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

[Gordon_4]

Sci-fi movies that aren’t Star Wars need to get off their high horse and start using laser guns again. If you're incapable of that, at least make an effort to disguise that you’re using normal guns. Or use failed but space age looking prototypes or something.

 

[BrawlMan]

Sci-fi movies that aren’t Star Wars need to get off their high horse and start using laser guns again. If you're incapable of that, at least make an effort to disguise that you’re using normal guns. Or use failed but space age looking prototypes or something.

Aliens pretty much killed laser guns in sci-fi films. The reason you don't see them anymore, outside cartoons and anime, is because of the obsession with either "realism", too goofy, too kiddie (in certain circles), or an old worn out idea. Despite the fact, all of the other sci-fi have been dragged to death too.

 

[Offworlder]

- Exactly one good album came out of grunge, Nevermind. The rest was pretty trash and any band that survived it went on to make much more interesting music later in the 90's. People who act like it was some magical time for rock music are delusional.

- Blonde by Frank Ocean is one of the most overrated pieces of media ever. The only reason people were gushing over it was the build up and the anticipation of a new Frank album after all the memes surrounding it. People were saying it would down down as a classic, but no one talks about it when it comes to great pop/hip hop albums of recent history, nor should it be. Its unfocused, boring, and has like, four or five interesting songs that are worth listening to. It doesn't help that the only defence people seem to come up with when I bring this up is that I don't "understand" it. People were desperate for a classic and have been overcompensating since because it wasn't.

- Most of The Walking Dead is tedious and people only ever talk about the violent moments anymore.

- Luther is the greatest non-anime tv show ever created.

- We are living through the greatest period in pop music ever. The variety, talent, access to an audience and an audiences access to an artist is the best it's ever been.

- How anyone enjoys Woody Allan films is beyond me.

- Tarantino's a hack who makes good, not great, movies. I hate people who claim him to be some genius because of all the homages he pulls out of his ass. His camera work is basic, his editing is simple and he leans way too far into 'bad acting is good acting if it's camp'. Not to say I don't enjoy his films, but to put him up there with all the directors he rips off is weird.

- The approach of pumping out as much media as possible has made big franchises boring af. When ever I see a new MCU or Star Wars movie or tv show I roll my eyes, and when I see any franchise going down that road I instantly lose interest.

 

[BrawlMan]

- Exactly one good album came out of grunge, Nevermind. The rest was pretty trash and any band that survived it went on to make much more interesting music later in the 90's. People who act like it was some magical time for rock music are delusional.

Aside from a few songs, the only grunge album I ever liked was Comix Zone.

Blonde by Frank Ocean is one of the most overrated pieces of media ever. The only reason people were gushing over it was the build up and the anticipation of a new Frank album after all the memes surrounding it. People were saying it would down down as a classic, but no one talks about it when it comes to great pop/hip hop albums of recent history, nor should it be. Its unfocused, boring, and has like, four or five interesting songs that are worth listening to. It doesn't help that the only defence people seem to come up with when I bring this up is that I don't "understand" it. People were desperate for a classic and have been overcompensating since because it wasn't.

I don't even know who that is nor the album. I'll take your word for it.

Most of The Walking Dead is tedious and people only ever talk about the violent moments anymore.

I stopped watching after season 2.

- We are living through the greatest period in pop music ever. The variety, talent, access to an audience and an audiences access to an artist is the best it's ever been.

I disagree, the pop industry and pop music itself has not changed all that much, and still puts out shitty, manufactured music. Maybe there's a small bump in quality, but it does not make up for the overall quality, nor the shady activities that come from the industry itself.

- How anyone enjoys Woody Allan films is beyond me.

I never watched one, nor do I intend to ever.

Tarantino's a hack who makes good, not great, movies. I hate people who claim him to be some genius because of all the homages he pulls out of his ass. His camera work is basic, his editing is simple and he leans way too far into 'bad acting is good acting if it's camp'. Not to say I don't enjoy his films, but to put him up there with all the directors he rips off is weird.

I agree. He suffers from the Family Guy problem of just making references to coast by.

