Media itt: movie/film discussion - Beware Spoilers

[vonFiedler]

I've always had a special place in my heart for hating Forrest Gump. Granted I haven't seen that movie in years but something about a happy go lucky idiot having everything go his way because he's nice and kind or something just really grinds me the wrong way. The best thing I can say about it is that it's a great story in the sense that it just has good vibes mojo.

No, come to think of it the nice thing is the ambivalence of the story. That's usually hard to pull off in an ending, but here it feels pervasive throughout. There's always something just kind of sad about Gump's life, and it's got mostly nothing to do with his lack of intelligence. The numerous assassinations, the war he doesn't have much to say about, chasing after some girl his whole life and only getting a short time together. Fuck man, when he's talking about how proud he is that his son is smart it really made me tear up. That's just plain craft.

Se7en was kind of meh for me. I guess I was expecting more substance to it or something but it plays more like an overbloated crime procedural episode. Side-effect of noir I guess. Ending was fucking fantastic but it doesn't carry the kind of weight or substance for me to really enjoy it a second time through. Just a bunch of dudes being way cynical and none of them really believing in anything and being selfish/self-centered makes for little conflict imo.

But that's the point. Everything about the movie is almost obnoxiously rude and apathetic, but sometimes we just let the world be like that. Everything up to that point reflects in the final car scene.

It's also interesting to me to think of the serial killer as the soapbox for the director. Actually, making a movie like this is kind of a lot like actually being a serial killer. They are both about the tableau, the exercise of power, and the message. This feels all intentionally lampshaded when John Doe calls his work something big, that would be puzzled over for years (like a massively acclaimed movie?).

 

[TheValkyries]

To clarify I meant that it was great craft with my last sentence about Forrest Gump. It is a fantastic story I just am kinda grossed out by its morals is the proper way of putting it I guess.

For seven yeah the apathy and cynicism is the point obviously I'm just saying it bores me and doesn't have the same type of conflict that a movie that believes in something would. For example fight club takes its cynicism and turns it into a living breathing Tyler Durden. The guy stands for something even if that something is a nihilistic "fuk the world" he lays it all out and fights for it.

In Se7en their apathy just leaves them to react to the serial killer but never really engage him on any level. For me personally the ending twist kind of fell flat because brad Pitt had spent the entire movie not caring about ANYTHING and now all of a sudden he's supposed to be a really complex and caring guy and its liiiiike. The scene plays off to me as if his pride and honor was hurt more than anything else... And it would've been great if we had like "the devils advocate" al pacinoesque morality rant from the killer given that that was his shtick but they go out of their way to have brad Pitt point out that the dude isn't practicing any of what he preaches and is just as apathetic as the rest of them. So we get actions in conflict but emotions in harmony so it's less dramatic imo. Idk tho I could be fukin nuts.

 

[vonFiedler]

In spite of some massive plot holes early in the script, I think it's safe to call Chappie one of the best movies of the decade. Everything about the movie surprised me, from the performances and well rounded characters of Ninja and Yolandi (I would have settled for them being obnoxious clowns), to the lofty literary concepts handled far better than the director's previous films, to the ever present moral ambiguity, and esp to Chappie's design and portrayal. It really needs to be seen again to soak up everything it's trying to say. It looked far more cliched in the trailer (and the poster) than it turned out to be, everything was taken pretty far out of context.

 

[vonFiedler]

#29 Life is Beautiful
One of the weirdest movies I have ever seen. It's a holocaust comedy. Might as well call it Firebot. I actually came to like the movie even less when I found out that the lead actor was also the writer and director. You see, I've never seen a man hog the camera more than this one. The only scene I can remember where he isn't talking up a storm and mugging like crazy is the one where his uncle takes a gas shower. If that makes the movie sound fucking horrible, well, it's not quite that bad. There is some very good scene crafting, especially early in the movie. But that's about it. I'm not sure how funny the movie was supposed to be, but I think it was supposed to be funnier more often than I found it to be. And once you get into the concentration camp, things just become completely unbelievable.

Spoilers

And the scene where the main character dies is pretty fucking abrupt and badly done. Think No Country For Old Men, but again, this a comedy movie. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that someone dies in a holocaust movie, but within the narrative of the film it just doesn't work. The last line implies that he sacrificed himself to save his wife and child, but he didn't do shit. If he stayed put all three would have lived. Again, this might just come down to a holocaust comedy being an awful fucking idea.

