Third episode in and my only issue is getting confirmed more and more: building suspense around Leia and Obi-wan doesn't work. From a storytelling point, it's great seeing events unfold that we previously were not privy to, but... We know their fates. We know where they end up, we know how they die. So unles s Disney suddenly aims to rewrite that, trying to put them in situations where their lives are supposed to be at risk just doesn't really do anything and is a waste of time and effort. While, of course, on the flipside, playing the same game with the sidecharacters is a gamble because can we even be expected to care for the footnotes of history at this level?
So yeah, it's no wonder they bring in "the big guns" so soon and in such dramatic ways. There isn't much else to do to keep people engaged.
Pants tent! :rofl: Man, that callback.
I seriously hope we get a special or two at least, if not a full other series, I know what they said, but come on... :clap_tone1::clap_tone1::clap_tone1:
"mid season finale" is the stupidest, most paradoxical concept series have come up with.
Fathers of the bride. :rofl: That's pure genius right there - if you know, you know.
They really need to stop with the rapid back-and-forth timeskips.
I can't be the only one not a fan of these flash-forwards and the way things are set up in those, with all the major changes they imply to happen over the years...
Comedy? You mean there's supposed to be humour in this? ... Uh. Okay then. Can't tell where, but whatever.
The acting is solid, although I'm not sure it's enough to carry the movie as a whole on its back. In trying to offer criticism, I think it ends up being just like the thing it criticises: cold, obsessive, and indeed in Margot's very own words: "fancy, deconstructed avant-bullshit". After which we are left hungry, too, because despite all the display, there isn't much substance to it at all.
What am I going to do with you, Batman? You've destroyed a perfectly good giant robot castle.
- Joker, in Sengoku period Japan.
I think the quote sums this thing up well enough. I like Japan in general, I love anime, I can appreciate the creators for who they are, I can even appreciate certain elements like the style and the animation. I'm also aware that cartoons often "displace" Batman, in time and/or in space. Having said all that... ooooooh boy, is this a mess. It feels like there were too many ideas and nobody was willing to let any of them go. If you're not bothered by so many staples of Japanese history / popular media all appearing in one movie, brought to you by some of your favourite DC characters (probably including more people from the Batman universe than any one movie should) - go ahead, you'll have a blast. If anachronistic mishmash in general disturbs you, you best stay away from this one.
Man. Season premier and he's already going all out more than ever before.
I honestly don't understand all the hype and high scores and positive reviews on this movie.
To start off, the 20yo "high school students" are nowhere near believable, but at the same time they're such stereotypes-on-legs that one feels the urge to just punch them in the face. Not only their personalities, but their every single interaction as well is so sterotypical and predictable that they're literally painful to watch.
Once they get into the game, it doesn't get any better. The fact that they're sucked into a game only serves to negate any and all sense of danger they may face during the "adventure": with three lives, you just know that whatever happens to them will have no consequence whatsoever - if anything, they manage to utilise "death" as a game mechanic to help them along the way; heck even their weaknesses become strengths, if not just butts of jokes. Their transformation only goes the most predictable way too: turning into their own "inverse" versions, with one or two character traits preserved to make everything else about them a joke. The world itself is poorly utilised as well: the source of the main dangers isn't nature but bandits on motorcycles, with some bad CGI animals only occasionally getting in their way. Even the story is non-existent, with a huge timeskip after a short intro, because gods forbid they actually continue where it was left off, or just bring it to present days right from the start.
The actors at least try to make an effort to do something with their characters, but quite frankly the ensemble of a muscle-brained G.I. Joe, a middle-aged unkempt Indiana Jones, a black valet, and Lara Croft has too little originality to it (ie. none) for those efforts to make much of a difference. Not to even mention the pilot, who couldn't be more generic if he was actually cut out of cardboard. But hey, at least Jack Black gets to play a teenage girl.
