Chainsaw Man - the movie: Reze Arc 4.5/5: Man that’s a mouthful. Beautiful animation, I really appreciate how deliberate each shot was, and even when the animation is “still” it’s purposeful and has detailed changes so it doesn’t feel cheap. You also feel for Denji because even the people screwing him over can see how miserable and unfair his life has been. I’m not sure I’d go far enough to suggest this for non-anime fans but for anime fans it’s worth a watch, even if you don’t see the show
Sonic the Hedgehog 3/5: Sonic 1 walks so Sonic 2 can run, and Sonic 3 can go fast. They were obviously concerned with making their money back on this given the very on the nose product placement. I’m also a sucker for any speedster scene like the bar fight and obviously the apex version of that scene is Quicksilver in X-MEN apocalypse. It’s a good starting point to get us to the good stuff
Thunderball 3/5: I’m still slowly working through the Bond movies in release order. It’s funny how I saw this and immediately said “oh, that’s what Austin Powers was making fun of”. The SPECTRE stuff is cool and it actually is one of the more grounded Bond movies with a plot I think would work in the real 60s. They’re still slow by modern standards which is why I topped out at 3
The Rocky Horror Picture Show 4/5: I love this, I watch it annually. The music is fun, the story is campy, and it’s batshit crazy. I will say the last 30 minutes of the movie I don’t love the score as much and I don’t always feel compelled to finish it
Hoo boy, I generally enjoy early Bond, but I feel like you’re being too kind to Thunderball. As I understand it, the underwater photography was pretty astonishing at the time, and it certainly feels like the movie was structured around the idea of SCUBA being the new hotness. Unfortunately, now that those concepts are relatively quotidian, you’re left with a slow, clunky movie whose big action sequences are (by nature of being filmed underwater) slow and clunky.
Whenever I get the urge to go back and watch the early Bonds, Thunderball is always one I skip.
So far all of the movies are slow and the action is just so old school that I didn’t even really clock anything odd about the underwater stuff. It is interesting to know that it was cutting edge at the time. For what it’s worth I do think it’s the worst one I’ve seen so far, but I wouldn’t call it bad
That’s fair. For me, those first Bond movies are like a travelogue. Not only to a different place, but also a different time. So, I forgive the parts of From Russia with Love (for example) that drag, because I can still luxuriate in seeing Venice at that time. With Thunderball, the big “destination” is the Bahamas if I remember correctly. Coming so soon after Dr. No’s Jamaica set stuff, and the focus on filming the sea floor more than the scenery, just leaves me underwhelmed ultimately.
As I noted, this isn’t a concerted effort. Most of the time I sit down to watch a movie I don’t want something longer than 2 hours which means most Bond movies are out. I’m only 4 films in by October so I’m probably not finishing this year and so I don’t judge it as closely to its contemporaries as much as I judge it for its era
Chainsaw Man - the movie: Reze Arc 4.5/5: Man that’s a mouthful. Beautiful animation, I really appreciate how deliberate each shot was, and even when the animation is “still” it’s purposeful and has detailed changes so it doesn’t feel cheap. You also feel for Denji because even the people screwing him over can see how miserable and unfair his life has been. I’m not sure I’d go far enough to suggest this for non-anime fans but for anime fans it’s worth a watch, even if you don’t see the show
Sonic the Hedgehog 3/5: Sonic 1 walks so Sonic 2 can run, and Sonic 3 can go fast. They were obviously concerned with making their money back on this given the very on the nose product placement. I’m also a sucker for any speedster scene like the bar fight and obviously the apex version of that scene is Quicksilver in X-MEN apocalypse. It’s a good starting point to get us to the good stuff
Thunderball 3/5: I’m still slowly working through the Bond movies in release order. It’s funny how I saw this and immediately said “oh, that’s what Austin Powers was making fun of”. The SPECTRE stuff is cool and it actually is one of the more grounded Bond movies with a plot I think would work in the real 60s. They’re still slow by modern standards which is why I topped out at 3
The Rocky Horror Picture Show 4/5: I love this, I watch it annually. The music is fun, the story is campy, and it’s batshit crazy. I will say the last 30 minutes of the movie I don’t love the score as much and I don’t always feel compelled to finish it
Hoo boy, I generally enjoy early Bond, but I feel like you’re being too kind to Thunderball. As I understand it, the underwater photography was pretty astonishing at the time, and it certainly feels like the movie was structured around the idea of SCUBA being the new hotness. Unfortunately, now that those concepts are relatively quotidian, you’re left with a slow, clunky movie whose big action sequences are (by nature of being filmed underwater) slow and clunky.
Whenever I get the urge to go back and watch the early Bonds, Thunderball is always one I skip.
So far all of the movies are slow and the action is just so old school that I didn’t even really clock anything odd about the underwater stuff. It is interesting to know that it was cutting edge at the time. For what it’s worth I do think it’s the worst one I’ve seen so far, but I wouldn’t call it bad
That’s fair. For me, those first Bond movies are like a travelogue. Not only to a different place, but also a different time. So, I forgive the parts of From Russia with Love (for example) that drag, because I can still luxuriate in seeing Venice at that time. With Thunderball, the big “destination” is the Bahamas if I remember correctly. Coming so soon after Dr. No’s Jamaica set stuff, and the focus on filming the sea floor more than the scenery, just leaves me underwhelmed ultimately.
I’d be curious where you rack and stack it later.
As I noted, this isn’t a concerted effort. Most of the time I sit down to watch a movie I don’t want something longer than 2 hours which means most Bond movies are out. I’m only 4 films in by October so I’m probably not finishing this year and so I don’t judge it as closely to its contemporaries as much as I judge it for its era