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Baumer's 15 best of 2019 (mid-season list)......3) Alita 2) End Game 1)???? pg 3 Tawasal's list starts page 3

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Just now, Sindreee said:

With you on US, what a mess of a movie.

 

Only reason critics went crazy over it is because they had to.  Peele's first movie was so good, so out of left field good, that to pan his second movie, when it had this much PC stuff in it, would make them look bad.  US was a mess and the legs kind of validates that opinion.

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44 minutes ago, baumer said:

 

Only reason critics went crazy over it is because they had to.  Peele's first movie was so good, so out of left field good, that to pan his second movie, when it had this much PC stuff in it, would make them look bad.  US was a mess and the legs kind of validates that opinion.

I've heard it described as the director trying to run before he mastered walking. Going for abstract symbolism when it takes a true master (e.g., David Lynch) to do that sort of thing right, even if it might look easy. Sort of similar to what happened with M. Night after The Sixth Sense's outsized success. Would you call that accurate? I haven't bothered to see the movie because of the very mixed audience reviews and the more I hear about the movie the less I want to see it.

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6 minutes ago, Pure Spirit said:

I've heard it described as the director trying to run before he mastered walking. Going for abstract symbolism when it takes a true master (e.g., David Lynch) to do that sort of thing right, even if it might look easy. Sort of similar to what happened with M. Night after The Sixth Sense's outsized success. Would you call that accurate? I haven't bothered to see the movie because of the very mixed audience reviews and the more I hear about the movie the less I want to see it.

 

To be honest, I don't think the M. Night comparison is a good one.  Unbreakable imho is just as good as Sixth Sense.  Signs is scary as hell, but pretty silly but still a pretty good movie.  

 

For US, I just thought it was a misfire from the first frame to the last.  It's way too hokey for me and it asks us to suspend a hell of a lot of disbelief.  That worked for some but not for me.  Peele is talented, obviously....but he just kind of got carried away with US, imo.

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40 minutes ago, baumer said:

 

To be honest, I don't think the M. Night comparison is a good one.  Unbreakable imho is just as good as Sixth Sense.  Signs is scary as hell, but pretty silly but still a pretty good movie.  

 

For US, I just thought it was a misfire from the first frame to the last.  It's way too hokey for me and it asks us to suspend a hell of a lot of disbelief.  That worked for some but not for me.  Peele is talented, obviously....but he just kind of got carried away with US, imo.

why didn't you project your opinion over the critics when they loved Hereditary last year and you didn't 🤷‍♀️

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4 minutes ago, RealLyre said:

why didn't you project your opinion over the critics when they loved Hereditary last year and you didn't 🤷‍♀️

 

I did express this opinion and have expressed this opinion for years.  And loving Hereditary is not the same thing as loving a sequel to an Oscar winning film.  You've been around here long enough to know my takes on some films.  

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Brightburn was really good. It is too bad that it didn’t fare better at the box office. Therefore, there probably won’t be a sequel. I try to make it out to as many horrors as I can. Since my son was born, I haven’t been able to as much. My sister and I used  to ride our bikes to Blockbuster and rent movies. Miss those days! I was into the campy older stuff like “Silent Night. Deadly Night” and “Sorority House Massacre”. I also loved the first “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”.  The reboot wasn’t as scary. Have to make time for Midsommar and Annabelle. Underrated horror not from this year is Strangers 2.  

 

I agree on Shaft. I saw it on discount Tuesday, because I had seen all the other movies at my local AMC. The jokes were funny. I was not offended, but like you I could see how people could bed. There was a middle aged white man sitting in my row with two women he accompanied and he laughed so hard that I thought he was going to pee in his pants. 

 

 

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#5) Fighting with my Family

Starring:  Florence Pugh, Vince Vaughn, Nick Frost, The Rock

Directed by Stephen Merchant

Box office:  22.9 million

 

Florence Pugh playing the infamous Saraya Knight or more commonly known as "Paige" has done an excellent work on conjuring the both physical and emotional aspects of her characters. Lena Headey and Nick Frost are protective and fairly negligent parents that we all can easily resonate with. Jack Lowden cloaking on the most complex character is convincing and also a big dose of electric charge when alone in screen, the bar fight is brilliantly shot and performed. Dwayne Johnson has done a great comic cameo where he is set loose with confidence by Merchant and there are no regrets.

Shockingly, Vince Vaughn as the coach of Pugh has much more to give than we would have expected, presumably since he is never sharing the screen with anyone, he is all on his own, brooding and inspiring his past for a better future. As mentioned, all the physical sequences are shot with well choreographed and multiple angle cameras that makes it look more exhilarating and profound of what they call it "fixed but not a fake" fight. The textbook structure of the script never grows into the culprit, it is entertaining even when Merchant is pulling off a montage sequence of the training our protagonist goes through. Fighting With My Family is like a big dinner at Christmas evening, it has few laughs and tears and bickerings, and in the end, is just pure fun.

 

@Avatree   Really enjoyed this.

