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

hanselthecaretaker

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I mean, I think that has less to do with the Beastie Boys in particular and more the fact that rap back then (mid 80's) was just kind of shit. They're pretty much just a white version of Run DMC (not really slagging either as I do enjoy both groups). Early to mid 90's is when (I feel like) rap really took off with groups and rappers like Wu-Tang, Nas, N.W.A., Biggie, and A Tribe Called Quest.

Speaking of rappers though, as a white guy who enjoys rap, I cannot stand Eminem. Dude has spent the past two decades doing the same raps/cadences over the same, lackluster beats.
Oh man, the Wu is where my appreciation for rap/hip hop truly started. I’d put Tribe in there as well due to their flow, beats and lyrics, but hell…here’s a hot take: I’d consider Wu-Tang to basically be The Beatles of rap/hip hop. Especially earlier stuff including solo albums. So much versatility and creativity went into it. Sure they sampled a lot too but knew how to use it to the utmost effect.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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I'm not saying the bands and songs are necessarily bad, for having appeared in trailers or commercials. I just treat it as a cue for me to take a second look at it. I still love Queen and "Bohemian Rhapsody", for example, despite its unfortunate appearance in the Suicide Squad trailer.

I never liked (and still don't like) the Beastie Boys, and I didn't long before the JJ-Trek trailers sharted their music anywhere audiovisual advertisement could be found. And I'll admit, that was the cue for bringing my rule of thumb up in the first place. But, the origin of my rule of thumb was actually Bob Seger and those awful fucking Chevy commercials back in the day, because those commercials forced me to confront that I kinda liked Bob Seger before that, and come to the conclusion that no, my previously-held opinions were off, he's actually kind of crap.
I’d still take Seger over a band like Journey. Hell, I could go ten lifetimes without hearing bloody Don’t Stop Believing again. I mean Old Time Rock n’ Roll is up there too but not nearly as pompously anthemic.

Pretty much any big name has a couple of tracks overplayed to death though, and this is undoubtedly a prime factor of fading appeal (for reasonable, sane people at least). Absence makes the heart grow fonder for music as well. I haven’t gotten to the point I’d turn down another listen to stuff like Roll Me Away or Beautiful Loser yet, and with the very low odds of these tracks ever being exploited via pop culture it’ll likely stay that way.
 

BrawlMan

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I have developed an appreciation for Bob Seger of late. As I am getting older, I am just appreciating simplicity and sincerity.
I spent a LOT of time listening to crazy weird difficult stuff and ironic lyrics and all that and these days I can dig a dude just singing about heartbreak.
I am of a similar mind. I try to keep it open mind and listen to all variety of types of music. I will say is that the only music I don't like, are the ones that are absurdly loud obnoxious to the 9th degree, nearly any song from the mainstream pop industry, or rap songs that constantly say the N word every 5 to 15 seconds. It's why I can't stand a lot of mainstream rap music from the mid 2000s, late 2000s, and most of the 2010s. The Indie crowd and those that put themselves out through YouTube or SoundCloud know and do better than whatever most of the mainstream is doing.
 
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XsjadoBlaydette

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Keep being recommended videos titled "gun expert REACTS to LATEST THING with GUNS IN!" - "LAWYER REACTS to POPULAR FILM with LAWYERS IN!" (sorry, legal eagle, you ain't escaping this callout) "MARTIAL ARTS EXPERT REACTS to LATEST MEDIA with FIGHTING IN!" And to be honest am growing more tempted to start my own channel for videos usually titled along the lines of "LONG-TIME KUNT REACTS TO ANY MEDIA WITH KUNTS IN!" Cause, really, am never gonna run out of source material with such framing, and no-one can question my credentials neither...it's an evergreen career avenue!
 

hanselthecaretaker

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Keep being recommended videos titled "gun expert REACTS to LATEST THING with GUNS IN!" - "LAWYER REACTS to POPULAR FILM with LAWYERS IN!" (sorry, legal eagle, you ain't escaping this callout) "MARTIAL ARTS EXPERT REACTS to LATEST MEDIA with FIGHTING IN!" And to be honest am growing more tempted to start my own channel for videos usually titled along the lines of "LONG-TIME KUNT REACTS TO ANY MEDIA WITH KUNTS IN!" Cause, really, am never gonna run out of source material with such framing, and no-one can question my credentials neither...it's an evergreen career avenue!
Plus you spell it with a K, and that got my attention right away.
 

BrawlMan

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A quote I really like from one of the comments.

TitleInProgress
12 hours ago
One of my main issues with Rotten Tomatoes is that it has a lot of reviews from critics who aren’t the target audience. Last year when The Batman released, there were reviews of that that called it “Too dark” which is just insane! Rotten Tomatoes operates under the assumption that every movie is for everyone, and it promotes movies with broad appeal (like why almost every MCU movie has a positive critics score on Rotten Tomatoes). Rotten Tomatoes is a good tool for telling if a movie is universally enjoyable or awful, but it works better in broad strokes, not when dealing with non-universally loved or hated movies.
 
