...Pacific Rim had comedy? I'm not trolling you here, I just genuinely don't remember any.OlasDAlmighty said:Pacific Rim has more comedy in it than Grown Ups did, and from what I've heard Grownups 2 is even worse.
Pacific Rim sells on the fact it has big robots and monsters. Turns out that isn't as big a draw as we all thought. As far as plot goes, all the bits which weren't robots punching monsters (and as the film wore on, even some of the bits that were about giant battles) were really dull and cheesier than an unwashed penis. I say this as someone who saw it the day after release and really wanted to love it, but the movie was pretty bad outside of the (admittedly epic) fight scenes.Lovely Mixture said:Pacific Rim sells on its plot and Guillermo del Toro's directing it. For it to make 3rd place, I'm happy enough.
Well yeah, that is its plot. We seem to be on the same page.SonicWaffle said:Pacific Rim sells on the fact it has big robots and monsters.
It's what Guillermo does best, love or hate the man. His spectacles are nice to look at.SonicWaffle said:3rd place is pretty good for a movie wwhose only selling point is impressive spectacle.
I'd call that a concept rather than a plot. If the entire plot were just "robots and monsters fighting" nothing would ever be explained, it'd just be a constant fight scene. The plot itself, near as I can recall, was about emotionally damaged people overcoming their problems to kick some ass, and I just didn't connect with it. It felt very much like what it was; an excuse for the fight scenes. I don't have a problem with that per se, but when the excuse plot takes up way more time than the reason I came to see the movie, I find myself getting pretty darn bored.Lovely Mixture said:Well yeah, that is its plot. We seem to be on the same page.SonicWaffle said:Pacific Rim sells on the fact it has big robots and monsters.
Certainly, I'm not disagreeing there. As I said, though, it's the balance issue. Spectacle was the selling point, and as such it should have been the driving force, not an occasional aside so the movie could focus more on the comparatively weak human drama element.Lovely Mixture said:It's what Guillermo does best, love or hate the man. His spectacles are nice to look at.SonicWaffle said:3rd place is pretty good for a movie wwhose only selling point is impressive spectacle.
True, you could argue that. I mean, the concept has been used so much that it's hard to call it a standard plot instead of a gimmick.SonicWaffle said:I'd call that a concept rather than a plot. If the entire plot were just "robots and monsters fighting" nothing would ever be explained, it'd just be a constant fight scene. The plot itself, near as I can recall, was about emotionally damaged people overcoming their problems to kick some ass, and I just didn't connect with it.
That can be a problem. I haven't seen the film yet, but this gives me a good idea about what to be cautious for.SonicWaffle said:It felt very much like what it was; an excuse for the fight scenes. I don't have a problem with that per se, but when the excuse plot takes up way more time than the reason I came to see the movie, I find myself getting pretty darn bored.
My bad, I didn't mean to sound argumentative when I said that.SonicWaffle said:Certainly, I'm not disagreeing there. As I said, though, it's the balance issue. Spectacle was the selling point, and as such it should have been the driving force, not an occasional aside so the movie could focus more on the comparatively weak human drama element.
Barely. The part where the scientists awkwardly try to shake hands made me chuckle a little bit, as did several scenes with Ron Pearlman which I don't want to spoil. I don't think I laughed once during Grownups, though I did dose off for about 15 minutes, so maybe that 15 minutes was where all the comedy was.SonicWaffle said:...Pacific Rim had comedy? I'm not trolling you here, I just genuinely don't remember any.OlasDAlmighty said:Pacific Rim has more comedy in it than Grown Ups did, and from what I've heard Grownups 2 is even worse.
I wouldn't necessarily call it "comedy" but there was some humor in the movie, namely in the interactions between the "mad scientist" characters of Charlie Day and Burn Gorman. Also some bits with Ron Perlman that I won't spoil either.SonicWaffle said:...Pacific Rim had comedy? I'm not trolling you here, I just genuinely don't remember any.OlasDAlmighty said:Pacific Rim has more comedy in it than Grown Ups did, and from what I've heard Grownups 2 is even worse.
Why would you read a book? We have the internet, we have video games, we have movies, we have much much more effective ways of conveying an idea and emotion. The smugness and sense of superiority over 'the mainstream' is palpable.Callate said:I am not mainstream America.
Sometimes, I'm very, very glad of this.
It's hard to resist the urge to rage. It's so tempting to scream at the 33% of high school graduates who never read another book after graduation and the 43% of college graduates who do the same. The people who make "Honey Boo Boo" and "Jersey Shore" into major success stories.
To snarl the ever-popular, "This is why we can't have nice things!!"
But what will change from my snarling and sneering? I mean, if giant robots fighting sea monsters is just a little too high-brow fer yeh, how am I ever going to change your mind by moving my face-parts? (And I'm perfectly aware that posting this on The Escapist is largely preaching to the choir.)
*sigh*