1201

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) - contains spoilers

« on: December 21, 2017, 02:01:18 PM »

Laia being frozen in space, her blood boiling from the cavitation before her cells solidify, and then magically opening her frozen solid eyelids, moving her moist eyes to focus on the ship and floating in like Peter Pan. That was a very stupid scene.

The Force is all around us, bro. Leia could use it to sustain her life functions and propel herself through space as surely as Yoda could raise an X-wing from a swamp. My own issue with that scene was simply that its execution was silly and overwrought. Things like her goofy outstretched pose. It could have worked nicely if it had been a bit more subtle and elegant.

The whole Rey/Finn romance and being reunited at the end. I know they really really want a multi-racial love story, but its just stupid. She'd have been better off having a Padme/Anakin style relationship with Kylo. Could have been way more complex and full of intrigue and torn emotion than being into the dumb Storm Trooper. as mentioned he didn't even do anything in this episode. He's just there to allow the liberal left to rub black men with white women into the faces of conservatives. They even kill rose off (a better character), to clear the way for the Finn/Rey thing that is just implausible.

Rose was injured, not killed, and the only Rey/Finn romance going on is the one in your head. I do agree with you that Finn is pretty bland as a character and didn't really feel like he belonged in a prominent role here. Circumstance didn't push him to the forefront like in TFA, and he doesn't have a strong personality like Han or Poe that would let him take charge.

The hot-headed rogue doesn't save the day by flying by seat-of-his-pants, in fact his recklessness is the driving force behind the fuck-up cascade.

Which is never addressed or acknowledged within the movie - in fact, it's casually brushed off with a smiling "Oh, you," leading me to question just how intentional it really was. I feel like they just made it up as they went along. Part of the blame also lies with Holdo and her lack of communication. It's one thing to not share every detail of a plan with subordinates, it's another to repeatedly refuse to indicate that there even is a plan, or even challenge the assumption that there's nothing to be done but wait to die. Like, even in the middle of the mutiny, she can't bring herself to explain that there's a very good reason behind what she's doing? It's an idiot plot.

1202

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

« on: December 20, 2017, 12:25:29 AM »

I'm not going to use spoiler tags in a dedicated thread. For "Just Watched," it's fair enough, but everyone clicking on this one ought to know what they're getting into. I hereby issue an official

spoiler warbling
I loved the part of this movie that focused on Rey, Luke, and Kylo. It's familiar because of the original trilogy, but twists things around enough to feel fresh by the end. I'm glad they killed off Snoke, and I find the outrage on reddit over him being "wasted" both baffling and amusing. Snoke was only ever a plot device to begin with, a necessary villain who had to exist simply because the First Order existed. Having Kylo now be in charge makes the most sense narratively, and it'll no doubt make for a great dynamic with Rey in the next movie.

You know what didn't make sense narratively? Wasting a huge amount of screen time in the second act on a wild goose chase that not only proved to be a resounding failure, but ended up delivering the intel to the First Order that led to the Resistance being all but wiped out. What the fuck? Why would you write this into a movie? All Finn, Poe, and Rose had to do was nothing, fucking nothing, and the Resistance would have escaped with their new base intact and a few hundred members left, rather than literally just a few. And why didn't Leia, or Holdo later, tell them that, rather than just keeping silent and letting them believe that there was literally no hope? I've seen some people argue that it was entirely intentional and tied into the movie's themes of failure and desperation, but the thing is, it's never even acknowledged that everything bad that happens in the final act is literally all the heroes' fault. Why couldn't the First Order have found out what the Resistance was up to by other means? It's such a tiny thing, but it would have made the rest of the movie so much easier to accept.

Or maybe the First Order shouldn't have found out about the Resistance's plans at all. The throne room scene, coupled with Finn and Rose's escape from the Star Destroyer, really ought to have been the climax of the movie. I didn't like that it felt the need to follow that up with a retread of the Battle of Hoth.

1203

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Sexual Scandals

« on: December 17, 2017, 03:25:38 AM »

Neither of those scenarios are comparable to what happened to Moore. He has nine accusers, not one, and they've offered plenty of corroborating evidence both physically and via witnesses. To believe Moore is innocent means accepting that there must have been some gigantic, unfeasible conspiracy pitted against him, which I don't believe most reasonable people would do. Far from actually researching the case, I'm sure that most of his voters simply turned a blind eye.