 

[Ezekiel]

Why do I have an avatar? Before I stopped coming here, I removed my avatar. Did some mod give me one? I don't think I ever even used this avatar on the new site. Pretty sure it was always Kate Bush.

My hot take is that, while Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Temple of Doom are great movies, The Last Crusade isn't good. I definitely prefer the Indiana who would just shoot the bad guy over the comedic master of disguise in the third one. I hoped I would like it more after not watching it for several years, but, sadly, it's even worse than I remember. Even more a retread than I remember. There's nothing truly thrilling for me in this movie. Not a single set-piece pumped me up like the previous movies. The movie just leaves me feeling kind of deflated. George Lucas didn't have an awesome idea with this one, so he just repeated some stuff from the first one, perhaps as an overreaction to Doom's reception.

Raiders: Jones has to pick up the trail of his old teacher (who was after the treasure), who disappeared.
Last Crusade: Jones has to pick up the trail of his father (who was after the treasure), who disappeared.

Raiders: French collector of relics uses Nazis to get his treasure.
Last Crusade: American collector of relics uses Nazis to get his treasure.

Other more obvious similarities that I won't mention.

The introduction with young Indy doesn't do much for me, because I personally don't care about how he became Indy. It does set up the relationship with his father nicely, but that's about it.

The search feels more convoluted and unbelievable this time. I didn't even understand the mental leap he made in the library. The Wikipedia contributor who skipped to the part where they go underneath apparently didn't either. Why does the floor look so different between these shots? I thought for a second when they were down there that the numeral was supposed to be a shadow.

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Jones tells whatshername that the water under the library is full of petroleum. Then he lights a torch. Isn't he at all worried about any of the lit petroleum dripping off the torch?

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Like it does profusely in this shot? Later, the whole place goes up in flames by someone else's action.

How did that member of the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword know that Jones' father was being held in the Castle of Brunwald? That brotherhood is unbelievable too. So they've been passing their knowledge down in secret for eight centuries. Doing mostly nothing in all that time, for only a fraction of that time would have people looking for the grail. I think they'd just get bored.

Later, Jones Sr. tells his son that they have to go to Berlin because he can't remember three lines of text that he wrote into a book that he left there. Three lines of text. They go there partly so that Jones Jr. can meet one of the worst physical impressions of Adolf Hitler.

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Also, very coincidental that he meets Elsa Schneider there in a huge crowd. She's easily the blandest of all the love interests in Indiana Jones.

I can't stomach the humor. The librarian who stamps his books while Jones hammers the floor. Jones Sr. asking what happens at eleven o'clock. Jones with his bad Scottish accent. Marcus Brody being much more a bumbling fool than he was in Raiders. The fighter pilot checking out the Jones' ride. This ridiculous bow:

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Connery's grey beard doesn't hide that he is almost in the same age group as Ford. I have to commend him for presumably getting through college as a teen parent.

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A knight has been with the grail for seven hundred years. How did he not go mad? That whole story stretches my suspension of disbelief farther than anything in the prior movies. What is his reaction after Jones tells him that he has been there for so long? Not shock or sadness or any kind of believable human emotion.

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I much preferred the magic in Indiana Jones being more incorporeal.

One of the three sentences that Jones Sr. couldn't remember was about the word of God, but that trial is stupid. Someone could just throw a ladder or something over all the wrong letters and then walk across.

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The bullets are coming out of the nose of the fighter plane, yet the spread (where the clouds are) is about twenty feet.

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If Jones Jr.'s plan was to have the Nazis chase the boat, why didn't he wait until he heard their motor?

Jones puts a rock into the end of a canon, which causes it to turn into a flower when shot. A boat slowly gets shredded by a ship propeller, yet remains steady, as Jones interrogates his assailant. I know Indiana Jones was always cartoony, but this movie took it to a new level. I am an unapologetic fanboy of Temple of Doom, which is often derided as the silliest of the three. Even the first one had ridiculous things like the boulder activated by a scale that would have just rolled above Jones had he stayed put, and the monkey saluting Hitler and informing the bad guys. But Last Crusade is dumber, more boring, unfunnier and safer. Some plausibility is important even in fantasy.