Is it worth seeing? Kinda. It's not boring. It has some good film making. But why the fuck is this held in such high regard (both by critics and audiences)? I have no clue.

#30 Casablanca
I haven't seen many pre-70s movies, this list is sure gonna change that. Casablanca is a little overrated, but for a 1942 movie it holds up very well. Except for the acting, even Paul Henreid thought his coworkers sucked and he wasn't terribly better (Claude Rains was the best actor imo). It's a time when men were given roles because they sounded funny, and women because they looked good. Anyway, the highlight is the ending monologue.

 

[Eagle4]

Chappie -

- More involving than District 9 and crafted with more precision than Elysium, Chappie is a much better film than its unforgiving critical reception suggests. Sure, its tonal shifts are jarring at times and there's less political heft than expected of Blomkamp, but the film's gripping action, emotional pull and refreshing ending accumulates into a wonderful sci-fi.

 

[vonFiedler]

#31 American History X
Damn man. I had trouble sleeping after watching this movie. This is pretty easily the best movie I've seen so far out of those I've talked about. It hits all three important art quotas; it's thought provoking, important, and it's not boring. That's rare for a movie, esp. a neat two hour movie. Things talked about in this film are absolutely relevant today, and will probably be relevant for a long time. I don't joke at all when I say this should be mandatory school viewing material.

#33 Saving Private Ryan
Uh, war's bad mkay? At first I was interested in this film as a counterpoint to the graphic depiction of the holocaust in Schindler's List. And it certainly made me very uncomfortable throughout, just not really to any purpose. The schmaltzy ending also didn't do it for me nearly as much as Schindler's List.

IMDB Trivia says Edward Norton turned down Saving Private Ryan to do America History X. Pretty good call imo.

 

[vonFiedler]

#35 City Lights
This is the oldest movie I have ever seen. It's also the first silent movie I've seen, and it's the first Charlie Chaplin movie I've ever seen. I was pretty worried, because the last comedy movie on this list also starred its writer/director hamming it up center screen and it was not good. But this was nice. Kinda funny, but mostly very sweet. I wouldn't call it the 35th best movie ever made, but I'd recommend it, and I wouldn't mind seeing more Chaplin. Which is good, because he's all over this list, including next week.

#38 Whiplash
Well, damn the music in this movie is good. I know, it's a movie about music, it had better be, but I don't think that's an excuse for how bad the music is in other movies. Anyway, it's pretty relatable and intense as a story, but I was really on the fence about it being an all time great movie until the ending scene. I think I just saw a drummer go super saiyan. Ok, one scene probably doesn't make it THAT good. But I mean that scene was AMAZING.

 

[Eagle4]

Just saw The Theory of Everything and while I didn't really like the movie that much (sorry can't really pinpoint it, not really a movie fan and I've had exams until the last week so didn't really see anything), I really liked the acting of Redmayne and Felicity Jones and found the movie p powerful and touching overall. Was overall kinda disappointed, though, because the reviews were really good (I guess it was just their acting?). What did you guys think of it?

I agree with you about the performances being the film's biggest strength. I feel like there was potential for so much more when focusing on Hawking, but instead his astounding character was relegated to a soapy, melodramatic (though well-crafted) romance that's as generic as can be.

Saw a few films released in March in the UK this year.

1. Mommy -

- Aided by exquisite direction and two brutally raw performances from Anne Dorval and Antoine Pilon, Mommy has the best first hour of any film released in 2015 thus far. Xavier Dolan has created a French-Canadian masterpiece, integrating poignant themes and motifs with mesmerising confidence for a 25 year-old.

2. Chappie -

- More involving than District 9 and crafted with more precision than Elysium, Chappie is a much better film than its unforgiving critical reception suggests. Sure, its tonal shifts are jarring at times and there's less political heft than expected of Blomkamp, but the film's gripping action, emotional pull and refreshing ending accumulates to a wonderful sci-fi.

3. Relatos Salvajes (Wild Tales) -

- Hugely entertaining, if slight, Wild Tales is a perfect mixture of dark comedy and revenge fantasy, featuring three spectacular short stories in particular: a driver feud, a tale of towing and an unforgettable wedding night.

4. The Voices -

- Ryan Reynolds gives a bravura performance as unhinged Jerry, anchoring an film that's fun and funny in equal measures.

