Ahem:
Gandalf vs the Balrog.
And Sienna Fuegonassus is a Flame Wizard that uses both a Sword and a Magic Staff
Wizards CAN use Blades. Sometimes you have to use your own strength in a fight.
Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched
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Gandalf vs the Balrog.
And Sienna Fuegonassus is a Flame Wizard that uses both a Sword and a Magic Staff
Wizards CAN use Blades. Sometimes you have to use your own strength in a fight.
Except one of the most archetypical wizards, is kind of famous for having a magic sword. Gandalf. Though I do agree I would've preferred more Force related combat from Yoda overall.
He looked cool, and one of the writers from the EU had a fetish for them, and basically hyped them up to a ludicrous level of badassery that just failed to ever die.
Yes they were explored a lot in the EU, prior to the prequels, the problem was that there was no real consistency to their presentation. People all had their own interpretation, and would push the timeline back thousands of years to justify whatever they did that didn't fit the current model. So you had examples in some of the comics, of jedi who had families, wives and children, and then eventually you didn't. It's a big fucking mess, because the people in charge of that stuff back then were basically just greenlighting writing that today, is of a quality on par with fan fiction, and just said "sure, fuck it, whatever, just give us our cut."
Yeah, in theory I don't mind it, because to me, it's always implied the idea of "we don't risk strong emotions, because those can make us lose control, give into our emotional impulses, which can be Very Bad, given the powers we have." Hence the part of the jedi code "there is no emotion, only peace." My problem, is that the pedantic, literalists of the fanbase, and holy shit are there a lot of them, just read that entirely literally, and say "this means NO emotions!! NONE! PERIOD!" Despite countless examples of the paragon examples of the jedi, displaying emotion left and right. To me it meant "don't let emotions dictate your actions and control you. Stay calm, be disciplined, THINK about what's happening, and decide rationally. Don't let a random emotional impulse that runs through your head suddenly compel you to force choke a bit**." And being in passionate love with someone, kiiiind of leads to that level of emotional highs and lows, which is why it's dangerous. So I get it, I just don't think it was implemented very well in the stories.
Ok, going to put this out there, is Gandalf an archetypal wizard anymore? I mean, yeah, he's the old school wizard, but nowdays wizards seem to be about yelling stuff in dead (or made up) languages and CGI. You don't seem to see properly Gandalf type wizards anymore.
Oh, and 40k Space Marine Librarians are basically wizards (of the CGI throwing kind), and they have swords. And the Chief Librarian of the Dark Angels is named Ezekiel.
Oh, and 40k Space Marine Librarians are basically wizards (of the CGI throwing kind), and they have swords. And the Chief Librarian of the Dark Angels is named Ezekiel.
You've seen the ones that matter. 1-4 and the TV series were made by the original production group Stampede Entertainment. Universal Pictures has been shopping the franchise around since then, and the quality plummeted accordingly. They are admittedly not as bad a a lot of basically straight to DVD high number sequel fare... but rank way below the original.
Yeah, I watched the first 3(?) and stopped because it was clear it was self indulgent torture porn and I was kinda done with it. But as far as depressing, I'd have to go with a film like The Road or Dogville for something spirit breaking.
Well, he's obviously not a great wizard then.Ahem:
Gandalf vs the Balrog.
And Sienna Fuegonassus is a Flame Wizard that uses both a Sword and a Magic Staff
Wizards CAN use Blades. Sometimes you have to use your own strength in a fight.
Kidding.
If there's one who shouldn't, it's Yoda, after that whole speech he gave to Luke about the force and not judging him for his size.
well, I mean his lightsaber is smaller than all the other big boys. So...maybe he's just suffering from inferiority complex
The fact that he can still fight well with a Lightsabre despite his size doesn't really take away from that message if you honestly think about it.
He's using THE FORCE to move his body in a way to fight well with a Lightsabre.
A really, its clearly an homage/callback to these old martial artist/Buddhist monk Masters that can still kick your ass despite their age.
Yoda is like Master Pai Mei from Kill Bill essentially.
James Cameron was going through a divorce at the time. Can you tell?
Rocky I & II
I read somewhere that the Rocky movies more or less chronicle the benchmark moments in Stallone's life/career. Never seen any of the Rocky movies so I've decided to put that theory to the test. At least the first couple of movies appear to confirm it.
Rocky I is about an underdog who gets the chance of a lifetime to prove himself to the world, I guess much like Stallone was lucky enough to both sell his own scipt and get the lead. Rocky is a nobody working dead-end jobs to make ends meet. He's a clubfighter but it pays peanuts and even when he wins there's no glory to it (I guess that's Stallone doing his time as an extra/softcore actor - around the enviroment but cornered in a place he doesn't like). For the most part "Rocky" is a fairly grounded slice-of-life in the perennially dark and overcast Philly. The dingy realism contrasts with the fantasy element of the boxing world champion personally handpicking Rocky (he likes the name "Italian Stallion") for a New Year's bout, although I guess that's no less fantastic than Sly writing a script in a couple of weeks and getting an Oscar for it. The fight - much like the movie itself - is organized so as to capitalize on the underdog charm of some lowly clubfighter getting a shot at the world champion. Nobody seriously thinks Rocky/Sly would get anywhere, but here we are.