The temple they look for would be easy to find by anyone living in the region. The hostile brotherhood near there would only make people more curious and aggressive. Raiders of the Lost Ark and Temple of Doom had the benefit of burying the treasures that the bad guys were looking for. It doesn't have this Uncharted level of logic of plainly visible, easy to find ancient ruins.

At least the son and father's estranged relationship is well done and pays off in the end, with Indy choosing his father over the cup. Not a bad movie, but not really good and certainly overrated.

 

[Thaluikhain]

They go there partly so that Jones Jr. can meet one of the worst physical impressions of Adolf Hitler.

That actor played Hitler in about 6 different things, IIRC.

One of the three sentences that Jones Sr. couldn't remember was about the word of God, but that trial is stupid. Someone could just throw a ladder or something over all the wrong letters and then walk across.

I always favoured just examined each letter to see if it took weight, myself, the crumbly ones seemed very crumbly. Also, looks like nobody had made a mistake there before, they are all intact.

Even the first one had ridiculous things like the boulder activated by a scale

Actually, that one annoys me, gold is extremtly dense (About 19g per cm^3, lead being about 11 and water being 1). You'd need loads of sand to equal the weight of even a small gold statuette. Movies always get this wrong.

 

[Ezekiel]

I should also point out that it's so inorganic to have the origin of Indy's whip, hat and scar explained in a span of ten minutes of his childhood.

 

[twistedmic]

The current trend of having every detail of a character and their backstory explained on camera is actively harming the artistry/magic of movies and TV. Not all questions need to be answered and we don't need to know how Awesome McCoolguy got his Amazing Spacemetal Death-Killing gun/sword.

 

[Offworlder]

The current trend of having every detail of a character and their backstory explained on camera is actively harming the artistry/magic of movies and TV. Not all questions need to be answered and we don't need to know how Awesome McCoolguy got his Amazing Spacemetal Death-Killing gun/sword.

YMS did a great breakdown on why this ruins a character in a movie in his recent Cruella review.

Spoilers for Cruella, obviously:

 

[Bob_McMillan]

The current trend of having every detail of a character and their backstory explained on camera is actively harming the artistry/magic of movies and TV. Not all questions need to be answered and we don't need to know how Awesome McCoolguy got his Amazing Spacemetal Death-Killing gun/sword.

Today I learned that the Black Widow movie explains how she got the vest she wears in Infinity War. Her fucking vest. Jesus, people used to joke that the Han Solo sequel (when they were still planning to have one) would reveal how Han got his trademark vest. To see this meme actually happen is hilarious. And for a much less iconic vest no less.

OT: I'll never understand becoming a fan of a personality. Whether a Hollywood actor or a Kpop star, I've always found it odd that people would consume media or products just because their favorite celebrity is involved. Like the infamous McDonald's BTS meal. There are many actors who I think are great, but not a single one of them could not get me to watch a movie I'm not already interested in just because they're in it.

 

[BrawlMan]

OT: I'll never understand becoming a fan of a personality. Whether a Hollywood actor or a Kpop star, I've always found it odd that people would consume media or products just because their favorite celebrity is involved. Like infamous McDonald's BTS meal. There are many actors who I think are great, but not a single one of them could not get me to watch a movie I'm not already interested in just because they're in it.

I get it, because most us of are all guilty of this at some point. I'm sure you have at least done this a couple of times, even you don't remember. There were plenty of times as a kid or teenager where my big bro and I would watch certain movies, because it had our favorite actor(s) in it. Sometimes this is not always a bad thing, because if the movie as unique premise, good story, and an excellent cast of characters and personalities, that can make the audience or viewer all the more invested. Grow that person's tastes, if they wish. I did this with Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, Jackie Chan, Eddie Murphy, Van Damme, etc. Especially if they are talented people in their field, and their cool people on and off camera.

My parents are guilty of this too, but it's usually because they recognize talent even more so. Now I have learned to watch movies over the years, because they trying something unique, different, or a familiar, but well made film. With that said, there are certain movies I will still watch in addition of well known, or underrated actor or voice actor in a show, movie, or animated feature.