I'm not sure who felt that making this movie was needed. I'm not sure who thinks walking clichés and d××k jokes constitute a "fun family movie". Take away the title, and there is quite literally nothing to see here that stands out from any similar "lower tier" flick - none of which ever gets this ridiculously overrated.
If Dan Levy isn't the perfect guy to bring into this series, idk who would be. :rofl:
RIP Richard Lewis....... :pensive::pray_tone1:
So far so good, gotta love it for the setting alone. The Thing DVD on the shelf was an absolutely impeccable touch.
Kinda disappointed that all this eventually boiled down to the oldest, most cliché solution: the butler did it. Furthermore, the butler who just happened to be the "AI", because that's not vilified enough yet either - was it even an actual sentient thing, or just a huge pile of data imitating a human being? I kinda forgot. Either way, I guess one good point that got raised was how it's built from all of us, and how it can be guided by man's fears - in extension, nightmares, I guess.... is anyone else reminded of the Krells and their machine from Forbidden Planet? The one from 1956? I guess it's a good thing we can't manifest dreams into matter or anything directly affecting our physical existence just yet.....
This was actually - marvelous. Nicely balanced with some drama and still full of shenanigans, going full-tilt Midge, very gracefully tying up the series. I think.
Which in itself is sad because I could watch another 5 seasons of this (minus the time shifts).
Like others point it out as well, this is just false advertising: there's nothing "unhuman" in here. It's not necessarily a bad movie per se, but it's a bad movie if you're expecting sci-fi and aliens, because that's not what you get. Like, at all.
This is like... a remake of the 2015 Vacation, seriously. The poster, the entire road trip, the kids not getting along, the campus scene with mom being hot.... Except, then there's tons more chemistry here between pretty much everyone, a heavy dose of RED injected everywhere, and Ciarán Hinds and Maggie Q practically stealing the entire move (does she always do that??). With some predictable and sappy family PR at the end. It's certainly fun, just sit back and enjoy the action and have a few laughs.
Ok this is basically back-to-its-roots genius. :rofl: Congrats.
Good gods, I hope they stop making movie-length episodes, because they seriously don't add anything to the experience. Rather just detract from it. Two hours and seventeen minutes for a season finale? Bloody hell, that's almost a LotR movie, that would be too long even for a series finale. And this is supposedly a series. Not a movie serial. And from Netflix, who has a habit of releasing things all at once anyway, so people would binge. There's no rhyme or reason to keeping the episodes this long, especially when there's so much fluff and filler. Editing is a tool, for cryin' out loud - USE IT. More than enough points in every episode where they could've chopped them up without sacrificing anything. And the absolutely lopsided release made it feel even stupider. Just... stop, please. Get back to sensible episode lengths and sensible amounts of episodes.
Trying a little too hard to be modern and PC, and that doesn't have a good effect on the movie as a whole. The fact that I found myself more invested in how Billy & Ingrid are gonna end up than the kids' wedding didn't help the plot all that much either. Does have its moments, but ultimately not all that much soul or chemistry.
What on earth did I just watch and why was it so long and why are people praising this to high heavens? Seriously, just... what? This is a 2 hour long trainwreck, with a side of junk for some reason.
Worst thing is I can almost see it as an actual documentary, and it's scary because it might well work better that way. Still too long either way though.
What on earth did I just watch.... Not only Dick Dastardly is brought in for some reason, to be the main villain, but even one of the Slag brothers makes a special appearance. As part of an entire tribe now. And if that's not enough, there's yet another character (well, two) from yet another series, because ... I dunno. This is a mixer, apparently.
Many elements feel forced, simply put in because they've been staples and as such they've got to be in there. There are a few funny lines, but even those are more of the deconstructive, fourth-wall-breaking ones, because apparently those are needed nowadays. Some of the cast choices are great, but again, more so due to real life references than for anything else.
It feels like the Batman universe got its own Watchmen remix, with Robert "Edward Cullen" Pattinson's emo boy Bruce Wayne in the spotlight, and I have so many issues.
