I haven't honestly sat down and watched any of the Superman films in a number of years, but I was thinking about them lately. I realized that while there are parts of them or scenes that I enjoy, I don't really enjoy any of them as a whole. They all have their own problems that are hard to really say, "Yup, I love this movie. Every bit of it." If it's not flying backwards around the world, it's a super amnesia kiss or a cellophane S, or trying too hard to be like previous films, or killing or being a bully. They all capture Superman well at times, but not as a whole. So I discussed that.
I don't think feel like his going back in time is contrived on its own as this was the era in which Superman could do whatever they wanted him to be able to do, and while that's less satisfying than the Bruce Timm animated series, it's still working within its own fiction.
That said, it introduces the plot hole of, if he can go so fast he surpasses the speed of light, why isn't he fast enough to catch both nukes? (And I love the HISHE for it.)
I haven't honestly sat down and watched any of the Superman films in a number of years, but I was thinking about them lately. I realized that while there are parts of them or scenes that I enjoy, I don't really enjoy any of them as a whole. They all have their own problems that are hard to really say, "Yup, I love this movie. Every bit of it." If it's not flying backwards around the world, it's a super amnesia kiss or a cellophane S, or trying too hard to be like previous films, or killing or being a bully. They all capture Superman well at times, but not as a whole. So I discussed that.
It was fun, but really formulaic. I guess I expect more from the series that showed it was possible for an action movie to have a plot and characters you care about.
It was fun, but really formulaic. I guess I expect more from the series that showed it was possible for an action movie to have a plot and characters you care about.
It was fun, but really formulaic. I guess I expect more from the series that showed it was possible for an action movie to have a plot and characters you care about.
Watching House of Cards makes me angry that Kevin Spacy was just limited to rehashing Gene Hackman's performance. He would have been an amazing Lex Luthor if he had a script that wasn't just and old copy of Donner's screenplay. I have thoroughly enjoyed Brandon Routh in everything I've seen him in, but I did not like his Superman, again I place a lot of blame on the director and script, but I just couldn't buy it. I don't even remember who played Lois in Returns, and that's one of the greatest crimes of all. Heck Margot Kidder is one of the best things about Superman 3, and she's barely in that movie.
No comment on Man of Steel (I would have to actually watch it).
I don't think feel like his going back in time is contrived on its own as this was the era in which Superman could do whatever they wanted him to be able to do, and while that's less satisfying than the Bruce Timm animated series, it's still working within its own fiction.
That said, it introduces the plot hole of, if he can go so fast he surpasses the speed of light, why isn't he fast enough to catch both nukes? (And I love the HISHE for it.)
No, he couldn't. If you mean his Kyrptonian parents, he was at Earth, not Krypton. And if he traveled through space to Krypton, he wouldn't have had his powers anymore without our system's sun, so that wouldn't have done any good. If you mean Jonathan Kent, even going back in time couldn't stop a heart attack. This was something his character had to come to grips with in the movie, that even with all his powers, he couldn't save Pa Kent, and it's echoed back at him at the end when he loses Lois.
No, he couldn't. If you mean his Kyrptonian parents, he was at Earth, not Krypton. And if he traveled through space to Krypton, he wouldn't have had his powers anymore without our system's sun, so that wouldn't have done any good. If you mean Jonathan Kent, even going back in time couldn't stop a heart attack. This was something his character had to come to grips with in the movie, that even with all his powers, he couldn't save Pa Kent, and it's echoed back at him at the end when he loses Lois.
I mean his Krypton parents. "time" is not spatially defined. Turning back time turns back time everywhere. I'm aware he doesn't have powers on Krypton, but turning back time on Earth 30 years, then shooting himself in the direction of Krypton would've worked given time reversal powers.
Its visuals are a bit dated, but the story still holds.
It's one of those movies where the actors take the story seriously, and the movie is made much better for it.
I mean his Krypton parents. "time" is not spatially defined. Turning back time turns back time everywhere. I'm aware he doesn't have powers on Krypton, but turning back time on Earth 30 years, then shooting himself in the direction of Krypton would've worked given time reversal powers.
With the continuity of the movie, 30 years wouldn't have been enough. He spends a good 20 years just sitting in the fortress talking to ghost dad, and spent decades if not centuries (I forget exactly how long, and honestly everything with Jor'El is some of my least favorite and necessary parts of the movie, so I'm not going to check) traveling in the rocket. Crossing Galaxies of the "Kryptonian empire" (UGH!)
With the continuity of the movie, 30 years wouldn't have been enough. He spends a good 20 years just sitting in the fortress talking to ghost dad, and spent decades if not centuries (I forget exactly how long, and honestly everything with Jor'El is some of my least favorite and necessary parts of the movie, so I'm not going to check) traveling in the rocket. Crossing Galaxies of the "Kryptonian empire" (UGH!)
That's a ridiculous nitpick.
Fine, he went 'round the world 3,000 years into the past so that he could calmly go back to Krypton, inform them in a timely fashion of their impending doom, and help them find a solution better than "we can save one baby".
That's a ridiculous nitpick.
Fine, he went 'round the world 3,000 years into the past so that he could calmly go back to Krypton, inform them in a timely fashion of their impending doom, and help them find a solution better than "we can save one baby".
That's a ridiculous nitpick.
Fine, he went 'round the world 3,000 years into the past so that he could calmly go back to Krypton, inform them in a timely fashion of their impending doom, and help them find a solution better than "we can save one baby".
No more ridiculously nitpicky than questioning why he didn't go back further and stop other terrible things from happening.