The other reason people do this is if, the thing they are watching is bad to begin with, they'll watch it for a certain character or actor, because they are either the best part or one that is running circles around everyone else.

 

[Piscian]

OT: I'll never understand becoming a fan of a personality. Whether a Hollywood actor or a Kpop star, I've always found it odd that people would consume media or products just because their favorite celebrity is involved. Like the infamous McDonald's BTS meal. There are many actors who I think are great, but not a single one of them could not get me to watch a movie I'm not already interested in just because they're in it.

I can think of two reasons I do. It's usually actors who both consistently give outstanding performances and are very picky about projects they'll take. So like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Pattison, Adam driver, Scarlett Johansson etc come to mind. Directors like David Fincher and Taika Waititi. I'll watch pretty much anything Mike Flanagan does. This is specifically because at this point in their careers they're only doing passion projects. Thats not to say I'll watch anything blindly. "Wratch Of Man" came to my attention the other day because its Jason Statham who I still think is a pretty solid actor even when not kicking people. This I heard it was Guy Ritchie drama and was getting reviewed fairly so I checked it out.

I follow Actors and Directors/Writers who are doing interesting things that aren't always on the radar, but I concede thats a little more justified than just fan followings.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Gonna be honest, only reason I been watching Loki is cause of Tom Hiddleston. And sci-fi shenanigans. The other two Marvel shows just didn't appeal enough to even try, plus hearing other ppl talk about them didn't sound too exciting.

 

[BrawlMan]

Gonna be honest, only reason I been watching Loki is cause of Tom Hiddleston. And sci-fi shenanigans. The other two Marvel shows just didn't appeal enough to even try, plus hearing other ppl talk about them didn't sound too exciting.

I can't even watch those, because I don't have Disney Plus. Nor do I want at the moment. So I'm just going to wait for DVD and Blu-ray.

 

[twistedmic]

Today I learned that the Black Widow movie explains how she got the vest she wears in Infinity War. Her fucking vest. Jesus, people used to joke that the Han Solo sequel (when they were still planning to have one) would reveal how Han got his trademark vest. To see this meme actually happen is hilarious. And for a much less iconic vest no less.

I was never that invested (no pun intended) in the MCU, so maybe I missed something, but I didn’t realize Black Widow’s vest was anything important. I just assumed she picked it up at the spy store/armory with the rest of her gear.

And didn’t Solo give backstory into how Han got his blaster? I never saw the movie because I thought it was a pointless, heartless cash grab and seeing the Millennium Falcon looking all shiny and new less than a decade before it will look like a broken down shitbox made me mad.

 

[BrawlMan]

Batman movies need to get back the zaniness of Batman & Robin.

To add to this hot take, I want live-action Robin back in the films and not to be constantly ignored, killed off, or play second fiddle. The animated series got perfectly. Why can't the film industry do the same thing? BTW, Tim Burton and Daniel Waters can fuck off about their opinions on Robin/Dick Grayson. They clearly hate the character and legacy character.

Drive (1997) >>>the entire Rush Hour franchise.

 

[BrawlMan]

I prefer most of Tony Scott's films over Ridley Scott's films.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

So apparently Don Cheadle got an Emmy nomination for his 95 second cameo in Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

So why do awards shows/organizations even exist again?

 

[BrawlMan]

So apparently Don Cheadle got an Emmy nomination for his 95 second cameo in Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

So why do awards shows/organizations even exist again?

Because it's the academy and the Hollywood hype machine patting each other on the back and sucking each other's genitals. Making achievements for doing absolutely nothing or acting like they solve all the world's problems. Nothing more than to make themselves feel good. A glorified safe space.

I love Don Cheadle, don't get me wrong. Fabulous actor and one of my favorites from the 2000s and 2010s, but he's gotten better awards for bigger roles in movies back then.

 

[thebobmaster]

What annoyed me more is that that is literally the only nomination FATWS received. Nothing for Sebastian Stan. Nothing for Anthony Mackie. Nothing for Wyatt Russell. But Don Cheadle showed up for about a minute and a half, and he's a name people know, so there's the nomination.