1204

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: December 17, 2017, 03:00:06 AM »

What does that have to do with fucking Hitler? It's certainly bad, but Hitler is not a synonym for general badness. Quit making our side look bad with frivolous Hitler comparisons. This is also bad:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/world/national-security/donald-trump-pursues-vladimir-putin-russian-election-hacking/

Trump is a fucking toddler. With every day that passes, he further cements his legacy as the worst president in American history.

1205

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Video Game Crossovers.

« on: December 15, 2017, 02:04:08 PM »

Twenty Good Men would be an awesome video game. Twenty of the greatest badasses in video games brought together so they can complete missions and whatever.

1206

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Superhero Movies & Comics General

« on: December 14, 2017, 05:57:26 AM »

If they recast batman, they will have to reboot the whole thing and that will suck.

I honestly think that all they'd have to do is downplay the idea that this Bruce is at the end of his rope and entirely burned-out, and they could keep going with a slightly younger and hopefully far more enthusiastic actor. I agree with you that a reboot would suck, as would a prequel, because WB would no doubt decide that the problem with their last two movies was that they were out of their comfort zone with Batman, and therefore the new movie should be a return to the pseudo-realism of Nolan's movies where Batman fights street thugs in a boring, generic city.

1207

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: December 13, 2017, 03:48:22 PM »

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/12/13/donald-trump-cannot-stop-endorsing-losers/

lol

1208

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: December 12, 2017, 06:28:51 PM »

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/12/us/politics/trump-blames-democrats-for-false-accusations-from-women.html

1209

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Superhero Movies & Comics General

« on: December 08, 2017, 04:44:01 AM »

Yeah, it's like they wanted to do the awesome gargoyle-swinging bits from the Arkham games but the room  with the high roofs and criss-crossing girders wasn't available so they had to settle for this.

Dull settings are more realistic, after all.

moar drama:

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/dc-films-justice-league-1202632214/

Warner Bros.’ corporate leaders at Time Warner support the moves and are said to be unhappy with the financial performance of [JL]...With a budget reported to be as high as $300 million, it represents an expensive bet. After three weeks of release, it has managed to gross $570.3 million worldwide. In contrast, the first “Avengers” film racked up $1.5 billion.

Yeah, I'd be unhappy with that too.

Time Warner is said to be frustrated that Warner Bros. leaders continue to bring the director back, especially after “Batman v Superman” was excoriated by critics even though it made money.

WB's faith in Snyder continues to perplex. Somehow they must have got it in their heads that he was the next best thing to Nolan and deserved just as much artistic freedom with a franchise potentially worth billions as him. I won't begrudge him getting the job for MoS (although I personally wasn't in favor of it), but they absolutely should have replaced him in the face of that movie's relative underperformance and mixed critical reception.

While Ben Affleck is expected to appear as Batman in a standalone Flash movie, it is highly unlikely he will don the cape and cowl in Matt Reeves’ planned standalone Batman movie. The director is said to want to cast the role with fresh talent, according to sources.

Fresh talent, and also a face that won't remind viewers of the two shitty movies leading into this one. Or maybe Reeves just wants to tell one of the countless Batman stories that could only have taken place earlier in his career. It's almost as if introducing Batman with a story that was always meant to indicate the end of his career was a really stupid idea!

1210

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Superhero Movies & Comics General

« on: December 06, 2017, 09:39:05 PM »

He looks retarded. He's so big (or the room is so small) that clinging to the corner isn't even hiding him at all. He might as well have just been standing right there.

1211

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Superhero Movies & Comics General

« on: December 05, 2017, 04:55:43 AM »

If they were too stubborn to fire Snyder after BvS, then no, they're almost certainly not seriously considering rebooting the franchise. I'm not sure I really want them to at this point, though. If something in a previous movie stops them from telling a good story now, they can just quietly retcon it. I think they already have, actually. A minor issue that I had with BvS, one that I haven't talked about here before, is the in-universe public perception of Batman. This dude has been operating for twenty years in Gotham, he's a seasoned veteran who's already fought some of his worst enemies, there's even a Batsignal - and yet the police are openly hostile towards him, the papers report on him like this is the first time they've ever heard of him, and the public see him as something of an urban legend. It doesn't make sense. You can't have a veteran Batman who's still in the phase of his career where he's making a splash and shaking up the establishment. And I honestly think that Snyder and/or Goyer took this approach because they wanted to have an "edgy" Batman who clashed with the police instead of helping them out, and also because Batman was frequently in conflict with the police in TDKR too (albeit for very different reasons).