I was just providing a possible explanation to your comment about a pretty terrible ending. Here's another, perhaps his time travel mechanic still has an element of time attached to it. So if he was to go back further it would take him a proportionate amount of time to what we witness in the movie. If he wanted to stop Hitler's rise to power he would have to spend roughly a decade turning back the clock and another decade putting earth's orbit in fast forward.
Didn't watch a movie today, but I did listen to the commentary for some scenes of Conan the Barbarian. After hearing the director out, I have to concede that the extended ending is better, just not what I was used to having seen the movie before with the shortened ending.
The Running Man: Not good, though at least interesting in that I can tell the people behind the first Hunger Games movie had seen this.
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods: This was fun. I may have started to drift out a little when the action got going, but there were a lot of funny moments and the presence of Beerus was different than other big bads the group had faced in the series.
the first celebrity mentioned as having gone missing is Iggy Azalea.
The writers of Kingsman believe Iggy possesses moral conviction that would make her refuse to be part of Valentine's doomsday plan, and thus would be imprisoned in his fortress like the Princess of Sweden was.
I saw this on Netflix recently and gave it a watch. I love me a good parallel universe story and it's surprisingly rare to find it as the central premise in a sci-fi story. Plenty of examples of it showing up in the odd episode of a TV series, but I think the only two that use it as the central premise (for TV, anyway) were Sliders and Fringe.
This one is...not bad. It's not great, but not bad. The acting is a bit stiff and the special effects feel more like a TV series.
Funny enough, there's a reason for this because the creators actually intended for this to be a TV pilot. Only the studio (Fox) decreed it be a standalone movie instead. And as that, it really doesn't work. There are concepts and story elements that are introduced - many in the last 5-10 minutes - that are left unresolved. Including a clever cliffhanger.
Apparently, now Fox Digital Studios has said on the trailer's YouTube page: "We are thrilled people like the film. We are figuring out next steps with how to continue it and hope to have some updates soon."
Really hoping something happens from this because it's about damn time we get a good, modern Sliders.
Firstly, let me just get this out of my system: Rosamund Pike played a Bond girl and then was in Gone Girl. Tee hee hee.
Okay, this was a nicely constructed film. Good performances from everyone, although I thought Neil Patrick Harris's character could've done with a bit more fleshing out. Still, though, that's just a minor nitpick. On the whole, I quite liked it.
Trying out Popcorn Time, I watched 3 movies yesterday -
Big Hero 6
Visually impressive but standardly formulaic kid flick - most of the characters were 1 dimensional (and felt pulled out of a "premade characters for your animated show" album/toolbox) and I saw both the twist/red herring and the denouement coming a mile away. Tropetastic. Also inwardly chuckled at
the old shoe of using the word "destroy" instead of "kill" but by the protagonist instead of the villain.
Inwardly groaned at "San Fransokyo." Felt like a concept trying so hard for cultural mishmash diversity it bordered on appropriation, or even blackface. But, at least you can take a kid to it and not feel like your brain is dying while you watch it, and thank goodness it doesn't have a catchy brainworm ballad for them to sing for 2 years at every opportunity. But after hearing people talk about it online, I expected something a little more. 2 stars.
Lucy
Nifty bit of theatrical pageantry if you can willfully ignore all the terrible science. I'm reminded of all the criticisms people leveled at the Matrix and its sequels, only here they feel more deserved. Lucy's growing "powers" seem inconsistent and more transparently rely on the enthusiasm of the writers than her own unfurling "cranial potential." Disappointed particularly in the quality of the villains - both the boss and the head mook. About halfway through having his goombas juiced by ScarJo's brain, maybe it would have been smarter to go back to your drug lab to take a closer look at the blue crystal miracle substance you can apparently manufacture at will, instead of picking up a 9mm in your bandaged and not-at-all-capable-of-wielding-a-firearm-for-weeks-with-that-kind-of-injury hands and declare "I'll kill her myself!" Glad I torrented it instead of paying money. 1 star.
Justice League: Doom
A plot we've seen several times in the various comics, TV shows and video games. Could be more interesting if you've never seen the "we can kill the Justice League if we stop being stupid and try to exploit their individual weaknesses!" schtick play out before. I like the new character designs on the villains, particularly Cheetah, but I don't like that they made Wonder Woman's weakness basically that she's too stupid to be reasoned with once she starts throwing punches... when that explicitly has been shown to not be the case in previous DCAU treatments such as the Justice League tv series. Also, these writers were clearly in love with Cyborg. If he wasn't an established character I'd have called him a Mary Sue. Every scene he's in, the message is "boy it's sure a good thing we got Cyborg on board for this." Most of all, the movie suffers the same difficulty all the recent DCAU Justice League movies have suffered - it's hard to fit development for 7 heroes, much less 7 heroes and 7 villains PLUS a 20 minute fight with the royal flush gang, into a 2 hour movie. It seemed to me that if Marvel had tried to tell this story, it'd have been split into 2 parts or a possibly a miniseries. Final note - this is the first time I've seen the batmobile have a rear view mirror since Adam West. 1 star.
uhhhhhhhhhhhhh Not really? The best part* of Big Hero 6 was how few characters were white dudes
*okay, just a good part, the best was probably the flying scene
Except the police, and the professors, and the business owners. But as long as we got plenty of garish neon lighting, calligraphy on banners, clay tile roofs with upturned corners, and wind turbine kites shaped like dragons, we're being progressive and inclusive! Right? Better not have any accents though, that might make our little melting pot a little TOO melted. But just in case, let's turn the supports for the golden gate bridge into torii!
It's the exact kind of fake cultural inclusiveness that white hipster SJWs cream themselves over.
