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

Piscian

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The Spider-man: homecoming trilogy is a closer spiritual adaptation of the comics than the Raimi Trilogy. Where as The Raimi Trilogy only depicted Spider-Man as a miserable loser all the time, the new trilogy is more inline with Spider-Man being happy go lucky with occasionally dark periods.
 
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Xprimentyl

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Futurerama hasn't aged well. It's not bad, but a lot of the humor is a lot more juvenile and dumb than I remember it being when it was new. It still has a few flashes of cleverness, but ultimately, how it leans on Fry's stupidity and Bender's burping fire for gags... meh. I still like it watching again through roses-tinted glasses, but I think had it come out now in this fashion, it wouldn't hold my attention.
 
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BrawlMan

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Futurerama hasn't aged well. It's not bad, but a lot of the humor is a lot more juvenile and dumber than I remember it being when it was new. It still has a few flashes of cleverness, but ultimately, how it leans on Fry's stupidity and Bender's burping fire for gags... meh. I still like it watching again through roses-tinted glasses, but I think had it come out now in this fashion, it wouldn't hold my attention.
Honestly, Fry is not that dumb in the first season. The second, third, and later seasons on the other hand was when the writers went overboard on it. By the 3rd season, Fry pretty much became a 20s something version of Homer Simpsons. Some of the revival episodes dialed his idiocy back a bit, but it still depended on who was writing for what episode or special.

Speaking of things not aging well: The second season of PPG only has one good half. People like to hate on Season 4, but still say half of Season 2 is in third place after S5&S6. The problem with the season was having the girls, and certain other nice characters turn in to complete jackasses for either the sake of the joke or being too mean spirited for no reason other than the writers were getting away with it at the time. It makes it hard to root for the girls (depending on the episode) or said normally good side characters.

Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends was never a good show. It had one good pilot movie and one decent final movie. Similar to PPG, one of the main characters (Bloo) went from a decent and nice guy to egotistical, loudmouth, know-nothing troublemaker after the 3rd episode in its first season. There's a good reason why I never watched too many reruns and decided to drop the show after the 2nd season.
 
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thebobmaster

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She-Hulk is the second-best Disney+ MCU show, and third-best MCU show overall.
 

BrawlMan

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Glitch Techs is a better Ghostbuster show than either of the recent Ghostbuster movies, and better than all the MIB sequels. GT is the better version of Danny Phantom too. It's one of Nickelodeon's better original IPs in years. Free Guys, take plenty of lessons from this! This is how you show gamers as people! Not the stereotypical basement dwelling jackass stereotypes. Nor pandering to some streamers who became less relevant the moment the movie finished airing in theaters.
 

BrawlMan

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An Escapist original -
Honestly, the end of "Golden Age television", happened all the way back in the mid-2000s for me. At this point it's just whatever is on is good, bad, or mediocre. I only watch shows that I know I'm going to enjoy and not going to be wasting my time....usually. Even shows that are claimed to be great, groundbreaking, and all that and a bag of chips, I usually don't have too much interest in. I remember when Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones were getting all this praise, and I was like what else is new? Show me something I haven't already seen before. I'll give each respective show credit for what they accomplished, but both were over hyped, with certain people watching them for the wrong reasons (misaimed fandom).

I haven't watched the video yet, but I just wanted to put my own perspective on it.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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Honestly, the end of "Golden Age television", and it all the way back in the mid-2000s for me. At this point it's just whatever is on is good, bad, or mediocre. I only watch shows that I know I'm going to enjoy and not going to be wasting my time....usually. And even shows that are claim to be great, groundbreaking, and all that in a bag of chips, I usually don't have too much interest in. I remember when Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones were getting all this praise, and I was like what else is new? Show me something I haven't already seen before. I'll give each respective show credit for what they accomplished, but both were over hyped, with certain people watching them for the wrong reasons (misaimed fandom).

I haven't watched the video yet, but I just wanted to put my own perspective on it.
Reminds me of a certain subset of SoulsBorne fans.

“Teh difficulty!! Harrrd-corrrre!!”
 
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BrawlMan

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Reminds me of a certain subset of SoulsBorne fans.

“Teh difficulty!! Harrrd-corrrre!!”
I just finished the video and it was about what I expected. The reason why there's less moral ambiguity in the more recent shows after GOT and Breaking Bad, is because you can only do moral ambiguity and grim & gritty so many times before they becomes old hat (or gets too bleak and is thus boring). The same thing can be said with anything that's more of a black and white (with the shades of gray in-between) view or white and gray view done too much or oversaturation. Me personally, I usually prefer the media that has black and white, but is not afraid to explore, discuss, and understand the gray areas. Gray and gray morality can work, but similar to black and gray, if there is no one to care about, loss of interest, or the writing just plain bad, then it won't hold my attention. Sometimes a grey and gray piece of media can be just as bad, as something that's black and gray, or evil vs evil, depending on how it's done. Even if one or two are a success, it doesn't mean I need to see about 10,000 slight variations of the same thing over and over again. That's why I couldn't stand the majority of Jason Bourne (the sequels after the third one) and 24 clones. With the JB example, I can't stand the second movie because the way it shot and taking itself way too seriously. Which led to so many bad imitators. I'm glad most of that era is dead and buried.
 
