The Big Picture: Summer's End

[Stabby Joe]

Good run down but why is it the second I saw the title before watching this video I thought "another Man of Steel back peddle"?

Well, seems we'll get a whole video. I guarantee it will go down "well"...

 

[BrotherRool]

I think this whole Man of Steel fixation is becoming perverse. We get it. You didn't like it. Please stop molesting that poor dead horse.

Hopefully he'll do his video next week and then it will be off his chest. I do admit I'm finding this MoS backlash pretty much as boring as the dark and gritty age of comic book films which never actually happened was itself.

I was really happy when he wasn't going to do a negative list precisely because I didn't want to go over the same territory again, but the issue was clearly weighing on him and hopefully we can all let it die after next week

 

[xPixelatedx]

Star Trek:Into Darkness
An actual attempt to please fans and give the movie a Star Trek feeling; something immensely lacking from the first film. Things actually felt intense, and the movie wasn't afraid of anything. The story even stuck to it's canonical roots by making specific 'things' happen around the time they were supposed to, which makes sense given that this is an alternate universe/timeline.
Verdict: pandering.

Iron Man 3
Gave fans the finger and made fun of them for liking the "strange" things that encompass the franchise. Played it ultra-safe to adhere to very MUTED universe 'movie Iron Man' lives in. Boring, long and villain wasn't much of a threat (again). "Oh no, this guy turns hot...! So much worse then that alien army and god I fought just recently!" Yet another showcase for Robert Downey jr. to look smug for two hours with complete, paralyzing fear that staying true to the "silly" source material in the least would distract from his awe and wonder.
Verdict: brilliant.


That said, I did like the twist in Iron Man 3, loved it in fact... I just wish it had a payoff. You don't pull a bait & switch with a villain just to introduce a weaker one. I will simply never understand how this was supposed to be compelling in any way what so ever.

 

[PunkRex]

I'm not sure if I wanna read all the butt hurt comments about Superman, it was a decent film but some people have been getting reeeeeeeeal defensive about it.

As for the list, I didn't see that many films this summer but i'd proberly agree that Pacific Rim is on top, it had flaws but it was good to see Hollywood embrace that sort of thing properly.

I saw Elysium yesterday and I gotta say I was disappointed. The story was so message driven it became cheesy, I mean surely they could have had one of those med-bays in the factory, just one to fix any workers that got hurt. I understand that the film was trying to make a point but theres a line between obvious and agressive and the film crossed it. What the hell was that little girl about!? They didn't need her in the story she was just there out of some cliched counter argument to the defence ladies 'think of the children' line, pointless character. The mercs were fun but just made the morality of the thing laughable, Spider was the only character I could really take seriously.

Sorry but Elysium not Man of Steel is the most disappointing film of the summer period.

It spent too much time on flashbacks and then all the action was a blurry shaky-cam mess the worst i've ever seen and I have never been more disappointed.


This year overall has been terrible with 4 films I was really looking forward to Man of Steel, Iron Man 3, Elysium and Pacific Rim all suffering the same problem!

The 3rd act battle was BORING!

Also this, I have never liked shaky cam and although it can suit a films aesthetic (gritty realism, etc) Kung Fu films can acheive this look and still produce kick ass fight scenes. Hollywood, pan the f*ck out! I wanna see the giant robot kill the alien Godzilla!!!

 

[TakerFoxx]

And once again I find myself in the awkward position of thinking that Pacific Rim was a massive disappointment and was actually pretty boring while everyone else loves it.

Ah well. Differences of taste, I guess.

 

[AJey]

Can't help but disagree with a big portion of the list. Horror movies are horrible. You can fall for them, get scared, but they still remain horrible. Whether its first person perspective of the Maniac or another haunted house re-imagining, they are still boring at its core because of their similarity to one another. You've seen a few horror movies, you've seen them all.
And Iron Man 3? Really? With its absurd plot and most stupid superpowers imaginable? With its silly twists for the sake of being twists and unnecessary humor that constantly breaks the flow of the movie? Do I have to mention the disappointment of so many people seeing Mandarin as some parody? There's so little sense in that movie that Avengers is starting to look like a documentary. Sorry. Iron Man is probably my most favourite superhero. Seeing him turned into a parody is aggravating.