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Bob_McMillan

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Keep being recommended videos titled "gun expert REACTS to LATEST THING with GUNS IN!" - "LAWYER REACTS to POPULAR FILM with LAWYERS IN!" (sorry, legal eagle, you ain't escaping this callout) "MARTIAL ARTS EXPERT REACTS to LATEST MEDIA with FIGHTING IN!" And to be honest am growing more tempted to start my own channel for videos usually titled along the lines of "LONG-TIME KUNT REACTS TO ANY MEDIA WITH KUNTS IN!" Cause, really, am never gonna run out of source material with such framing, and no-one can question my credentials neither...it's an evergreen career avenue!
My favorite (most hated) subset of this genre is "How will FOREIGNER react to being in a DIFFERENT COUNTRY?!?".

There's like 5 or 6 interesting videos that can be made from that premise, so I don't know people manage to make entire channels on the topic.

And it's always the same shit too. It's either a white dude eating "gross" food or buying really cheap shit, or some Asian lady shocked that people don't remove their shoes before coming in.
 

BrawlMan

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My favorite (most hated) subset of this genre is "How will FOREIGNER react to being in a DIFFERENT COUNTRY?!?".

There's like 5 or 6 interesting videos that can be made from that premise, so I don't know people manage to make entire channels on the topic.

And it's always the same shit too. It's either a white dude eating "gross" food or buying really cheap shit, or some Asian lady shocked that people don't remove their shoes before coming in.
This video from 7 years ago is the best one. It's one of the originators that started this. It's sad that this channel basically doesn't do anything anymore, and the last upload is from 4 years ago. They're one of the better ones. With that said, most reaction videos I don't care for aside from a few. Gamology usually have some good stuff, but they kind of fallen into a trap of reactions that are not that good (some of the time), and where they don't give enough info to the reactor.

 
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Ringo

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Why shouldn't a film be reviewed by people who aren't its target audience? What's wrong with a diversity of opinion?
 

BrawlMan

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Why shouldn't a film be reviewed by people who aren't its target audience? What's wrong with a diversity of opinion?
That's not the issue, and I welcome a diversity of opinion. My and many other problems with film critics of today, and many back then, are they expect nearly every movie to cater to their specific "artistic tastes", or expect the movies to give them the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon. They expect a movie to be like something they like, and hate on it and others for doing their own thing. There's a reason not every piece of media should play follow-the-leader. If everyone did that, things would get stale, boring, and nothing would stand out from each others. It's why all of the Jason Bourne clones are shit, and why most people don't wanna go back to that style of shaky-cam/quick cut edit non-sense.

It's funny how these critics advocate for "art" and things to be different, yet at the same time, will condemn a movie or game for being straight forward and "not experimental enough". The audience ain't the only problem with films and the film industry. They have to take responsibility too. A crowd pleaser or something everyone can enjoy is automatically bad. Nor is something that involves actors crying or sing crying for 2 hours automatically counts as good.
 

TheMysteriousGX

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It's a "like/did not like" system. That's not condemnation, that's just sorting the 5/10s away from the 6/10s. And the 44% of the critics Liked it
 

XsjadoBlaydette

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Is weird Antman Quantumania is out on multiple streaming services already but unavailable on Disney Plus - not seen that happen with previous MCU films. Wonder what the strategy is. Maybe trying to rinse more single purchases to pump those bean numbers first?
 

BrawlMan

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I know this article isn't much of a hot take, but I find it funny that The Escapist of all websites is defending Dark Knight Rises. Don't get me wrong, I like the movie and considerate a B+. But I do know 10 years ago that a lot of people on the website and certain critics either felt it wasn't as good as the previous movie, or just considered straight up bad. And the only reason that this praising is happening now, is because of Disney's low turnout rate and diminishing returns. Most audience already like Rises anyway, so this doesn't mean much to me.

 

Drathnoxis

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Why would anybody want to watch a story based show that has literal hundreds of episodes. Like it blows my mind that anybody would start watching One Piece, knowing that it has over 1000 episodes. You could watch One Piece 8 hours a day and it would 40 days to see it all. And it's still not done. There's no way that something like that will have a decent resolution that wraps the plot up and has everything come together well after 25 years.
 

BrawlMan

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Why would anybody want to watch a story based show that has literal hundreds of episodes. Like it blows my mind that anybody would start watching One Piece, knowing that it has over 1000 episodes. You could watch One Piece 8 hours a day and it would 40 days to see it all. And it's still not done. There's no way that something like that will have a decent resolution that wraps the plot up and has everything come together well after 25 years.
One Piece I dropped in 2008, and I never looked back.