Couldn't see 'It Follows' in cinemas since the only time it was playing was 11:45 on school days :(

Nevertheless I didn't watch a bad film in March, but at the same time I didn't watch as many films as I wanted to (X&Y, Cinderella, Still Alice and Insurgent didn't go ahead for various reasons). April brings a few films I highly anticipate, in the form of Furious 7, Force Majeure, The Water Diviner, While We're Young, Good Kill, Jauja, John Wick, Lost River (which I'm seeing pre-released on Thursday, along with a Ryan Gosling Q&A), Child 44, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence (so basically a shit-ton of films).

My Top 10 of 2015 so far is already better in terms of quality films than my 2014 list. Talk about a great year...

The other, non-2015 films I saw in March were:

Where The Wild Things Are -

- rewatch
Nightcrawler -

- rewatch
Fantastic Mr. Fox -

- rewatch
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou -

- rewatch
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring -

The Raid -

The Master -

- rewatch

 

[vonFiedler]

#39 The Intouchables
The true story about a rich, cultured quadriplegic and a crass, lazy ex-con who save eachother's lives. Right off the bat this movie 'gets' disability to a magnitude that I've never really seen in modern media. The satire and humor in this movie are spot on, but so are some of the life lessons. If I have one complaint it's that some plot threads hang for a long time before getting quickly wrapped up in the end. I was about to laud the movie for just keeping them hanging, like sometimes that's life. But then it didn't. Still, amazing movie that deserves to be on this list. Heavily recommended.

#40 Modern Times
Another Charlie Chaplin movie, this one is a satire looking at early 20th century industrialization and the woes of the work force. The story is driven by the relationship Chaplin, basically the same character as ever, and an orphan girl struggling to survive on the streets. In spite of being played by a really beautiful 26 year old, and Chaplin looking pretty young for 46, they only ever seem platonic, which was pretty neat. Given the cynical backdrop of the movie, Chaplin also didn't write a neat happy ending, which was pretty unexpected but really the right move. Unfortunately, compared to City Lights this one is really disjointed and has extended slapstick scenes that really drag. So I don't think it really lives up to it potential. I'd recommend City Lights over it.

 

[TheValkyries]

Saw Furious 7 earlier today and it was... Odd. Stunningly great! But odd...

The first act was absolutely mind blowingly amazing. One of the best first acts to any action movie ever.

But then the movie kind of lost its heart in trying to tell Brian's farewell adequately while also going with what I assume was the original plot of Dom and Letty post-amnesia. So that made things a lil wonky and odd. But Paul Walkers send off all pays off because the final 2 minutes or so are just... Perfect. Practically breaking the fourth wall and breaking into your hearts. Not ashamed at all to say I teared up when he took the off ramp towards the sunset.

As for the rest of the movie you can see James Wans horror roots show up in how the villain is portrayed. Sure he is a black ops agent and fights in broad day light but he effectively is filmed and treated as a ghost... More a personified force of chaos and discord than a real character. Which I guess brings interesting context to the term "spook".

The Plot outside the characters is simple enough: the team chases a macguffin that can track the ghost. This takes them across the world allowing them to meet and recruit the macguffins creator as a new addition to the team as well as allowing them to go from action sequence to action sequence pretty easily. The new character, a tech genius named Ramsey is interesting and I hope she acquires more screen time in future movies because she seems promising and can be a refreshing shot for a franchise who has just lost 3 major characters in the span of two movies.

But all my bs aside the characters are great, the laughs are awesome, and the action is crazy ambitious and jaw-dropping. Essentially in the midst of what would've killed any other movie, they went ahead and added a fantastic addition to this great series.


Tl;dr furious 7 was fucking great go see it or else be forever doomed to an existence like Eagle4's

 

[Eagle4]

Furious 7's plot was all over the place, but there's no avoiding that for obvious reasons. Again, due to scheduling reasons and no fault of the film's, I would have liked to see The Rock more. The sendoff was really well handled, but unlike you, TheValkyries , I thought the first act was tragically dull until 'Mr. Nobody' showed up. The following out-of-airplane car chase was epic in scope and really enjoyable, as was the Abu Dhabi car jump, though I wish both set pieces weren't spoiled by the trailers.

The final act/battle as a whole was really arduous to sit through, imo, which is a shame when the buildup was decent. And I know that this aspect is inherent with the franchise, but the misogyny was rampant throughout the flick.

It wasn't a terrible film at all, but certainly unfulfilling; Furious 7 does exactly what it says on the tin; whether that makes a good quality film... I'm sceptical.

