Movie, TV, Web Series, and Music Hot Take(s).

[Xprimentyl]

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Hey, it's my hot take; shoulda brought oven mitts.

the 1995 film was strictly about pandering to the game, the characters and premise effectively copy/pasted from the arcade cabinet, and what we got was an hour and a half of what "$0.50 for 2 minutes of entertainment" looked liked; it wasn't interesting or well acted, but paired nicely with wine for all the cheese it oozed. At least this latest film tried to do something interesting with its characters, like a reasonably cohesive story with all the familiar/nostalgic bits sprinkled in. Not saying it was a good movie, but certainly the least offensive and more respecting of my intelligence of the two outings calling themselves the "Mortal Kombat" movie.

 

[BrawlMan]

Hey, it's my hot take; shoulda brought oven mitts.

the 1995 film was strictly about pandering to the game, the characters and premise effectively copy/pasted from the arcade cabinet, and what we got was an hour and a half of what "$0.50 for 2 minutes of entertainment" looked liked; it wasn't interesting or well acted, but paired nicely with wine for all the cheese it oozed. At least this latest film tried to do something interesting with its characters, like a reasonably cohesive story with all the familiar/nostalgic bits sprinkled in. Not saying it was a good movie, but certainly the least offensive and more respecting of my intelligence of the two outings calling themselves the "Mortal Kombat" movie.

Here's the thing though, the 1995 version was uncomplicated. It had some changes, but those changes were either for narrative or pacing purposes. Other than that, it's pretty much almost one for one. And that is not a bad thing. Even if you're not a fan of the arcade games or didn't know the story, a non fan can get into the 95 movie easily. My mom loves the shit out of the 1995 MK film, she doesn't know Jack dick about the lore or backstories for most of the characters. She's also a huge Christopher Lambert fan.

The 1995 film definitely has more effort put into it. Everybody on production cared. The director actually cared for a time. The actors all actually cared what they were doing. The production and writing group actually care about what they're doing. Everyone bought their A game to this B movie. It was more than just some generic or standard checklist. No fan fic characters with some generic I have to protect my family backstory. Seriously, Cole is so unnecessary to this movie. They need to drop him hard in the sequel.

Yeah, you can say that special effects are cheesy or hokey by today standards, but for the time they were at least decent looking. For animatronic, Goro was super hard to pull off.

Now, the new movie is better than say, Annihilation, but that's really not much of a milestone. Scorpions Revenge is better than the new live-action MK film. SR does have better characterization than the new live action movie. They did more there with Scorpion and certain other characters. The best thing about the new MK movie was Kano. And the actor for him ad-libbed most of his lines. Almost none of his lines were in the script. Kano practically saved this movie. I also hate movies that try to set up a franchise or trilogy and expecting it to work out a okay. Make your story first, then worry about the sequels, if they're even needed at all. Now the 1995 film is somewhat guilty of this, but the 2021 film is way worse with it. I could at least kind of ignore the part where Shao Kahn comes in at the end of the original, but it was mostly a standalone story.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Here's the thing though, the 1995 version was uncomplicated. It had some changes, but those changes were either for narrative or pacing purposes. Other than that, it's pretty much almost one for one. And that is not a bad thing. Even if you're not a fan of the arcade games or didn't know the story, a non fan can get into the 95 movie easily. My mom loves the shit out of the 1995 MK film, she doesn't know Jack dick about the lore or backstories for most of the characters. She's also a huge Christopher Lambert fan.

The 1995 film definitely has more effort put into it. Everybody on production cared. The director actually cared for a time. The actors all actually cared what they were doing. The production and writing group actually care about what they're doing. Everyone bought their A game to this B movie. It was more than just some generic or standard checklist. No fan fic characters with some generic I have to protect my family backstory. Seriously, Cole is so unnecessary to this movie. They need to drop him hard in the sequel.

Yeah, you can say that special effects are cheesy or hokey by today standards, but for the time they were at least decent looking. For animatronic, Goro was super hard to pull off.


Now, the new movie is better than say, Annihilation, but that's really not much of a milestone. Scorpions Revenge is better than the new live-action MK film. SR does more it has better characterization than the new live action movie. They did more there with Scorpion and certain other characters. The best thing about the new MK movie was Kano. And the after for him ad-libbed most of his lines. Almost none of his lines were in the script. Kano practically saved this movie. I also hate movies that try to set up a franchise or trilogy and expecting it to work out a okay. Make your story first, then worry about the sequels, if they're even needed at all. Now the MK 1999 film is somewhat guilty of this, but the 2020 film is way worse with it. I could at least kind of ignore the part where Shao Kahn comes in at the end of the original, but it was mostly a standalone story.

