Film Top Gun: Maverick

Pogue Mahone

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True. Doesn't make it any less surprising. Can't imagine a single person would have predicted this before it came out. Except maybe TC himself.
Really? It feels as though it was an obvious movie to get loads of bums on seats. You have the cross-generational nostalgia buzz that Star Wars sequels milked so well, combined with a big post-covid rebound factor and the sort of incredibly loud, FX heavy content that needed to be seen in the cinema and wouldn't have translated to the small screen at all well.

On a side note, be interested to hear from anyone that watched this on the small screen. I reckon that would be a seriously lame experience.
 

Drawfull

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On a side note, be interested to hear from anyone that watched this on the small screen. I reckon that would be a seriously lame experience.
The IMAX shots being carried over to the home releases (including streaming, which is still unusual outside of Disney+) help a little for viewing on TV size screens but I bet there's swathes of people that watched it on nothing more than a phone or tablet, which is bonkers.
 

Salt Bailly

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Really? It feels as though it was an obvious movie to get loads of bums on seats. You have the cross-generational nostalgia buzz that Star Wars sequels milked so well, combined with a big post-covid rebound factor and the sort of incredibly loud, FX heavy content that needed to be seen in the cinema and wouldn't have translated to the small screen at all well.

On a side note, be interested to hear from anyone that watched this on the small screen. I reckon that would be a seriously lame experience.
I expected it to be a success, especially after the reviews came flooding in, but $1.5billion seems insane for a sequel that came out 36 years after the original. Definitely didn't expect the younger crowd to get onboard with it.

The fact that it made $1.2b of that outside of the States seems wild too.
 

swooshboy

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Really? It feels as though it was an obvious movie to get loads of bums on seats. You have the cross-generational nostalgia buzz that Star Wars sequels milked so well, combined with a big post-covid rebound factor and the sort of incredibly loud, FX heavy content that needed to be seen in the cinema and wouldn't have translated to the small screen at all well.

On a side note, be interested to hear from anyone that watched this on the small screen. I reckon that would be a seriously lame experience.
I watched it twice at theIMAX when it was released, and have since watched it at home. Obviously not the same experience, but still an incredibly enjoyable movie!

Given that you didn't like the movie in the first place, am not surprised that you would consider any watching of it to be 'seriously lame'.
 

Pogue Mahone

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I watched it twice at theIMAX when it was released, and have since watched it at home. Obviously not the same experience, but still an incredibly enjoyable movie!

Given that you didn't like the movie in the first place, am not surprised that you would consider any watching of it to be 'seriously lame'.
Fair point.

I’d say it was just slightly lame on the big screen, with a massive sound system. But seriously lame without it.

All it’s got going for it is the noisy action scenes, after all. Literally every other scene is straight up dog turd.
 
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Sylar

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Something about old man shouting at a cloud or something.

Anyway, the movie was fun. Saw it on my TV and agree with @swooshboy
Still enjoyable but glad i watched it in the cinema.
 

amolbhatia50k

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It was fantastic. And I was neither nostalgic about the original (barely remember the original) nor in awe of being outside the house. Just a really great blockbuster experience.
 

EtH

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This movie supposedly peaked when Goose’s son and the entire bar were singing “Great Balls of Fire” just like his dad in 2022.

Very believable and creative as feck from the screenwriters.
 

lsd

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The top ten all time grossing is seriously depressing reading. Avator, Titanic, Jurassic World a fast and furious film and then loads of comic book films.

It proves being popular usually means really really boring and so many people will just follow blindly whatever is being hyped by the media

You think off some of the all time classic films and then look at that list and realise just how many idiots there are in the world
 

jackal&hyde

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Considering the top ten that means absolutely nothing other than its bland garbage for idiots with no attention span
Well yeah but it also shows that there is a high demand for the more "classical" action film that does not depend on super heroes or is made 99% on a computer. Well made action movies with a lot of practical effects and minimal political or social messages have a place still and it's a good thing it made a lot of money because now production companies will hopefully make more of them.

Though I do understand that it was a massive effort with all the planes, navy involvement and probably mega difficult to replicate if you don't have a Tom Cruise leading the project.
 

MiceOnMeth

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Never seen the original but judging by this thread I should give them both a watch
 

jackal&hyde

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The top ten all time grossing is seriously depressing reading. Avator, Titanic, Jurassic World a fast and furious film and then loads of comic book films.

