The Big Picture: Summer's End

JimB

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The Dubya said:
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

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Sep 28, 2009
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Ishal said:
The Gentleman said:
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

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Feb 22, 2011
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Yeah, you know? I am kind of groing to the idea of bying Bob's book. Can't quite place why.
 

Nuxxy

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Feb 3, 2011
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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

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Jun 14, 2011
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Andrew Siribohdi said:
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

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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!
 

TiberiusEsuriens

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Jun 24, 2010
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Finished the episode and saw that there were still two minutes remaining, "Here goes MovieBob's book plug again...."

Was not disappointed. You got me laughing on the floor for two minutes, Bob! Very subtle.
 

josemlopes

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Jun 9, 2008
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Moviebob really needs to calm down, his usual "I hate this movie" thing is always bringing down every video.

Its already Transformers, Expendables, The Dark Knight Rises, Amazing Spiderman and Man Of Steel, in the end it all falls down to "I didnt like it because reasons" after hearing him complain so much (at first the complaints are moderate and sensible but after a month or two its like he watched a different movie directed by a 10 year old).
 

Riobux

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Apr 15, 2009
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Pacific Rim is transnational?

Let's apply that logic and conclude that Dr Strangelove is a transnational film because, oh, there's that German guy in the film. Then again, love does make people say stupid things.
 

Baresark

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Dec 19, 2010
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Not a bad list at all. I saw a good portion of those. Some of them I just don't care about because the whole concept is god awful uninteresting. I don't need to see a list of bad movies for the summer. I don't need to hear or see any more pessimism. You accumulate this flock of people who harbor your exact opinion and though I really enjoy your videos, I can safely say that your reasoning has never actually swayed me to or away from anything. But, I respect your opinion because at least you have the balls to explain yourself and know how to do it.

As far as Man of Steel in concerned, I daresay that no one cares anymore. No matter how much your opinion of the movie changes, mine hasn't. I like it. It was flawed. I don't see an unsure Superman who is not clear on who or what he is or wants to be as a bad thing. All the people attacking this movie sound like, "blah blah blah, it's not the same as the comic". I daresay, we have had Superman movies that were very much like the comic and most of them have been considered failures, including the exceedingly well done Superman Returns. The only real failing of the movie was that it was far too invested into the Superman/Clark Kent dichotomy. This one wasn't (which is much closer to the modern Superman books) and instead explored the character from a new and refreshing perspective. We saw him evolve, make hard choices and become a man who knows who he is. We should all be hoping for just a little more of that in most movies. I also don't understand why people can't deal with the amount of destruction in this movie. The fact that he was new at at it aside, I get the impression most people have never read a lot of the larger stories involving Superman. The truth is, had there been a Justice League at this time, the threat of Zod and a bunch of people like him would have warranted the entire team. My biggest problem with that movie was the massive gaping plot hole that was Zod's motivation. "A whole species of super people who are stronger than everything.. nah, it will be uncomfortable for them to adjust so we will go with what we know". Talk about a miss as far as writing was concerned.
 

RTK1576

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Aug 4, 2009
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Well, next week should be fun.

Interesting list. I can't say that anything this summer excited me. Pacific Rim, Elysium, and Iron Man 3 were all "good, but not exciting" films, Star Trek: Into Darkness and Man Of Steel were "disappointing but not exactly bad", and... that's all I went and saw.

Personally, I'm glad Bob is giving MoS a full episode. It needed to be done.
 

delroland

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Sep 10, 2008
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Lionsfan said:
PunkRex said:
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.

Kumagawa Misogi said:
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.
Population control: can't have your cheap-as-free labor force living forever.
 

RJ 17

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Nov 27, 2011
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No, seriously, at the end of the video when I saw there was a minute or so left as the credits were rolling and NEW that another ad for Bob's book was coming up, I was already planning on looking up the "Buy My Book!" clip from The Critic on youtube and saying something like "You know Bob, recently after all you're videos, this is all I've been hearing: (insert said Critic clip)"

Looks like I didn't have to do that. :p
 

Osaka117

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Feb 20, 2011
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With everyone commenting about Man of Steel instead of movies that were actually in this list, I just wanna mention that The World's End deserves it's spot and I highly recommend anyone who hasn't seen it yet to do so. Even if you have, see it again, I know I'm gonna. It's my favorite summer movie, and movie of the year so far.
 