We can agree to disagree, and I'll firmly disagree that a lot of "care" went into the shameless cash grab that was MK 1995. I was a fan of MK through the third game, but even at 15-years-old, I sat in that theater in 1995 and felt I'd have enjoyed playing Mortal Kombat over watching them attempt to dramatize on screen that day. And so we're straight, though no longer a fighting game fan, I feel the same way about the 2021 release, just less so.

 

[BrawlMan]

We can agree to disagree, and I'll firmly disagree that a lot of "care" went into the shameless cash grab that was MK 1995.

As big as a cash grab as the 1995 film was, people did care. Regardless of how you feel about the movie. You can't fix carelessness. The 2021 movie was full of carelessness. Not as much as Annihilation, but it was still there because of executives were butting in where they don't belong (the reason Cole exists). Say whatever you will about the 1995 film, but at least the executives let Paul WS Anderson work his magic and did not interfere with the director nor the actors. And keep in mind, I really started hating Paul WS Anderson after the third Resident Evil movie. Still hate the dude now. The only other work of his I enjoy is the Death Race (2008), and Event Horizon. The former is the best Twisted Metal movie ever made.

So we're clear too: I was turning six when MK95 came out, and my older brother was 11 at the time. I'm not as big as a Mortal Kombat fan as I was back in the day either. Even during that time during the 90s and 2000s, I was more into Street Fighter, Tekken, Virtua Fighter, and King of Fighters. I'll play mk11 every now and then with my brother, but that's about it. Regardless, I still enjoy meeting at that games and try and actually put effort into it. Not just lazy cash grabs. The Mk95 film has its flaws, but it wasn't a lazy cash grab. It was a cash grab, but with effort. They marketed what they set out to do and achieved it. There's a reason why the 1995 film and Street Fighter 2 The Animated Movie are considered the best fighting game movies of all time. With Street Fighter 2 being at the very top.

 

[Gordon_4]

We can agree to disagree, and I'll firmly disagree that a lot of "care" went into the shameless cash grab that was MK 1995. I was a fan of MK through the third game, but even at 15-years-old, I sat in that theater in 1995 and felt I'd have enjoyed playing Mortal Kombat over watching them attempt to dramatize on screen that day. And so we're straight, though no longer a fighting game fan, I feel the same way about the 2021 release, just less so.

MK95 has that baller intro song. And it just presents much of the lore around the tournament as just so. As opposed to the new movie trying some ancient aliens level bullshit to explain it. It’s a cheesy movie, but Mortal Kombat is a cheesy game and it fits. Mind, to MK21’s credit, Sub Zero and Scorpion’s kind of action has never looked better in live action before.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Every so often YouTube recommends me some "pitch meeting" channel for some popular movie, and it's thumbnail always consists of actors eyes edited to look extremely unnaturally large and black. Whoever keeps doing that edit, thinking it's clever or funny is the literal most toxic scum of this earth and they're going to be the first sent to the reeducation camps when I inevitably finish my communist socialist Marxist rise to power.

 

[Chimpzy]

Every so often YouTube recommends me some "pitch meeting" channel for some popular movie, and it's thumbnail always consists of actors eyes edited to look extremely unnaturally large and black. Whoever keeps doing that edit, thinking it's clever or funny is the literal most toxic scum of this earth and they're going to be the first sent to the reeducation camps when I inevitably finish my communist socialist Marxist rise to power.

Aw, but I like it when he mocks dumb hollywood stuff. But yeah, the eye thing is stupid. Just why.

 

[BrawlMan]

Every so often YouTube recommends me some "pitch meeting" channel for some popular movie, and it's thumbnail always consists of actors eyes edited to look extremely unnaturally large and black. Whoever keeps doing that edit, thinking it's clever or funny is the literal most toxic scum of this earth and they're going to be the first sent to the reeducation camps when I inevitably finish my communist socialist Marxist rise to power.

"They're recognizable and barely an inconvenience!"