 

[Lionsfan]

I'm not sure if I wanna read all the butt hurt comments about Superman, it was a decent film but some people have been getting reeeeeeeeal defensive about it.

As for the list, I didn't see that many films this summer but i'd proberly agree that Pacific Rim is on top, it had flaws but it was good to see Hollywood embrace that sort of thing properly.

I saw Elysium yesterday and I gotta say I was disappointed. The story was so message driven it became cheesy, I mean surely they could have had one of those med-bays in the factory, just one to fix any workers that got hurt. I understand that the film was trying to make a point but theres a line between obvious and agressive and the film crossed it. What the hell was that little girl about!? They didn't need her in the story she was just there out of some cliched counter argument to the defence ladies 'think of the children' line, pointless character. The mercs were fun but just made the morality of the thing laughable, Spider was the only character I could really take seriously.

Sorry but Elysium not Man of Steel is the most disappointing film of the summer period.

It spent too much time on flashbacks and then all the action was a blurry shaky-cam mess the worst i've ever seen and I have never been more disappointed.


This year overall has been terrible with 4 films I was really looking forward to Man of Steel, Iron Man 3, Elysium and Pacific Rim all suffering the same problem!

The 3rd act battle was BORING!

Also this, I have never liked shaky cam and although it can suit a films aesthetic (gritty realism, etc) Kung Fu films can acheive this look and still produce kick ass fight scenes. Hollywood, pan the f*ck out! I wanna see the giant robot kill the alien Godzilla!!!

Elysium was basically Straw Man: The Movie.

I mean, these hospital beds apparently require no significant energy to function, so why aren't they in use everywhere? It's a one time fix for everything. But nope, the rich people keep it away just to be dicks.

 

[Ishal]

PS: I'm not a fan of Bob's hunger for levity in comic characters, and, when it comes down to it, putting it into a movie without the film feeling emotionally schizophrenic would be very difficult outside the genre of dark comedy.

I realize you are speaking for Man of Steel here, but does this opinion extend to other movies too? Like the Marvel movies?

I like the Dark Knight Trilogy. I didn't go to them for their fighting or action, I went to see the clever and well written dialogue between the characters. Some of Joker's lines were near perfect.

It's been said before that comic book movies and these types of things aren't being made for a broad audience anymore. They are in fact being made for 26-32 year old misanthropes. I'm not too keen on that, but I see it. I don't think it takes any particular talent to make those types of movies either. Well, it might be better to say that it takes more talent to cast as a wide a net as possible and have it still appeal to all audiences. I think Marvel is doing that, and that is why they are miles ahead of WB.

 

[neoontime]

And once again I find myself in the awkward position of thinking that Pacific Rim was a massive disappointment and was actually pretty boring while everyone else loves it.

Ah well. Differences of taste, I guess.

Well at least your not alone. Seriously Moviebob, catering to your inner love robots doesn't excuse you job of actually reviewing the movie and talking about its facepalm-inducing and cliche plot-points.

 

[Cabisco]

Yeah I think I'll be skipping next week, since I've already seen it stretched out over every other video you've made this summer, sans your ACTUAL review.

I thought exactly the same.

I regularly watch moviebob and his obsessive hatred for what I considered an 'okay' movie (not particularly good, just quite forgettable with a cool fight scene or two) is moving into the absurd.

The list itself though was quite interesting especially the mention of 'Pain and Gain' just because I remember all of Bobs criticism of Michael Bay and his Transformers franchise so I find myself respecting him more by showing an objective view and not doing what so many do and dismissing a movie out of hand because of its director/actor etc. Props for that Bob.

 

[JimB]

I had never heard of Maniac before this moment, and am now wondering if I have the guts for it. Elijah Wood is one of those people who can scare the crap out of me with little to no effort, and if he's actually trying...I dunno.