RJ 17

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Nov 27, 2011
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The Dubya said:
Nah dude, I don't get why people get so offended and defensive about the shit Bob says either....discussing disagreements is one thing, but it's so annoying when people constantly try to undercut or discredit him to make it seem like he's "objectively wrong" about what he thinks. Oh he's a just "fanboy" or a "feminist" or a "liberal" or whatever so CLEARLY he's wrong and we should do the opposite of what he says because he's Mr. Fanboy Feminist Liberal Wrongster McWrongGuy. Shit like that drives my head right onto the desk.
I think it's more the fact that he quite clearly lets his politics color his reviews and that's what gets people upset. I really don't mind, as reviewing things through a political prism is just another way of reviewing them, but a lot of people tend to get pissed off when "Liberal Reviewer Only Likes The Movie Because It's Liberal Propaganda!"

Hell, I'm a conservative and I just kinda chuckle and say "Ohhhhh Bobby, Bobby Bobby Bobby...really? You just LOVED the movie about every single right-wing stereotype invading the White House to take out "Not-Obama" purely because it makes fun of conservatives?" Maybe it's just the fact that I like reviewers that talk fast that I keep coming to watch his videos, but really I take his political stances with a grain of salt...I'd imagine there's a lot of people on this forum that can't take ANYTHING involving politics so lightly, however.

Incidentally, that's why I stay the hell away from the Religion and Politics forum on this site. Seriously, you say ONE thing on there - doesn't matter what - and your in-box will be full for the next three weeks with pissed off people that are more than eager to tell you just who incredibly wrong you are. :p
 

startrekmike

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Sep 23, 2009
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I can't be the only one that kinda rolled my eyes when I learned that we were going to get yet another episode about Bob's almost obsessive dislike of the 'The man of steel'.

Look, I get it, WE ALL get it, you did not like the film and that is perfectly fine, however, your dislike of the film has turned from being a honest critique to a borderline obsessive need to crap on the movie whenever you can find a chance, often to the detriment of your content.

'Man of steel' will always be a film that is either loved or hated, I personally (as a Superman film and comic fan for more than 20 years) thought it was great, it had flaws but I think it was a fine film that made it's intentions clear from the beginning, I mean, how was anyone surprised that it was serious in tone? Really? We saw the trailers, we saw Watchmen, we knew EXACTLY what this film was going to be.

However, when it came out, we had Bob (and many others) asking "where is the joy?", well, this film is not a part of the borderline campy Christopher Reeve filmverse, it is not trying to be comedic or lighthearted, it tackles Superman in much the same way he is tackled in many comics and it really works (in my opinion) because of that.

What I am saying really is that I respect Bob's opinion about the film, he has every right to feel the way he does but we have all heard how he feels, we all know exactly what he does not like about the film, do we REALLY need another video (on top of the review and the countless and often awkwardly placed jabs in later vidoes), think about it.


Sorry for the rant.
 

Redd the Sock

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Apr 14, 2010
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Sadly, the high point of my summer flicks was a Rifftrax live showing. Pacific Rim was oversold to the point where I left the theater saying "that's it? That's what's giving the internet orgasms?" I had no investment in any of the cast, and in complete honesty, found the last 20 minutes of The Loner Ranger more fun than any of PR's fights. That and, minor issue: mention why you don't toss a nuke down the hole before the 2/3 mark of your movie.

Iron Man 3 was a decent follow up to Avengers, and the best of the 3 Iron Man movies, I just lost investment by the end. Between a final battle that was more toy commercial than anything, and all the gender issues making me think about how we have yet another movie to be bitched about because Pepper got damseled, I just stopped caring.

Then there's Elysium. I'm left leaning, but this was pretty one dimensional and it really hurt the film. Political statements kind of have to take reality into consideration, but since the magic healing device had no restrictions, we end up with a movie that ignores scarcity and limited resourced trying to fill unlimited wants and needs, and tells us the rich hoard due to being mean. Illegal immigrants are coming to use your bathroom and must be stopped at great military cost. Try to do better than a Captain Planet Villain. It doesn't even make sense in the context of the film. Apparently the rich like a labor force sick and dying hurting productivity, while at the same time, no one seems to be trying to steal one of these things or it's plans to build their own.