Rocky II continues the trend of art imitating life as the big league promoters (ie. studio) demand a rematch (ie. sequel) but Rocky wants to move on and be more than just a boxer (ie. Stallone fighting typecasting). He flat out demands desk jobs but he doesn't have the qualifications for them and will rather go back to lowly menial jobs than go back to boxing. But the realities of his newly expensive life - married, kid on the way, bigger house, newfound taste for cars and watches - forces him to finally take the money and make Rocky II... I mean fight Apollo Creed again. The movie is still relatively grounded like the first one but starts leaning a bit more on convention and the cinematography isn't as dour, using a lot of low wide comedy angles. First movie looks more like a documentary, second more like a commercial.
I read somewhere that the Rocky movies more or less chronicle the benchmark moments in Stallone's life/career. Never seen any of the Rocky movies so I've decided to put that theory to the test. At least the first couple of movies appear to confirm it.
Rocky I is about an underdog who gets the chance of a lifetime to prove himself to the world, I guess much like Stallone was lucky enough to both sell his own scipt and get the lead. Rocky is a nobody working dead-end jobs to make ends meet. He's a clubfighter but it pays peanuts and even when he wins there's no glory to it (I guess that's Stallone doing his time as an extra/softcore actor - around the enviroment but cornered in a place he doesn't like). For the most part "Rocky" is a fairly grounded slice-of-life in the perennially dark and overcast Philly. The dingy realism contrasts with the fantasy element of the boxing world champion personally handpicking Rocky (he likes the name "Italian Stallion") for a New Year's bout, although I guess that's no less fantastic than Sly writing a script in a couple of weeks and getting an Oscar for it. The fight - much like the movie itself - is organized so as to capitalize on the underdog charm of some lowly clubfighter getting a shot at the world champion. Nobody seriously thinks Rocky/Sly would get anywhere, but here we are.
Rocky II continues the trend of art imitating life as the big league promoters (ie. studio) demand a rematch (ie. sequel) but Rocky wants to move on and be more than just a boxer (ie. Stallone fighting typecasting). He flat out demands desk jobs but he doesn't have the qualifications for them and will rather go back to lowly menial jobs than go back to boxing. But the realities of his newly expensive life - married, kid on the way, bigger house, newfound taste for cars and watches - forces him to finally take the money and make Rocky II... I mean fight Apollo Creed again. The movie is still relatively grounded like the first one but starts leaning a bit more on convention and the cinematography isn't as dour, using a lot of low wide comedy angles. First movie looks more like a documentary, second more like a commercial.
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The fan adoration for Hunk is similarly bizzare. What's even more bizzare is that Capcom seems to be aware of it (pushes Hunk into numerous mercenary modes), but has never done anything with the character. And when they had a chance to (see Umbrella Corps), they didn't even use Hunk, just some bozo named A37 or something.
I think that's a fair interpretation. And I'm not absolutely opposed to Yoda using a lightaber - I mean, I like the duel between him and Palpy in Revenge.
On the other hand, our first introduction to Yoda was as a wise wizard-like character who moved things with his mind, and dismissed the idea of a "great warrior." So there's definitely some dissonance between that mindset, and him jumping around in Clones.
I think in part is that there's no emotional connection between him and Dooku, and it's come off a prior lackluster lightsabre duel. Him dueling Palpy avoids this problem given the narrative stakes and (visual) themes.
When I saw it, I couldn't tell. Makes sense though.
TBH, I've never got why so many people seem to like True Lies. Yes, I know, everyone wants to dunk on Avatar, but how come this film gets a free pass? Out of all the Cameron films I've seen (Aliens, T1/T2, Avatar), it sticks out like a sore thumb, and it's not just because it's the only non-sci-fi one.
I assume it gets a pass because it’s a fairly straightforward action comedy with little pretension beyond that. Plus that ending set piece with the Harrier is just a load of silly fun.
Apparently, during one scene with that, a stunt went "wrong" and Eliza Dushku broke a few ribs.
I say "wrong", because apparently she'd just reported the stunt co-ordinator for sexual assault, but nobody cared, which might have had something to do with it.
Rewatched True Lies for the first time in years this year. Kind of tempted to now watch it again, because a Spanish company released it on Blu-ray. As a bootleg of some HD cable presentation, it doesn't look as good as an official new scan would, but it's still far better than the DVD I had to watch because of James Cameron's disinterest and the rights issues now with Fox and Disney, who barely care about restoring anything they can't put on Disney Plus.
I heard she’d confided in a friend on set who threatened to report him and the stunt was sabotaged as a warning to her. James Cameron is a lot of things, so is Arnold Schwarzenegger - but I don’t see them being in the proverbial black book. I mean revelations in ten or twenty years from now may make me re-evaluate that but I can’t see it.