First, I really wish the universe could get its own stories already, instead of remixing, for the umpteenth time, the characters' backgrounds, origins, roles, and by and large their looks as well. It's impossible to keep track of, and it's tiresome to re-learn every time a new movie comes along. As if the universe didn't have more than enough characters (some very colourful ones at that) to use.
Second, I'm not sure Batman needed a Watchmen remix, to be honest. The setup just doesn't work, especially when Batman doesn't even has his own companions (except for on-again-off-again Selina Kyle, ofc), and it's just the sole hero in a single city against a bunch of loonies, deep diving into his own past yet again. The length kinda fits (minus the ultimate cut), everything else though...
Third, I'm sorry but Robert Pattinson is just a weird choice. I didn't really get just how old Bruce is supposed to be here from the movie itself; and his characterisation sure doesn't help either, looking (and acting) like a bad stereotype of the emo teen - the rare one or two times when he isn't, he comes off an old man. And as Batman... this "slowmo" approach kills it. As if every step he takes is a struggle, and yet we're supposed to believe he's capable of all the stunts and fighting? There's no immersion.
Fourth, the ... tech, I guess? I'm so confused as to where we're supposed to be: in some parts, it looks like there's all the high tech computer stuff - and then in other parts it's like everything's almost analogue, not even digital. The range is really jarring here and only serves to further erode immersion. Especially the Riddler's little videos and some of his other stuff (hell, even his look) felt like they came from some 90s VHS movie. Absolutely bizarre.
Fifth, the rating indeed. I said it's a Watchmen remix with Edward Cullen - this is why. I'm sure I wasn't the only one to immediately be reminded of Rorschach's opening monologue: it feels like they tried very hard to imitate that... except it got utterly destroyed by sounding exactly like some inane rambling from Twilight. And, well, it is indeed that guy, from that movie, as it later turns out: in more ways than one. But that's not the only crime committed in keeping the rating this low. There's corruption, there's an outright den with all the bad guys, there's regular gangsters, there's this absolute mastermind of a psycho doing what he does, and... we barely get to see any of it, save for some explosions featuring a lot of fire because that's easy to make big and can conveniently cover up everything. Yet more immersion ruined.
To reiterate: I really wish Hollywood stopped trying to reboot and remix Batman (yet again, after, what? three movies in the previous attempt?), there's more than enough material to establish a foundation and work from there. But to add to it: I really wish Hollywood stopped trying to reimagine these universes in more "realistic" ways, too. There's no need for everything to be so gritty, for everything to have its root in reality, for everything to be politically correct and oh-so-woke. Especially when it comes to superhero flicks: these are meant to entertain, to let the viewer switch their brain off for a few hours and just enjoy a movie. If I wanted a documentary or some real life nonfiction drama, there's plenty of those to choose from.
This one felt like it had some pacing issues... So many little scenes with Fred and Reggie at the beginning (like, every other one?), which felt his tetanus even more speedrun and rushed, while Violet is MIA because she's doing her thing... and then Gillian with her baby just kinda off-kilter right from her first scene... And the scenes with Trixie and Matthew might well have been omitted they were so disconnected from everything. Managed to round things out quite well by the end, as per usual, but... it just felt rather off this time.
Well, at least that first story is very on-point meta: the episode is just as late for Halloween (when it could've been right on time) as the spoof is to the whole NFT nonsense....
Man, Aliens sure looks very different from what I remembered...
Well, this was ... different.
Imagine having an entire cast that just happens to be able to sing. How ... fortunate.
And now we know why Dragon never takes his cap off. :rofl:
I'm kind of conflicted about this, in all honesty.
I get the high ratings: on its own, a return to a purely episodic format is great, most of us do have those pink-tinted glasses through which to look back on the older series; what we do get is great in terms of visuals and writing/direction (mostly); and generally speaking, this enterprise, these characters will never be uninteresting.
