not start this debate, please.

I think you're overestimating how soon they're coming out. No way they make the never deadline.

Lol, we're at that point in the year where 10m gets you number 1 for the weekend.

Yeah, I think the fact that people change is pretty hard to refute, if only from the mere fact that you yourself change. Small things about me change, like my film preferences (the type of movies I loved when I was 5, when I was 16, and now are really pretty different). People can and do mature to some extent. On a bigger level, the way I treated people as a kid, as a teenager, or even a few years ago has changed and will change again. Some things have remained the same, but people are evolutionary creatures, we adapt to our environments, we can recognize our mistakes and choose (or not choose) to fix them in the future. Maybe Nate Parker is a changed man from when he was at Penn State, and maybe he just doesn't know how to react to the story coming out. Maybe he's not and he's trying to slime his way through it. Unless you personally know him, I don't think anyone here really knows for sure which it is.

Im still not sure if talking about the controversy even is poisoning the well. It is something that really effects the movie in every aspect (from the box office, to reception, to if people here are going to see it). It's also really hard, once you know about the controversy, to talk about anything other than it when the movie comes up, because it's that prevalent. It's the mods call, but I'd think as long as the controversy discussion stays within the grounds to being about the movie, then it pertains to this thread.

I think Tele's fine to offer an alternative point of view. Whenever the Internet gets mad at somebody it can become like an echo chamber of hatred torwards them that they may or may not deserve. Whether or not I agree with the alternative point of view doesn't change the fact that it should be brought up and listened to so you can have a clearer picture of what happened. Maybe Nate Parker is actually innocent? I'm definitely not saying that I think he is (because I don't think he is), but it's worth trying to hear another point of view because there's always a possibility that yours is wrong. Regardless, I really don't like how Nate or Fox has handled the controversy. It's definitely putting me off. Maybe this Birth of a Nation will parallel the other in that they'll both be well-crafted films but regarded with disdain for reasons (Rascism and being a KKK recruitment tool on the old ones part, and this controversy for the new one).

I think it's at a weird middle road. The controversy and the movie really aren't all that separate. This controversy is bad enough that it's going to effect the box office, reception, and potential Oscar attention.

I'm thankful for the announcement. I think the debate is fine to be had for people that care about, but like you guys said there's a thread for it. (Including review threads, there's multiple really) I had gotten sick of seeing every numbers thread turn into another DC/Marvel debate. There are numbers comparisons you can make between DC and Marvel films, which is fine, because many perform similarly or they're the closest comparisons we have (such as Guardians has been a good go to run to compare SS to). You can even factor in that SS' mixed reception compared to a more positive reception of GOTG will probably cause SS' drops to track a bit below it. But there's really no reason to debate why one studios movie is a better one than the others in this thread, it's annoying and isn't just un-productive torwards the main conversation, it turns the thread toxic. At this point I'd rather see Trump vs Clinton debates in the number threads over DC vs Marvel (especially as somebody who really couldn't care less). So thank you mods.

If Force Awakens couldn't get the BP nod I don't think Rogue One has a shot

Seeing the story puts me in a bit of dilemma. I had wanted to see the movie, it looked good. I also don't like to hold things people did in their pasts against them (too much) because I believe in people changing and forgiveness. However, it was very unsettling how he handled those interviews. It seemed pretty obvious that he got away with a despicable crime when the guy who did it with him was convicted. And he handled the interview as if he was innocent of any crime, bringing his daughter to it, and not really getting any hinge of guilt from it. And besides, it's not my crime to forgive. It's the victims. Maybe Parker is a different man now, maybe he's not, but this is affecting my decision on whether I want to see the movie.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Deadpool 2, and Doctor Strange are the only comic book movies that I have any excitement for.

Not to mention, any parent taking their kid to a movie called Sausage Party is bringing it on themselves.