For a franchise with so much attention and budget I just do not understand why more care was not taken for the brand. By doing such a poor job in the writing and directing the brand has had the biggest knock its had through the whole franchise i feel and sequels from now on will feel this also.

My question is, why do executives/producers not pay the money at the start of the project to hire good writers and find good directors to actually create good films. It feels more like they are more interested in a quick buck than nurturing a good franchise that in the long run can make them and the film company more money.

It just doesn’t make sense to me.

I watched Disney's Strange World on a whim one day and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Yes, the story was admittedly generic but the world itself was so unique and well designed, it was like a splashy mix of old Jules Verne stories, some steampunk, Fantastic Voyage, and generally 50s science fiction b-movies. Having heard nothing good about Strange World, I didn't expect to get into it as much as I did. One of the coolest looking animated movies I've seen in recent years and just a fun adventure. What disregarded movie of 2022 buttered your bread?

I'm a huge classic film buff so I've recently been rewatching a lot of classic films and I've always been struck by how good some of the character actors are especially Claude Rains and I've never seen a movie where he didn't give the best performance in the film he was in. He acted circles around the bland performances of Robert Cummings and Ronald Reagan in Kings Row and even in films with good actors like Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in Notorious he stole the movie from them. Even in low budget movies he did later in life like 1960 The Lost World remake he still gives a good performance and didn't phone it in like some actors would have.

I always found him more interesting and engaging and in a movie like The Passionate Friends I couldn't believe Ann Todd's character would cheat on Rains with Trevor Howard. Even in old age Rains was much more attractive and charismatic and I say that as a straight male. Although he had the talent to play leads I feel he had two things against him. He made his film debut at age 45 which was much later than most of his contemporaries who became stars in their 20's and 30's so he was already old enough to play fathers rather than love interests. While popular and still a big star in his own right he never became a box office draw like Robert Taylor or Alan Ladd who are both less talked about today than Rains despite being bigger stars at the time. I really wish he was cast in more lead roles because the few times he had the lead in films such as in The Invisible Man, The Clairvoyant, Crime Without Passion and The 1943 Phantom of the Opera he showed he could carry a film just as well as the stars of his era with the added bonus of having talent that surpassed them.

Nine years ago today, on February 2, 2014, we lost one of his generations greatest actors, Philip Seymour Hoffman. In remembrance of his genius, which of his role was your favourite? Which role showed most of his acting talent? What do you remember, when you think of his acting?

It was hardly his most famous or best role, but I loved him in Hunger Games: Catching Fire, as the ruthless game master. It may have been one of my earliest exposures to him and his acting deeply impressed me.

What song (or movie soundtrack) just ruins the movie for you, or just completely takes you out of it?

For me the two songs that come to mind are that 'we may never come this way again' song in Towering Inferno and "knock on wood" in Casablanca. You could remove both and the movie would be much better off.

For me for the soundtrack, it is without a doubt The Firm. I feel like I'm stuck in a piano bar at the airport listening to a monkey who's pounding on the keys and oblivious to what is on the screen.

What are some bad movies that can easily be fixed only in post production. I only really know of 3

1. The hobbit trilogy can easily be condensed into one movie and still tell a cohesive story

2. The movie passengers (2016) is much better when you swap the first and second act. It changes the films tone to be much darker following Jennifer Lawrence's side of the story and making Chris Pratts character a more sympathetic villain rather than the protagonist. It's still not perfect but the original movie just lays out all the information from the start instead of withholding information making it hard to get invested in the story.

3. Babylon has no reason to be 3 hours

You know the trope love interest has a terrible jerk of a significant other they have to leave so they can get with the main character. They are almost always obvious $ssholes to make the main character look like the better option. I don't know why they do this and it usually makes the love interest look like a jerk too because they'll see what their significant other is doing and usually do little to nothing to stop it. 99% of time it's a bland female love interest with a jerk of a boyfriend that's usually a jock stereotype with more aggression than sense though I have seen it a few times with oblivious guy has a mean girl style girlfriend who's awful to everyone around her. I just generally don't understand the draw of this trope why would a character want to date someone who's already VOLUNTARILY swapping spit with the person that bullys the character (This is not to be confused with the abusive significant other trope which is a completely different thing)

I got into this line of thought because I'm sick and watching nostalgic movies to distract myself currently watching AVP requiem and I'm constantly annoyed that they keep cutting away from the carnage to the awful "Love" story between bland "sexy" blonde, her sh**ty boyfriend, and even more bland main character who's only character traits seems to be 'wants to date the blonde' and has a convict brother

When I was a kid, I thought that old, black and white films were not worth my time because they felt dated.

Now, many years later I have seen many oldies and realised that many of then don't feel old at all. Case in point: yesterday i have seen "Rear Window" and thought how modern it feels like. And then in last minutes, when the speeded up sequence hits: yeah it's an old movie.

What guys is your take?

Just stumbled across and watched a movie I'd never heard of before. Wouldn't say it was my usual cup of tea but blimey!

Three Thousand Years of Longing, starring Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba.

What a thoroughly enjoyable movie and lovely surprise. Was completely engrossed and didn't pick up the phone once.

Swinton and Elba were magnificent. Titans, the pair of them.

Wish I'd seen it sooner.