 

[TheValkyries]

The cars out of the airplane was the first act, fam.

 

[vonFiedler]

#42 The Green Mile
As one might expect given their placements on the list, The Green Mile is basically a really good but not quite as good Shawshank Redemption. Obv there are big differences what with being from the guard's perspectives and literal miracles occurring, but Stephen King/Frank Darabont/Prison is such a perfect and well tested combination that I'm surprised it's only happened twice. Or at least I'm surprised that Darabont never did much after that (I guess some people wouldn't call The Walking Dead 'not much', but compared to two of the indisputably best movies ever made?). Anyway it's a touch too long at 3 hours and there's some fridge logic to move forward the themes of the movie. The big thing I want an answer to though is:

Spoilers

So assuming the average life spans of wild mice and men, Paul is going to live to be at least 845. So what is he doing in a retirement home at the spry age of 108? Waiting for his savings to accrue interest?

#43 Memento
I'm definitely in the camp of liking Christopher Nolan movies, and now I've seen all but one of them (which is the same number and configuration that is on the IMDB top 250). I didn't expect this to be the absolute best one. You could easily call Memento/Prestige/Inception a trilogy concerning humanity's willingness to be deceived. But I like this more than Inception for the same reason that I like Batman Begins more than Dark Knight. Nolan was always a very complex director, but he used to be more subtle. Now he feels the need to explain everything in the theater so that a wider audience will enjoy it more. Anyway, I'm a fan of unreliable narrators and you don't get a lot of those in movies, but this is the most unreliable narrator because he can't remember any reliable truth for starters. Watching the movie unfold in a way that can't possibly be experienced by the narrator makes the viewer themselves a character. And as per the trilogy suggestion, the things this movie has to say about the fallibility of memory, about worldviews and whether we live in our own heads or not, it's really fucking good for a two hour movie.

Great weekend for movie viewing.

 

[vonFiedler]

Well, as good as last week was...

#44 The Pianist
The last holocaust movie I talked about on this list was a slapstick comedy where the writer/director shoved himself into 75% of the frame at all times. I did not think that I would encounter an even more cartoonish holocaust movie, especially so soon. This is an exploitation film that asks for cheap emotion using absurd cruelty, coincidence, and even the occasional action set piece. While I can't logically say that the nazis wouldn't have done many of the things they are depicted doing in this movie, when I compare it to Schindler's List that movie felt very real and documentary, whereas everything in this film is framed to get a rise out of the audience. Then you've got the main character's "I'm too cool for the holocaust" brother, making snarky one-liners and genuinely seeming out of place without a leather jacket and sunglasses. The piano angle does very little for the movie and seems to exist only to make it seem artsier, save for one scene near the end that actually conveys a level of subtlety that the rest of the film sorely lacked. This movie was fucking awful. It's exactly the kind of movie you fart out to win an Oscar, only it failed to even do that. There aren't a LOT of these kinds of movies on this list thankfully, but it still blows my mind how highly ranked this one is.

#46 Gladiator
Can't really hate this movie after seeing the above. This one did win the Oscar, and wasn't really Oscar bait, but it's kind of a confusing Oscar win (except that 2000 was not a stellar year for movies). It's just a really macho movie to win an Oscar. It's not as entertaining as 300, nor is it as smart as... well I was gonna pick another Oscar winner, but it's not even as smart as 300. It feels like a self-insertion fanfic. Maximus is a fictional character that combines the qualities of pretty much every Roman hero, and features in a revenge flick with some really cheesy lines and lots of eye-rolling action. Not really bad, it's just dumb entertainment.

 

[TheValkyries]

You're doing gods work vonFiedler

 

[vonFiedler]

#47 Apocalypse Now
Fantastic movie, really makes me want to read Heart of Darkness. It really doesn't feel like a 70s movie, the production is so damn clean and the pacing is perfect. It gets across far better than Saving Private Ryan the horrors of war while going for the much more ambitious horrors of humanity, all while never getting bogged down. The cinematography is great, and the soundtrack reminds me of the best early adventure game soundtracks. It really works for the tense mood throughout the film.

#48 Sunset Blvd.
Having seen every Hitchcock movie on this list already and recently, this black and white thriller felt really flat. It also makes references to novels I've read recently that are all much better than this movie, and at an hour and fifty minutes it kind of drags. An entire subplot with the reader girl is awful. It's not hard to see why this movie is regarded highly, it has much to do with early hollywood film culture, so it's placement is probably somewhat masturbatory. Middling movie really, but I couldn't recommend it at all.