It proves being popular usually means really really boring and so many people will just follow blindly whatever is being hyped by the media

You think off some of the all time classic films and then look at that list and realise just how many idiots there are in the world
I agree with the exception of Avatar and Titanic. While I was not a fan of Avatar because the story was not original, it was a level of visuals unparalleled to that point, an experience as they say and it makes sense so many people wanted to see it. Titanic was a massive cinematic achievement for the time too and although, like Avatar, it was not a "smart" movie, it was and is an extremely competent epic production. It is with the superheroes movies where things went off the rails IMO regarding stupidity.
 

Drawfull

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I agree with the exception of Avatar and Titanic. While I was not a fan of Avatar because the story was not original, it was a level of visuals unparalleled to that point, an experience as they say and it makes sense so many people wanted to see it. Titanic was a massive cinematic achievement for the time too and although, like Avatar, it was not a "smart" movie, it was and is an extremely competent epic production. It is with the superheroes movies where things went off the rails IMO regarding stupidity.
Disagree with the SH movie stuff. Without looking at the list, I guess the highest ranked are Endgame and Infinity War. For any studio, in any genre, to pull together 24 or whatever it was movies into a coherent double-bill finale deserves the money and popularity achieved. I'm so far disappointed with the latest Phase, but up to those 2 releases, the universe Marvel translated from page to screen was very special, and almost perfectly executed. Movies are allowed to be fun, no? Without having to be think pieces?
 

jackal&hyde

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Disagree with the SH movie stuff. Without looking at the list, I guess the highest ranked are Endgame and Infinity War. For any studio, in any genre, to pull together 24 or whatever it was movies into a coherent double-bill finale deserves the money and popularity achieved. I'm so far disappointed with the latest Phase, but up to those 2 releases, the universe Marvel translated from page to screen was very special, and almost perfectly executed. Movies are allowed to be fun, no? Without having to be think pieces?
I actually agree with that. I don't have anything against SH films, I'm just a bit bored at how many of them there are and how people can't seem to have enough, thus the mega profits. I loved them initially but now they all seem to blend together and more and more of the same. It's why I'm happy that a different "fun" movie like Top Gun made so much money so we can start to see some more investment in different types of films. I became desensitised to the SH genre as a "fun" film but apparently many people are still starving for more. I'm happy to admit that a movie can be stupid but super fun. There is nothing wrong with that.

EDIT: Completely agree on the fun part. I am a big advocate of films being first entertainment and if you can add some social or political messages, then fine. I know very smart people that love SH movies and I know some less then smart people that think that watching more obscure "smart" films is a reflection on the spectator (this is intellectual masturbation IMO and it is about people wanting to be seen as smart, rather then actually being that way). If one wants to feel smart then the World of Science is open to everyone, huge amounts of literature, courses, papers etc. Films and music are not what expands the mind, it just gives dumb people the feel good factor and an easy way. Actual learning is hard, being smug about pop culture is easy.
 
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Drawfull

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I actually agree with that. I don't have anything against SH films, I'm just a bit bored at how many of them there are and how people can't seem to have enough, thus the mega profits. I loved them initially but now they all seem to blend together and more and more of the same. It's why I'm happy that a different "fun" movie like Top Gun made so much money so we can start to see some more investment in different types of films. I became desensitised to the SH genre as a "fun" film but apparently many people are still starving for more.
And I agree with that. Though the more recent releases haven't reached the heights financially either in the MCU at least which maybe shows some waning interest, or higher expectations. Still obscene sums, but not on a par.

It's funny in a way, with the caf's favourite movie contest ongoing, but I would genuinely put TGM if not at the top, then very fecking close to the top, in a best (i.e., not favourite, whole different criteria) films of ANY genre from the past 20 years list. As a pure rush, it's basically perfect and that's nothing to do with a COVID drought/cinema bounce inflating its numbers. Taken as a whole - as in this was my last 2 and a bit hours - I can't fault it, despite its faults.
 

jackal&hyde

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And I agree with that. Though the more recent releases haven't reached the heights financially either in the MCU at least which maybe shows some waning interest, or higher expectations. Still obscene sums, but not on a par.

It's funny in a way, with the caf's favourite movie contest ongoing, but I would genuinely put TGM if not at the top, then very fecking close to the top, in a best (i.e., not favourite, whole different criteria) films of ANY genre from the past 20 years list. As a pure rush, it's basically perfect and that's nothing to do with a COVID drought/cinema bounce inflating its numbers. Taken as a whole - as in this was my last 2 and a bit hours - I can't fault it, despite its faults.
Sure. Movies are meant to be fun and entertain. I edited my last post to add some more on the topic of "smart" films. Can a film make one think of problems they did not think before? Sure. Can it create interesting discussions? Yes. But it has to be about fun first and I feel a lot of stuff in films and shows recently has become about "educating" in an almost aggressive way, even if the message is valid, at the cost of the story and even characters. Pseudo intellectuals preaching to the masses like they are professors at Harvard or something rather then run of the mill writers.