Personally, I'm getting kinda sick of MovieBob's fixation with Man of Steel. It feels like the Dark Knight Rises all over again, where he brings it up again and again and again to try to convince us that he was right about it. Bullshit. I liked Man of Steel a lot, and no amount of Bob's, or anyone's for that matter, geeky railing about "how it betrayed the character" and "Superman does not kill" etc. is going to change my view on that.

Why do you act like the point of Mr. Chipman's opinion about a movie is not to express himself but rather to change you? Does he know you, or somehow profit from your pleasure away from you? Seriously, I'm asking. A lot of people do that, and while I understand you are only one person and almost definitely cannot speak for the group, I'd really like to understand where this assumption that his disagreeing with you is an attack on your beliefs comes from.

 

[Arcanite Ripper]

Sadly MovieBob isn't Jon Lovitz because that endvideo gag is getting really old really fast..

OT: Top ten lists. woo.

 

[hexFrank202]

*groans* Ugh... *pauses video after what Bob says about Elysium*

Okay I didn't see the movie, but based on the way Bob talks about it, and the way District 9 did ITS message, I feel confident in assuming that it's not actually anything smart or thought provoking. D9's 'political commentary' was basically: 'racism exists, and that's baaaad'.

So what does this one tackle? Immigration, healthcare and wealth disparity? Let me guess,

"Some people don't want other people to live in their country. Yeah these people called the Perublicans; they like to close off their borders to every outsider."

"There's this incredible resource for health care that's just sitting there being unused; because people who have incredible cures for things never want to make money selling it. EEEEVIL evil evil evil!"

"Some people have more money than others. How? It can only be because they just KEEP all the money, and don't give any of it out. Because they keep spending money to be rich... but never lose any money doing it. And people who are poor keep not having money... even though they're working all the time."

Whatever. *resumes video*

 

[Robot-Jesus]

Star Trek:Into Darkness
An actual attempt to please fans and give the movie a Star Trek feeling; something immensely lacking from the first film. Things actually felt intense, and the movie wasn't afraid of anything. The story even stuck to it's canonical roots by making specific 'things' happen around the time they were supposed to, which makes sense given that this is an alternate universe/timeline.
Verdict: pandering.

I don't see how a red shirt joke and rehashing scenes gives something a "Star Trek" feel. I wanted them to ignore the haters and go somewhere interesting with this movie. I knew that we where never getting another Undiscovered country, but I was hoping for something more then a disjointed pile of references that makes no sense. Yelling KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN does not lend a star trek feel, if we can't have thoughtful plots can we at least have a grand adventure at the edge of space?

Iron Man 3
Gave fans the finger and made fun of them for liking the "strange" things that encompass the franchise. Played it ultra-safe to adhere to very MUTED universe 'movie Iron Man' lives in. Boring, long and villain wasn't much of a threat (again). "Oh no, this guy turns hot...! So much worse then that alien army and god I fought just recently!" Yet another showcase for Robert Downey jr. to look smug for two hours with complete, paralyzing fear that staying true to the "silly" source material in the least would distract from his awe and wonder.
Verdict: brilliant.


That said, I did like the twist in Iron Man 3, loved it in fact... I just wish it had a payoff. You don't pull a bait & switch with a villain just to introduce a weaker one. I will simply never understand how this was supposed to be compelling in any way what so ever.

The key to the winning Marvel formula is that each movie is about a character with super powers, not the powers themselves. Ironman 2 sucked because there was no real character development other then "Tony cunts down on drinking, a bit". The important question is not who is the villain, or what is the big fight like. The important question is how does the character change from the beginning of the movie to the end. Often this means violating the cannon in the comics, because comics have largely static characters, and a movie can't really do much with that.

 

[JimB]

Nah dude, I don't get why people get so offended and defensive about the shit Bob says either.

I see from the PM I got about this message that this line and everything following it were edited in after the fact. I assume you did so because you were afraid that, since this is the internet, I would completely miss your irony. For the record, then, I think your unedited post was perfectly clear about being sarcastic...but I'm still glad you did edit it, partly because it's good to be explicit but mostly because that .gif is wonderful and I intend to use it at the first applicable moment.