 

[Jebus McAzn]

Late to the party here but I just watched Whiplash (and this is like a week after watching all of Shigatsu) and it blew me away. J.K. Simmons was incredible, music was excellent (pianist of 10 years here), plot was engrossing - 5/5

 

[vonFiedler]

Saw both of these while on vacation, so I got to watch them with friends.

#49 Dr. Strangelove
Hard movie to rate. It's definitely well crafted. All of the satire is very on point. But we're watching the driest fucking comedic movie, and the president is exchanging pleasantries over the phone with the Russian premier, and my friend is just on the floor laughing his fucking ass off. He was like that through the whole movie. It was really fucking amazing to watch. I probably would have been by myself with one hand on my chin and the other holding my glass of wine and thinking, 'hmm yes what a mechanically well crafted joke'. But this was a very fun experience. So I'm not sure how good the movie was really.

#51 Alien
This is one of those movies that I knew by heart in spite of never seeing, so I really thought I wouldn't like it as much as Aliens. And to be fair, I haven't seen Aliens in a long time, but I'm certain I was surprised. Seeing it all moving in action is just exhilarating. You can see where the vast majority of survival horror games took their pacing from. I think The Thing is a better horror movie for its intrigue, but for pacing this movie is just fucking brilliant. There really should be more super good horror movies out there. And now I really want to play Metroid Fusion again.

BONUS
6.7 on IMDB Demons

Watch this movie

 

[Eagle4]

Time for another monthly update.
The films I saw in cinemas this month were:

1. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting On Existence -

My first experience of Roy Andersson, and boy is it a good one. A Pigeon presents the best kind of funny, the best kind of melancholy, the best kind of downright disturbing; it's an extraordinary depiction of the human condition, of human endeavor. Captured perfectly, each frame looking as if it were plucked out of a painting, Andersson has the ability to turn the mundane into the magnificent.

2. Lost River -

Did I watch a different film to Cannes critics? If it weren't for a sluggish start strewn with admittedly awful dialogue, Ryan Gosling's directorial debut would earn the full 5 stars; a visceral experience boasting a stunning soundtrack, startling cinematography, and some stand-out scenes featuring Ben Mendehlson. Top notch stuff.

3. Avengers: Age of Ultron -

The latest in the long line of Marvel extravaganzas, Age of Ultron improves upon the first Avengers, giving the audience a hugely entertaining superhero caper overflowing with confident wit and well-structured action sequences, if nothing more.

4. The Signal -

As a huge fan of ambitious sci-fi, The Signal is right up my street. The flick may be let down by plot holes, wayward dialogue and characters less interesting than Eubank strives for, but its gripping intrigue, competent cinematography and brilliantly bonkers ending more than makes up for it.

5. Furious 7 -

On one hand, Furious 7 is mindless violence that sacrifices a coherent plot. On the other hand, it's mindless violence that sacrifices a coherent plot. Furious 7 does exactly what it says on the tin; whether that makes a good quality film... I'm sceptical.

6. Force Majeure -

Everybody seems to be ranting on about how great this film is, and it's such a shame for me because I can see the potential. Sadly, Lisa Loven Kongsli amazing performance isn't worth the slog that is Force Majeure; every scene outstays its welcome, its 'funny' moments are jarring rather than cerebral, and its plot hinges on an overreaction and a lie that make little coherent sense, burdening the realism immediately. Not the worst film of 2015 so far, but certainly the biggest disappointment.

7. Jauja -

Yeah, no, no this isn't for me. I had to stop halfway through out of sheer boredom, unfortunately, though I can see how Lisandro Alonso's unconventional western will appeal to some viewers. Jauja, like Force Majeure, suffers from its lingering shots that seem to go on and on; usually this is done for a purpose, but the only purpose I can see is to convey the scintillating beauty of the film. The cinematography is the aspect of Jauja preventing me from giving it 1 star, but however gorgeous the film is, the storyline is still lacking. Shame.

2 films I thought I would love (Force Majeure and Jauja) end up being the worst of the month while 2 films I thought I'd hate (Avengers AoU and Lost River) I actually really enjoyed. Weird month. Missed out on a few good films, but during May I can look forward to Far From the Madding Crowd, Big Game, Mad Max: Fury Road, Clouds of Sils Maria, *cough*Pitch Perfect 2*cough*, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Tomorrowland and Timbuktu.