 

[Bartholen]

Every so often YouTube recommends me some "pitch meeting" channel for some popular movie, and it's thumbnail always consists of actors eyes edited to look extremely unnaturally large and black. Whoever keeps doing that edit, thinking it's clever or funny is the literal most toxic scum of this earth and they're going to be the first sent to the reeducation camps when I inevitably finish my communist socialist Marxist rise to power.

Aw, that's unfortunate. Because Pitch Meeting is a legitimately well written and funny series IMO. It really shows what good writing can do when it's literally just one guy talking to "himself".

"They're recognizable and barely an inconvenience!"

"Pitch Meeting's thumbnails are TIGHT."

 

[BrawlMan]

I never saw the big deal of Big Lebowski. I know it's one of those cases of you had to be there at the time, but even if I watched it at an older age of when it was first released, I still wouldn't have liked it. I know for a fact that, that there are younger generations that don't care for it or know it exists, but even my parents don't even know this movie exist. Not that it wouldn't matter anyway. Knowing them, they'll watch it once and probably forget about it. I find the movie too boring and the characters mostly uninteresting.

 

[Xprimentyl]

MK95 has that baller intro song.

When I was 15, I would have agreed. At 41 now, an adult who's outgrown the in-your-face, pulsating club Techno of the '90s? Hard pass.

And it just presents much of the lore around the tournament as just so. As opposed to the new movie trying some ancient aliens level bullshit to explain it. It’s a cheesy movie, but Mortal Kombat is a cheesy game and it fits. Mind, to MK21’s credit, Sub Zero and Scorpion’s kind of action has never looked better in live action before.

We might be saying the same thing, just with differing opinions in the end. MK95 just took the game and put it on screen. The "lore" was already razor thin, serving as little more than a premise for a 2D fighter wherein matches last about 2 minutes, and they turned that experience into an hour and a half-long movie. If you feel doing that was worth the effort, making a accurately cheesy movie about a cheesy game, then so be it, but it didn't impress me. At least MK21 tried to make something more befitting a feature-length film, something [arguably] worth the price of admission over protracting a 50-cent experience over an hour and a half. I agree Sub-Zero's and Scorpion's characterizations stole the show; I could have done without the rest.

In the end, my hot take: MK95 3/10, MK21 5/10

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Aw, but I like it when he mocks dumb hollywood stuff. But yeah, the eye thing is stupid. Just why.

Aw, that's unfortunate. Because Pitch Meeting is a legitimately well written and funny series IMO. It really shows what good writing can do when it's literally just one guy talking to "himself".

To be fair, I did wonder how much of it is merely an emotional overreaction on my part, and that the guy is probably really pleasant and supportive of Palestinian families, puppies and kittens which a simple matter of clicking on their video to watch would ultimately prove, tearing down such abstract barriers to quality content. But a single glance back towards those horrific quasi-spinning black holes of soul-consuming despair ignites a primal 'flight or fight' defensive instinct of which 'flight' is always but always the go to option. And clicking on it requires me to stare directly into them! Maybe if someone else clicks on it instead, a unwitting human sacrifice perhaps...

"They're recognizable and barely an inconvenience!"

"Pitch Meeting's thumbnails are TIGHT."

References I may never understand!

 

[BrawlMan]

When I was 15, I would have agreed. At 41 now, an adult who's outgrown the in-your-face, pulsating club Techno of the '90s? Hard pass.

My parents are in their 60s and they can party to techno. Granted, it won't be Mortal Kombat, but they can handle it just fine. They still listen to Snap and some Technotronics songs. I'm 31 and most techno music from the 90s does not get old for me.

the end, my hot take: MK95 3/10, MK21 5/10

MK95 is an 8 out of 10.

MK 2021 is a 5 out of 10.

Done

 

[Xprimentyl]

To be fair, I did wonder how much of it is merely an emotional overreaction on my part, and that the guy is probably really pleasant and supportive of Palestinian families, puppies and kittens which a simple matter of clicking on their video to watch would ultimately prove, tearing down such abstract barriers to quality content. But a single glance back towards those horrific quasi-spinning black holes of soul-consuming despair ignites a primal 'flight or fight' defensive instinct of which 'flight' is always but always the go to option. And clicking on it requires me to stare directly into them! Maybe if someone else clicks on it instead, a unwitting human sacrifice perhaps...

References I may never understand!

It's just one click, and you're past the thumbnail; that kind of imagery is not used during his videos, which are actually quite good. He basically takes the piss out of Hollywood playing both roles as a screen writer and a studio executive he's pitching popular movies to. All the bad ideas are sold with naïve enthusiasm while the exec just kinda goes with it, often pointing how ridiculous the ideas are, but greenlights everything as long as it'll make him money. They're really funny (if hurtful when he shreds a movie I like.) Give him a chance.