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4) John Wick Parabellum

Starring:  Keanu, Fishburn and Halle Berry

Directed by Chad Stahelski

Box office:  165 million

 

The Halle Berry/killer dogs part was stand and cheer amazing.  I loved everything about it except the ending.   That small complaint aside, it's a terrific way to end the first three chapters.  Keanu Reeves has to be in some kind of shape to make these movies.  You never once for a second don't believe that he isn't capable of doing what he does in the film.  It's amazing how much this series has grown.  Started from the bottom now it's here.  

 

Every time one of Hallie Berry’s dogs bit off some guys’ dick, an angel got her wings.  @captainwondyful

 

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, baumer said:

4) John Wick Parabellum

Starring:  Keanu, Fishburn and Halle Berry

Directed by Chad Stahelski

Box office:  165 million

 

The Halle Berry/killer dogs part was stand and cheer amazing.  I loved everything about it except the ending.   That small complaint aside, it's a terrific way to end the first three chapters.  Keanu Reeves has to be in some kind of shape to make these movies.  You never once for a second don't believe that he isn't capable of doing what he does in the film.  It's amazing how much this series has grown.  Started from the bottom now it's here.  

 

Every time one of Hallie Berry’s dogs bit off some guys’ dick, an angel got her wings.  @captainwondyful

 

 

 

 

 

Sofia, her dogs, and the horses stole the movie!😍

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8 hours ago, baumer said:

 

Only reason critics went crazy over it is because they had to.  Peele's first movie was so good, so out of left field good, that to pan his second movie, when it had this much PC stuff in it, would make them look bad.  US was a mess and the legs kind of validates that opinion.

I don’t think we can always look to legs to validate WOM for horror. Audiences enjoyed Halloween and it had a 2.09x. Us opened way higher than Get Out, more than double. It played like a sequel. 

4 hours ago, sfran43 said:

Sofia, her dogs, and the horses stole the movie!😍

Agreed! 

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Thanks for the list and the hard work you're giving.

 

Really glad you enjoyed the amazing Midsommar. I also agree that Fighting with my Family and Parabellum are really strong contributors.

 

Must admit to being baffled by the inclusion of Brightburn, one of the worst movies of the year IMO I've seen in cinemas. I just didn't even vaguely see where either the dramatic tension was nor why I was meant to be finding it scary. It was just knocking a sequence of dominos over to me. 

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3) Alita:  Battle Angel

Starring:  Rosa Salzzr, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly

Directed by Robert Rodriguez and written by God

Box office:  85.7 mill

 

I'll be honest, when I went into to cinema to watch this movie I was expecting to be underwhelmed.. I had seen a little bit of the trailer and it did not really "speak" to me and Alita's eyes were off putting. When the movie had begun I was actually searching for things to dislike but surprisingly there were none. I quickly got used to Alita's eyes and they became in fact likeable. The story began to draw me in and I got completely absorbed into the story and the visuals.

The world is extraordinary and beautiful and the action scenes in this movie are fantastic, quite honestly some of the best I have seen. The story is a bit fast paced but not to a degree that it feels rushed. Alita as a character is great, she is kind-hearted, innocent, naive and protective. Throughout the movie Alita grows as a person and learns about sacrifice, loss, love and the horrors of the human mind. Alita is very likeable because she is such a good person in such a horrible world and you can't help feeling very sympathetic for an innocent being like her as she is exposed to the cruel world of Iron City.

 

When I left the theatre I realized it was one of my favourite movies of the last few years.  It did everything right for me.

 

@Morieris  

There's more story to tell here, and I really want to see it, because I had a blast with this. Like, 80% of a blast.

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#2) Avengers End Game

Starring:  Probably half of Hollywood name actors

Directed by the Russo boys

Box office:  A few dollars away from Avatar

 

What's left to be said about one of the greatest cinematic feats ever put on film?  This is the culmination of 11 years worth of films, perhaps 10'000+ people working on these films, a grand vision, billions of dollars in budget and blood sweat and tears of everyone involved.  Coming from someone who has a problem with many Marvel films, this one just blew me away.  How do you have a cast this big with this many characters and manage to give each one of them their shining moment?  How?  It's almost not possible.  But somehow the Russo's pulled it off and they gave us, the fans, something to cheer about, something to remember and something to cry about.  We're still in no spoiler mode for EG so I won't get into specifics, but you all know the emotional points of the film.  You all know who is no longer with us and you all know about 3000.  So I'll leave it at that.  It's a mind blowing film imo and one that will live on in our collective hearts and brains for an eternity.

 

@DeeCee   

Bloody fantastic. I loved it. The ultimate culmination to the Infinity Saga. I still can’t get over how well they pulled it off. 

 

10/10

 

A++++

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Here's a few films I have not seen this year so far:

 

Late Night

HTTYD 3

Aladdin

Pokemon

The Upside

Rocketman

MIB

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Thanks for sharing this list and all the interesting write-ups that went with it.

 

I don't always share your opinions on certain films but I appreciate your love and joy of movies and going to the cinema, which comes across in your writing.

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