But here's the thing. When this episodic format was a thing last time, a single season meant 20+ episodes, on average I think 26. And while the original series did have the approximately 50 minute runtime too, in subsequent series it went down to an average 42ish, but even that wasn't much of an issue due to the number of episodes. Now, what do we have here? 10 episodes that do make an effort to go on for 50-52 minutes each... and that is all. I feel like the exact thing the series fails to deliver on is the titular concept: while we do get to meet a few interesting characters, and we go to a few weird places... each and every episode turns out to be extremely character-heavy. One way or another, there's a reveal that's some big part of someone's Tragic Background:tm: or Complex Personality:tm:, something that defines or changes them at the core - because, ofc, everyone's got to have that right from the start. We spend like, what, three episodes on Spock - I love the guy, but come on, he's like one tenth of the crew. We're introduced to the doctor, then the next thing we learn is that he has a Big Secret:tm:, we get a lolnope resolution dangled in front of us, then - boom, she's gone, can practically be written off as dead. Dunno about others, but it's such a short time for a brand new character to even grow on me enough to care about, much less to have something that dramatic about them to deal with, it just doesn't work at all. (And as an extra, the bighuge plot twist comes in an episode that starts off as something that could be season's "unhinged fun" chapter... yeah, no.) Or take Hemmer: arguably the most interesting new character, we get to hang out with him maybe, what, two times? He becomes a great substitute-dad for Uhura, and right after - oops, sorry, he's dead. We have Rebecca Romijn, for cryin' out loud, she has her secret revealed so she can have her 15 seconds of fame saving everyone, and then - oh she's gotta go because Starfleet laws.
The point is we never get to have fun. We don't go on adventures just for the sake of going on adventures. We don't explore. What we get is characterisation and character development(?) - great in themselves and certainly appreciated when organic parts of a greater whole. But that whole doesn't exist: with the modern day constraints of a series, there's simply no time for any kind of self-contained adventure or story. Those episodes aren't here. Everything is a scaffolding or window dressing or some kinda props or set decoration element to serve characterisation and character building. And yet, even then, at times it's hard to care, especially when every episode does go on for so long, relatively speaking.
Man, even Dukat has his moments of redemption, but Winn really mannages to be loathsome every single time she shows up. Calling everyone "child", no matter who, what, when, or where - certainly doesn't help either. It's ironic that with all her talk, the one who ends up without faith is her - it would be tragic if there was a single redeeming quality in the character.
It's really hilarious how big of an absolute MESS this movie is in every sense of the word: it's long as hell, it features practically every genre (including various styles of animation) while taking none of them seriously, putting its own twists on several specific movies even... And it all boils down to - a mother's reconciliation with her father, her husband, her daughter. That is to say: making peace with one's family and life. Well, that and a Ratatouille gag, and a pretty unusual segmentation into three parts.
It speaks to the talent of the directors and the writers and pretty much the entire cast that for all those, it never gets boring for a minute. Where you're not laughing your head off, you're enjoying the visuals. Where you're not enjoying the visuals, you're being taught lessons in life. Where you're not learning, you're blown away by some of the silliest, most badass fight scenes. Where you're not rooting for Evelyn to survive the fight, you're scratching your head either at the crazy outfits or at the various "versions" of people, of which there are way too many crammed into several short collages. Where you're not scratching your head, you're enjoying the back-and-forth between English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. Or just - enjoy being a rock, because that's a thing too. Rinse and repeat. There's never a dull moment, it's basically like an insane rollercoaster ride but without any actual low points in terms of quality.
And while I do stand by what I said that the entire cast deserves two thumbs up, I'm a little biased and I just have to highlight... Michelle Yeoh is a GODDESS, and this role is just extremely fitting for her after being Philippa Georgiou in Star Trek: Discovery, as if some weird spiritual successor to the character, I swear. And because apart from her I went in blind, Jamie Lee Curtis was probably the most pleasant surprise in what's probably one of her most ridiculous roles (in the positive sense) - I had to pause the movie the first time I saw her because I needed time to laugh it out. Bloody brilliant!