Movies don't educate people, they entertain. This is an important understanding to have and one that some studios seem to have a hard time grasping today, making all sorts of films and shows super polarising and enabling toxic environments. Top Gun, the SH movies as far as I know, Titanic, etc are about fun and little else and so they deserve the money they make.
 

Rooney in Paris

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It's funny in a way, with the caf's favourite movie contest ongoing, but I would genuinely put TGM if not at the top, then very fecking close to the top, in a best (i.e., not favourite, whole different criteria) films of ANY genre from the past 20 years list. As a pure rush, it's basically perfect and that's nothing to do with a COVID drought/cinema bounce inflating its numbers. Taken as a whole - as in this was my last 2 and a bit hours - I can't fault it, despite its faults.
You need to watch more films.
 

Vidyoyo

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Just watched it. Aerial scenes are very enjoyable with the rest a bit too sappy for my liking. Doesn't detract exactly but it's like a movie of two halves.

The end part while very entertaining feels a bit like it undermines the effort needed to pull off the bombing run.

I can see why it'd be great at the cinema.
 

Parma Dewol

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Finally got around to watching this and really enjoyed it. Simple plot with lots of cheesy moments, but that’s part of the charm. Two hours literally flew by.
 

The Cat

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Was never a fan of the original so forced myself to watch this earlier in the week.

Was surprised I enjoyed it wasn't as cheesy as expected.
 

RedDevilQuebecois

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I saw that the movie got a couple of nominations at the Golden Globe Awards. I don't know who are the other contenders for Best Original Song, but I would give Lady Gaga the award right now.
 

Red in STL

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Really? It feels as though it was an obvious movie to get loads of bums on seats. You have the cross-generational nostalgia buzz that Star Wars sequels milked so well, combined with a big post-covid rebound factor and the sort of incredibly loud, FX heavy content that needed to be seen in the cinema and wouldn't have translated to the small screen at all well.

On a side note, be interested to hear from anyone that watched this on the small screen. I reckon that would be a seriously lame experience.
I did - wasn't lame but the movie was entirely predictable
 

Mockney

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Yeah, watched this recently and was surprised how basic it was given all hype (though not too surprised as the original is actually a terrible film) but even the cockpit scenes got less impressive after a while.

Tom knows how to structure and pace a movie I guess but.. eh.
 

Rooney in Paris

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Yeah, watched this recently and was surprised how basic it was given all hype (though not too surprised as the original is actually a terrible film) but even the cockpit scenes got less impressive after a while.

Tom knows how to structure and pace a movie I guess but.. eh.
But does this film really reflect that, though? You've got a sort of action scene to kick it off (which is inconsequential and a bit naff really), loads of boring, horribly written moments in the middle, some training action scenes that get repetitive very quickly. Then the final action scene, which if I recall was impressive, but just a repetition of what we'd already seen before for the most part.

I've been rewatching the M:I films recently and I think the action in those is a lot more diverse and well done than in Top Gun. I honestly still can't fathom how it got so hyped, or was labelled as "the film that saved cinemas" (James Cameron is the one doing that).
 

Mockney

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Yeah the latter M:i action scenes (the ones where Tom Cruise genuinely thinks he’s an unkillable space prince who needs to keep testing it) are a lot better… partly cos they’re more than just “guys, they’re actually in this cockpit! THEYRE ACTUALLY IN THIS COCKPIT GUYS!! which… cool… but, I’ve seen that now.

Still, none of them have ever been as actually good as De Palma’s first one. The really sweaty one. He isn’t actually on the Eurostar at the end , but it’s much more fun.

I honestly still can't fathom how it got so hyped, or was labelled as "the film that saved cinemas" (James Cameron is the one doing that).

 
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Sylar

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I've been rewatching the M:I films recently and I think the action in those is a lot more diverse and well done than in Top Gun. I honestly still can't fathom how it got so hyped, or was labelled as "the film that saved cinemas" (James Cameron is the one doing that).
Did you watch it in the cinema? If not, it was a great experience in the cinema and lots of people went exactly for that reason.