 

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

PS: I'm not a fan of Bob's hunger for levity in comic characters, and, when it comes down to it, putting it into a movie without the film feeling emotionally schizophrenic would be very difficult outside the genre of dark comedy.

I realize you are speaking for Man of Steel here, but does this opinion extend to other movies too? Like the Marvel movies?

Generally, yes.

If you're going to make a movie, tone is one of the things you need to choose right away, because that shapes everything you're going to do down the road. Ultimately, you have to look at the character and see what they are more inclined to be: Batman and Superman are naturally going to be more serious because that fits the characters better. Batman is effectively fighting varying degrees of psychopaths and murderers. Superman's powers could easily level cities and countries. Both the external (Batman) and internal (Superman) conflicts predisposes them to a more serious tone than, say, the techie Stark, the good boy Captain America, the coming of age Thor, or the anger-management Hulk.

Just ask yourself how each of those characters treat killing. Both Batman and Superman treated it as a red line (and yes, they've both crossed it, but that's beside the point). Stark's Iron Man made no bones about killing (so long as it wasn't on camera with all the blood that can come with it), and Captain America and Thor were effectively soldiers. Banner could be regarded as having a problem with killing, but its couched in self-control rather than the horror of the act. Superman could not have been in a Marvel-style movie, and Batman more easily fits into darker themes.

Green Lantern tried and failed to have levity (although that was one of several problems with the movie, Flash is still up in the air, Wonder Woman can't seem to get off the ground at all, and I've yet to here anything about a Martian Manhunter movie.

 

[flaviok79]

Yeah, you know? I am kind of groing to the idea of bying Bob's book. Can't quite place why.

 

[Nuxxy]

This 'summer' (as I live in the southern hemisphere) selection was a case of good movies with noticeable flaws. Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, Star Trek and Pacific Rim all had some really awesome moments, but they also lacked that 'something', and most of the time it seemed to stem from the screenplays (especially towards the end).

Iron Man 3 had a really great action scene in the attack on the Stark Mansion. It managed to continue the humour. The Mandarin reveal was great (because Ben Kingsley was great). Killian wasn't even that bad. But it went from a personal look into Tony's demons to a climax with a "house party" and way too many bad guys. They should have kept it personal.

Man of Steel - we will see what Bob says next week. To me, there was incongruity. For all the supposed darkness, it was hollow. I don't mind the damage caused by the battles. It's supermen. But the only way we are supposed to associate with this godly alien is with his emotions, and it was Superman's emotional portrayal that didn't fit. It wasn't that people were dying in the battle - it's that he didn't care they were dying. The only people he cared about were Lois Lane and Martha Kent, and the Lois one was forced. He may have a personal relationship with specific humans, but his attachment should be to all humanity. How about some pain at the soldier and civilian lives lost while he was fighting? Some genuine anger at Zod and his minions for their reckless violence? Some desperation to prevent any more destruction? To Zod, humans were ants, not people. And to Superman too.

It's similar with Pacific Rim. If Raleigh had died in Mako's arms in the end, saying something about how "now we're both free from what's been haunting us", it could have been with hope towards the future but with poignancy towards the losses incurred to achieve it. But it was more of a "WE WON!" elation than a "THE NIGHTMARE IS FINALLY OVER!" relief.

What disappointed me on Star Trek was that they played it safe. Instead of saying "this looks like the old Trek, but this is a new story with the same characters", it felt like they were afraid to deviate too far. There was real potential to turn Khan into more than just a straight villain, and they had the actor to play it.

tl;dr - Could've been better, yeah. Could've been worse too.

 

[Craig Ewing]

Are we going to hear about flawed Man of Steel was yet again?

I'll be skipping next weeks episode, I think I got the point awhile ago, and I really enjoyed MoS.

 

[Darth_Payn]

Sometimes I think Bob projects his own politics into the movies he reviews, seeing only what he wants to see where the rest of us see loud crazy explosions and robot suits (except for Elysium, which practically shouted what represents what in its own trailers). And oh, goody, Bob's going to harp on Man of Steel next week, like he hasn't ben doing enough of that in every other review video he's made since then!

And PLEASE make the "Buy My Book!" noise go away!