Director Gina Prince-Bythewood's film shares strengths, weaknesses of <em>Extraction</em>
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Review: The Old Guard is a solid thriller whose parts don’t add up to a whole
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I feel that way about every Netflix made movie I watch.
They're just missing something.
They've got the pieces of good things, even some good scenes, good premises and ideas and I'm exited to watch and then ... the films get lost and kinda wander or repeat themselves and just sort of meander and end in a perfunctory manner.... and it's just unsatisfying.
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No French actors pretending to be Scottish nor Scottish actors pretending to be Egyptian?
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Chiwetel Ejiofor just doesn't seem to age much. Doesn't look much different than he did in Serenity.
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Immortality must be the worst superpower to get. Sure, it's fun for a few thousand years but inevitably you'll end up floating away through space for eternity - alone and with zero bars on your phone.
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It's the theme... a highly competent, but world-weary warrior who is basically just waiting to die - who meets a young, new person that might suddenly give them new purpose/meaning in life.
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As much as a I hate traditional Hollywood movie executives... occasionally there is something to be said to have an good producer/executive producer to keep the writer/director from getting lost in the weeds.
Case in point, in the original script of Toy Story... Woody was originally actually the bad guy to the point that Tom Hanks doing the voicing for first version of the film complained "This guy is a jerk!" When shown to Disney executives it bombed, and Pixar spent months reworking the script until it is what came out in the movies - where Woody is still kind of annoying, but he is made much more likable/sympathetic than he was originally.
This is also why I've been impressed with Kevin Feige et all on the MCU movies... being able to pump out so many movies that were mostly watchable, and most importantly they all sort of came together into a greater whole than any individual part.
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Typo first paragraph:
"and very much in the same vein as the Chris Hemsworth vehicle Extraction, which the streaming platform r earlier this year"
Random 'r' after 'platform'.
"and very much in the same vein as the Chris Hemsworth vehicle Extraction, which the streaming platform r earlier this year"
Random 'r' after 'platform'.
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I don't know what it is, but yeah Netflix's movies, a lot seem sort of watery / missing that glue that makes a movie really good.
Pieces are all there, and the pieces are often nicely done, but just the polish, but that last mile of making a movie cohesive and come together, it seems missing.
Whatever that last thing is that really good movie makers / teams know how to do, it's just not there for a lot of Netflix movies
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Whatever that last thing is that really good movie makers / teams know how to do, it's just not there for a lot of Netflix movies
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I think the fact the end product is streamed, and isn’t up against real competition in movie theatres is the reason for the poorer quality. The pressure for perfection, particularly in the final editing, just isn’t there.
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I think the fact the end product is streamed, and isn’t up against real competition in movie theatres is the reason for the poorer quality. The pressure for perfection, particularly in the final editing, just isn’t there.
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It is amazing how Charlize Theron has been able to carve such a unique niche in the movies with tough, physical parts as lead in action movies. I guess once she got to prove everyone that she could really act and got her Oscar for Monster she decided to follow her own path in the industry.
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AmanoJyaku
Ars Tribunus Angusticlavius
Simple solution: don't read her articles so that the rest of us don't have to read this crap.
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It's simple. Most movies, books, and albums are... meh, regardless of where they come from.
The difference is that if you've got Netflix, these movies are effectively free. You've already got access to them. So you pay them more attention. If they were at the theater, you'd sit back, read some reviews, and filter out those that are meh. When Netflix has put out as many as Paramount or 29th Century Fox, they'll have a bunch of awesome releases, and a majority of meh ones in roughly the same ratio.
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I prefer to just help bury your bad comments in downvotes so that no one has to read them.
It’s better for the community.
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AmanoJyaku
Ars Tribunus Angusticlavius
Normally, that's what I'd do. But, I'm getting sick of people attacking Jennifer. It's not OK.
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Neither "you suck" nor "your opinion sucks" is a useful criticism.
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So I've just finished it. Quite enjoyed it. Highlander but where they're not all trying to off each other.
But there was one thing that niggled, made worse by the stinger at the end.
Oh, and Joe's speech about Nicky when they were both in the back of that van was just epic.
But there was one thing that niggled, made worse by the stinger at the end.
As soon as they mentioned *uh... checks spelling...* Quynh(?!), I couldn't stop thinking about how they'd just abandoned her. Like, it's the 21st century now, we lifted the Mary Rose over forty years ago and we have much better technology for finding things trapped on the bottom of the ocean. You could have at least tried again in the last hundred years or so?
But now she's just turned up (I guess the iron coffin rusted and broke), so that's setting up a revenge-fuelled Part 2.
Which to be fair, I'll totally watch if they make it.
But now she's just turned up (I guess the iron coffin rusted and broke), so that's setting up a revenge-fuelled Part 2.
Which to be fair, I'll totally watch if they make it.
Oh, and Joe's speech about Nicky when they were both in the back of that van was just epic.
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I think it's the score(s). A bunch of ambient C.O.D. clips sprinkled with a bunch of pop music no one will give a shite about in a year.
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It looks like Image is doing a Greg Rucka digital sale with volume 1 of the Old Guard for $5.99 until July 27th, for those interested in the source material. I saw it on kindle/comixology, but you can check your preferred platform.
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I liked it, more than I expected.
Might have been better as a mini series - 4 or so episodes, an hour each. Would have liked to see more backstory.
The ending indicates there may be one or more sequel, which would be great.
Yes, CT has made some great action movies - Atomic Blond was amazing - and some great weird ones - Young Adult comes to mind.
Might have been better as a mini series - 4 or so episodes, an hour each. Would have liked to see more backstory.
The ending indicates there may be one or more sequel, which would be great.
Yes, CT has made some great action movies - Atomic Blond was amazing - and some great weird ones - Young Adult comes to mind.
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I did not think it was much like Extraction as I could not finish that movie. This movie was at least entertaining and the plot was not too ridiculous. Charize was amazing in the action scenes.
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I finally took the couple hours to watch this... And I think it's pretty comparable to the recent Bloodshot movie. Both have some very good action sequences, both have some questionable decisions by characters, both have corporate CEO villains...
I think it would have done fairly well as a typical summer flick if it had come to theaters. Not a blockbuster, but it would have had it's fans.
I think it would have done fairly well as a typical summer flick if it had come to theaters. Not a blockbuster, but it would have had it's fans.
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I thought this as well... Though I was thinking 6 or 8. Things keep up a fairly rapid pace and the explanation always feels 'soft' and lacks depth.
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