Not that Cameron was in a hurry to speak like Truman and say the buck stopped with him, but if Dushku could have named him as a coverup artist I think she would have.
Rocky III
Title scrawls sideways, "Gonna Fly Now" plays and we see the final moments of last movie's fight, as is tradition by now. Only this time we proceed to skip ahead across the years as "Eye of the Tiger" plays over a great montage that shows Rocky winning match after match while finally adopting the celebrity lifestyle he tasted in Rocky II. As he gets soft and comfy and loses his edge a rival (Clubber Lang, played by Mr. T) stews in every audience and proceeds to train as hard as Rocky is popping photoshoots and commercials. Rocky's gotten cocky so of course he loses the match and the title at the halfway point, then must remember his origins, the original driving hunger and reclaim what's his.
If Rocky is about Sly seizing the chance to prove himself and Rocky II is about being bullied into making a sequel, Rocky III is about Sly proving he isn't just a one hit wonder. The whole "still got it" morality feels disingenuous knowing this is just movie 3 out of 6 (or 8 depending how you're counting). But it is interesting to see Rocky finally become a cultural icon in fiction as he is in the real world. His statue is unveiled at the top of those famous Philly steps and yeah, statue remains there in reality. "Gonna Fly Now" becomes a diegetic part of the soundtrack (and Tony and Mickey are sick of hearing it), as does "Eye of the Tiger" (Paulie brings a boombox to the gym as if that's gonna trigger a training montage). When Mickey reveals every fight following Creed's was carefully curated in Rocky's favor, that's Sly's insecurities about not being the real deal and therefore undeserving of his own fame.
With Rocky III we're officially in cheesy 80s territory as well.
Title scrawls sideways, "Gonna Fly Now" plays and we see the final moments of last movie's fight, as is tradition by now. Only this time we proceed to skip ahead across the years as "Eye of the Tiger" plays over a great montage that shows Rocky winning match after match while finally adopting the celebrity lifestyle he tasted in Rocky II. As he gets soft and comfy and loses his edge a rival (Clubber Lang, played by Mr. T) stews in every audience and proceeds to train as hard as Rocky is popping photoshoots and commercials. Rocky's gotten cocky so of course he loses the match and the title at the halfway point, then must remember his origins, the original driving hunger and reclaim what's his.
If Rocky is about Sly seizing the chance to prove himself and Rocky II is about being bullied into making a sequel, Rocky III is about Sly proving he isn't just a one hit wonder. The whole "still got it" morality feels disingenuous knowing this is just movie 3 out of 6 (or 8 depending how you're counting). But it is interesting to see Rocky finally become a cultural icon in fiction as he is in the real world. His statue is unveiled at the top of those famous Philly steps and yeah, statue remains there in reality. "Gonna Fly Now" becomes a diegetic part of the soundtrack (and Tony and Mickey are sick of hearing it), as does "Eye of the Tiger" (Paulie brings a boombox to the gym as if that's gonna trigger a training montage). When Mickey reveals every fight following Creed's was carefully curated in Rocky's favor, that's Sly's insecurities about not being the real deal and therefore undeserving of his own fame.
With Rocky III we're officially in cheesy 80s territory as well.
Watched Scream again for the first time in ages, like, probably twenty years, and it was really damn fun. Eventhough it rebirthed the teen slasher, resulting in a slew of shitty movies, that first Scream is really quite good. The opening scene is still pretty impactful, and the characters feel likeable and distinct. The horror movie call-outs can feel rather obnoxious at times though. Like, I understand the one horror movie geek who works in a videostore won't be able to shut up about it, but even Sidney, who admitted to hating horror movies, is dishing out obscure references. I know you're being cheeky about your own genre Scream, but you're kinda rocking the ladder a bit too much with this kinda dialoge. Anyway, still great fun though.
Also, the dude who played Courtney Cox's camera man, the one who gets his throat slit, is totally the guy who played Bill in The Last of Us.
I also watched the Friday the 13th reboot/remake/whatever, and it fucking sucked. I think this was made around the same time as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, which was actually kinda decent, but this movie was just trash. And not the entertaining kind. First of all the movie is too darkly contrasted to properly see anything, and then you add the shaky cam for even less visual fidelity. And the characters, Jesus Christ! Maybe that's why Scream's characters felt so great, since I watched it after Friday. I think the only character I sorta liked was the asian dude. This is my first time watching a Friday the 13th movie though, so maybe this is par the course. Garbage movie.
Also, the dude who played Courtney Cox's camera man, the one who gets his throat slit, is totally the guy who played Bill in The Last of Us.
I also watched the Friday the 13th reboot/remake/whatever, and it fucking sucked. I think this was made around the same time as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, which was actually kinda decent, but this movie was just trash. And not the entertaining kind. First of all the movie is too darkly contrasted to properly see anything, and then you add the shaky cam for even less visual fidelity. And the characters, Jesus Christ! Maybe that's why Scream's characters felt so great, since I watched it after Friday. I think the only character I sorta liked was the asian dude. This is my first time watching a Friday the 13th movie though, so maybe this is par the course. Garbage movie.
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