 

[Xprimentyl]

My parents are in their 60s and they can party to techno. Granted, it won't be Mortal Kombat, but they can handle it just fine. They still listen to Snap and some Technotronics songs. I'm 31 and most techno music from the 90s does not get old for me.

I said "At 41 now, an adult who's outgrown the in-your-face, pulsating club Techno of the '90s? Hard pass," the implication being that *I* have outgrown '90s Techno, not that every adult my age has or should. Your parents sound like cool people if anecdotal in this case. As for your opinion on '90s Techno, good on ya', I'd just offer there are more intellectually stimulating choices in the genre of Electronic music which I've since discovered in the +20 years since my teenaged years, so it no longer appeals to me.

MK95 is an 8 out of 10.

MK 2021 is a 5 out of 10.

Done

Fine, whatever tickles your pickle.

 

[BrawlMan]

I said "At 41 now, an adult who's outgrown the in-your-face, pulsating club Techno of the '90s? Hard pass," the implication being that *I* have outgrown '90s Techno, not that every adult my age has or should. Your parents sound like cool people if anecdotal in this case. As for your opinion on '90s Techno, good on ya', I'd just offer there are more intellectually stimulating choices in the genre of Electronic music which I've since discovered in the +20 years since my teenaged years, so it no longer appeals to me.

I heard you. Don't get me wrong, I'm not holding it against you, I was just telling you that most techno music from that era doesn't bother me. There are a few songs here and there, but I can handle most. If it makes you feel any better I don't bother with most gangster rap songs from the 90s. I was not that big into the genre to begin with aside from a few. Most of them are crap or done by people who are not actual gangstas.

Fine, whatever tickles your pickle.

It takes more than a high rating from a Mortal Kombat property to achieve that.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

It's just one click, and you're past the thumbnail; that kind of imagery is not used during his videos, which are actually quite good. He basically takes the piss out of Hollywood playing both roles as a screen writer and a studio executive he's pitching popular movies to. All the bad ideas are sold with naïve enthusiasm while the exec just kinda goes with it, often pointing how ridiculous the ideas are, but greenlights everything as long as it'll make him money. They're really funny (if hurtful when he shreds a movie I like.) Give him a chance.

All right all right! With yours, Bartholen's, Chimpzy's and I guess Brawlman's somewhat implied endorsement of the channel all ganging up on me, I have no choice but to endeavour to give them a go. Though may have to attempt to click on it with eyes closed, so if it misses and plays a damn Jordan Peterson video instead - which for some reason keeps being recommended despite my active avoidance of his schtick - then all responsibility for my future descent into insane fascism is on you peeps!

 

[Xprimentyl]

All right all right! With yours, Bartholen's, Chimpzy's and I guess Brawlman's somewhat implied endorsement of the channel all ganging up on me, I have no choice but to endeavour to give them a go. Though may have to attempt to click on it with eyes closed, so if it misses and plays a damn Jordan Peterson video instead - which for some reason keeps being recommended despite my active avoidance of his schtick - then all responsibility for my future descent into insane fascism is on you peeps!

I'll accept full responsibility!

 

[BrawlMan]

All right all right! With yours, Bartholen's, Chimpzy's and I guess Brawlman's somewhat implied endorsement of the channel all ganging up on me, I have no choice but to endeavour to give them a go. Though may have to attempt to click on it with eyes closed, so if it misses and plays a damn Jordan Peterson video instead - which for some reason keeps being recommended despite my active avoidance of his schtick - then all responsibility for my future descent into insane fascism is on you peeps!

I just wanted to use that joke and make a quote of it. Do whatever you want. I apologize for nothing.

 

[Chimpzy]

All right all right! With yours, Bartholen's, Chimpzy's and I guess Brawlman's somewhat implied endorsement of the channel all ganging up on me, I have no choice but to endeavour to give them a go. Though may have to attempt to click on it with eyes closed, so if it misses and plays a damn Jordan Peterson video instead - which for some reason keeps being recommended despite my active avoidance of his schtick - then all responsibility for my future descent into insane fascism is on you peeps!

Wow wow, wow wow wow. But, if you do go fashy, I'm gonna need you to get all the way off of my back on that thing.