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BrawlMan

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I can see where Moore is coming from, and he has some points, but adults loving/liking superheroes is not all doom and gloom. You're always going to have your misaimed fandom (including those who try lie, manipulates, and use half-truths on said misaimed fandom), no matter how explicit or subtle you are with each message or statement. That is an unfortunate reality with all media of all types. Moore has every right to hate or dislike the comic industry and Hollywood system, but that does not mean I or those with a more balanced outlook are going to give it up altogether. Plenty of superhero adaptions or originals properties are going into their own directions, experimenting with different concepts/new perspectives, evolve their messages to further and new heights, or just know when to have fun.
 
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Gordon_4

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hanselthecaretaker

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Can’t help but find a fucked up bit of irony in this. It’s not comic books/movies’ faults that people might have an “infantile urge” for simpler times, when their existence is merely one effect of a much larger, more complex causation created by so-called “adults” doing all their “adulting” bullshit at the expense of everyone else.

Want to be an adult? How about our “adult” leaders fix our broken education, healthcare and tax systems so that future generations have a fighting chance again instead of being saddled with previous generations’ lingering and ever-growing baggage.
 
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Old_Hunter_77

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I miss "Oscar bait" movies.

For those unfamiliar with the term, Oscar bait refers to movies that come off as if they were made to win Academy Awards. Also known as "prestige" or "serious" films, they typically cast one or two mega-stars who are also respected for their skill, are dramatic, and address a serious issue such as racism or war or poverty. Euro-centric period pieces especially set around World War 2 or Victorian England are favorites. More recently a trend of movies about movies, entertainment or Hollywood.

And I always made fun of them, and I still will, and I know they still get made. But the market realities of the last decade have squeezed "mid-tier" adult-oriented films.

The advantage of "Oscar bait" films is that it pushed actors and cinematographers to push their skill and collaboration. The now belove Tom Hanks for example made one of the all-time Oscar bait films Philadelphia playing an AIDS patient seeking legal justice (at the time, AIDS was controversial). The movie is actually a solid piece of dramatic story-telling despite its formula. This helped transition Hanks from being a beloved comic lead to a "serious actor," which put him in a position to make Castaway which is just great and wouldn't be nothing without his unique presence.

While it was totally legit and correct to criticize the Academy of Motion Pictures and the movie studios for playing this ridiculous game of creating, hyping and celebrating these same kinds of movies (with infamous victors such as Crash), we've now gone too far the other way where I miss movies for adults.
 

BrawlMan

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I miss "Oscar bait" movies.

For those unfamiliar with the term, Oscar bait refers to movies that come off as if they were made to win Academy Awards. Also known as "prestige" or "serious" films, they typically cast one or two mega-stars who are also respected for their skill, are dramatic, and address a serious issue such as racism or war or poverty. Euro-centric period pieces especially set around World War 2 or Victorian England are favorites. More recently a trend of movies about movies, entertainment or Hollywood.

And I always made fun of them, and I still will, and I know they still get made. But the market realities of the last decade have squeezed "mid-tier" adult-oriented films.

The advantage of "Oscar bait" films is that it pushed actors and cinematographers to push their skill and collaboration. The now belove Tom Hanks for example made one of the all-time Oscar bait films Philadelphia playing an AIDS patient seeking legal justice (at the time, AIDS was controversial). The movie is actually a solid piece of dramatic story-telling despite its formula. This helped transition Hanks from being a beloved comic lead to a "serious actor," which put him in a position to make Castaway which is just great and wouldn't be nothing without his unique presence.

While it was totally legit and correct to criticize the Academy of Motion Pictures and the movie studios for playing this ridiculous game of creating, hyping and celebrating these same kinds of movies (with infamous victors such as Crash), we've now gone too far the other way where I miss movies for adults.
I for one, don't miss Oscar bait and got much less patience for it during my late teens and very early adulthood. I understood good it brought to the table, but not everyone tried, nor tried as hard as they should have or could have. Not to mention it's just so predictable at this point. It's usually Hollywood being up their own asses. Sturgeon's law still applies either way.
 

Thaluikhain

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I dunno, Oscar bait is so easy to make fun of. I know I'm not supposed to laugh at OtT tragedies set in horrible historical periods, but sometimes I can't help it.
 
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Xprimentyl

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Futurama may have lost its edge over time, but with its crass depiction of racial stereotypes and shameless gags at the expense of the LGBTQ+ community, it has no shortage of modern cancel fuel.
 
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Bob_McMillan

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I kinda feel like I posted this already, but I really don't get the appeal of the Rock. People say he oozes charisma but his presence in anything always makes me write the movie off as something to watch when you've got nothing left.

I've been thinking about this for the past 5 minutes and I genuinely can't think of a movie starring him that I actually liked.