The other, non-2015 films I saw in April were:

Midnight in Paris -

A huge grin on my face was maintained throughout the entire runtime. Midnight in Paris connects deeply with me: I share Woody Allen's infamous fear of death, and so its plot, and the message behind it, comes into fruition in a beautiful manner.

The Great Beauty -

I still don't know what this film is about. You cannot help but admire The Great Beauty and its atmosphere, but sadly admiration is all I feel towards the film. It contains a few Malick-esque moments of inspired genius, but those are few and far between, caught up amid puzzling sequences that lack the emotional weight it aspires to have.

Interstellar -

- rewatch

God Help the Girl -

God Helps the Girl relies on how much the viewer can stand twee. I can withstand quite a lot, as it turns out; despite the miscast Hannah Murray sounding like a castrated cat, the flick offers some great music, heartfelt (though slight) drama, some charming Richard Curtis-esque comedy and a particularly outstanding performance from Emily Browning, who seemingly can do no wrong.

Lost River -

- rewatch

Drive -

- rewatch

The Riot Club -

- rewatch

Frank -

A little aimless, and not as poignant or funny as it endeavors to be, Frank is nevertheless a charming, original roadie flick heralding two great performances in Fassbender and Gyllenhaal (Maggie).

Du, Levande (You, the Living) -

Roy Andersson impresses yet again with You, The Living; fascinatingly drab and brilliantly dark in humour, the flick is a remarkable portrayal of the hopeless plight of humanity.

The Guest -

One of the most entertaining films of 2014, The Guest is 90 minutes of retro-thriller flashback, dazzling with a chilling Dan Stevens performance, incredibly well-thought-out cinematography, and an incredible campy, Drive-meets-Rambo atmospheric tone that's aided by a wonderful 80s' synth score. Great stuff.

 

[TheValkyries]

Saw Age of Ultron last night, currently letting it stew. Thinking about going to see it again soon.

Initial reaction was: Awesome (obvs), Surprising, and Emotionally/Ideologically Heavy.

 

[Captain Skywalker]

Saw Age of Ultron last night, currently letting it stew. Thinking about going to see it again soon.

Initial reaction was: Awesome (obvs), Surprising, and Emotionally/Ideologically Heavy.

It was fucking awesome. I'd argue that it's the best Marvel movie to date :D

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

It was fucking awesome. I'd argue that it's the best Marvel movie to date :D

I wouldn't go that far, I thought it was fantastic but didn't quite live up to the first Avengers. I thought that the segment from just after the introduction to Ultron until the beginning of the third act was somewhat lackluster though still more than viewable watching. Third act was balls to the wall amazing holy shit. Basically the events leading to the creation of Vision and everything following was edge of your seat incredible. Speaking of, that hammer scene with Vision OMG

 

[Captain Skywalker]

I wouldn't go that far, I thought it was fantastic but didn't quite live up to the first Avengers. I thought that the segment from just after the introduction to Ultron until the beginning of the third act was somewhat lackluster though still more than viewable watching. Third act was balls to the wall amazing holy shit. Basically the events leading to the creation of Vision and everything following was edge of your seat incredible. Speaking of, that hammer scene with Vision OMG

Yeah but I just felt like the stakes were higher,there was more plot depth and tragedy, and the badass action was still there.

 

[Lolk]

Yeah but I just felt like the stakes were higher,there was more plot depth and tragedy, and the badass action was still there.

spoilers

I definitely felt like the stakes weren't high enough when watching it. It's hard to believe Ultron is close to taking over the world when literally no one died the entire first 75% of the movie. I know it's Marvel's choice to not kill off civilians, but come on Hawkeye was set up brilliantly to die in that movie. If he had died halfway through, Ultron would have been way more intimidating, and the movie would have kept the "hopeless" vibe the trailers ever-so shoved down our throats.

Also it kinda bothered me that Quicksilver was killed off for basically no reason. I never read the comics, so I might be missing something, but I guess maybe the Scarlet Witch retains some psychological trauma from his death that carries over into the next movies plot?

Nevertheless I loved the movie I've seen it twice already lol that 360 degree church shot OMG HOLY BALLS

 

[Kingler]

yeah i just didn't feel like the plot for age of ultron came together well and although the stakes were high it just didn't seem very serious (esp. with the random comments in-between). I don't even read the comics, though, and just watch these movies casually so it was still a fun movie to watch (inlove)