It was a dumb idea, and one that JL pivots away from immediately. Far from being hunted in dreary warehouses by trigger-happy cops, Batman is well known to the Gotham police and has his traditional relationship with Gordon. It's a much better interpretation than, well, this:

1212

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: December 03, 2017, 01:32:47 PM »

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/02/us/russia-mcfarland-flynn-trump-emails.html

1213

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: December 03, 2017, 12:14:45 AM »

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/02/politics/trump-tweet-flynn-firing-fbi-reaction/index.html

Nice.

1214

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Superhero Movies & Comics General

« on: December 02, 2017, 03:16:08 PM »

DC makes WB (or Time Warner in general, whatever) a lot of money even without the movies. TV shows, video games, merchandising, etc. They almost certainly won't even license out the film rights, just because the possibility of turning it into a box office juggernaut still exists. Just look at Fox still stubbornly clinging onto the Fantastic Four rights.

Plus they had Wonderwoman.  It proves they CAN have a hit, if they copy Marvel from the start.

They really didn't copy Marvel. They just made a solid, self-contained movie that was neither drowning in grimdark nihilism nor up its own ass about how clever it supposedly was. Also:

https://www.thewrap.com/justice-league-zack-snyder-batman-v-superman-wonder-woman/

The time I would have lol'd at this has passed. It's just sad now.

1215

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Superhero Movies & Comics General

« on: December 01, 2017, 03:16:41 PM »

DC makes WB (or Time Warner in general, whatever) a lot of money even without the movies. TV shows, video games, merchandising, etc. They almost certainly won't even license out the film rights, just because the possibility of turning it into a box office juggernaut still exists. Just look at Fox still stubbornly clinging onto the Fantastic Four rights.

1216

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Superhero Movies & Comics General

« on: November 29, 2017, 11:16:53 PM »

I have once again taken the bold step of being the first one here to watch and review a new DC movie, thanks to a camrip of passable quality. JL isn't a terrible movie. If you've set your standards low, and/or you're desperate to see any kind of improvement in the DCEU, then you'll probably like it reasonably well. But I can't look at this and see it as anything other than a bad movie. It's not as bad as BvS, but it's not trying hard enough for that to even be possible. The story of an alien invasion should be pretty simple, but they manage to overcomplicate things by giving the audience a crash course on the nature and history of Mother Boxes and the war that was fought long ago to protect them, along with creating an elaborate plan where Steppenwolf has to collect three Mother Boxes so he can transform the earth into a hostile alien planet. First of all, yes, that is a dopey rehash of Zod's scheme from MoS. Was that such a great evil plot that they felt they just had to use it again? Second of all, there was no reason why the story of the Mother Boxes had to be so, well, comprehensive. Mother Boxes are basically miracle technology. That's all we needed to know for this movie, and all the movie needed to provide stakes was one of them. Preferably stakes not involving yet another generic skybeam/portal of doom.

On the notion of the characters. The Flash is atrocious. Virtually every single line out of his mouth is a lousy joke, and he never, ever shuts the fuck up. The few lines he has that could potentially have been funny are ruined by Ezra Miller's delivery. What the fuck is up with the way he talks? That weird, almost singsong cadence that keeps going UP and down from WORD to word? He's going for quirky and charming, but he's just obnoxious and irritating. As I noted earlier in the thread, I liked Jason Momoa playing Aquaman as a goofy dudebro who yells things like "YEAH!" and "MY MAN!" - but those moments are few and far between, and his character spends most of the movie as a surly grump (real original, guys). Surprisingly, I found Cyborg to be my favorite of the newcomers, largely due to Ray Fisher's charismatic performance. He has some real screen presence, and he does more with just half his face than Miller does with his entire flailing, overacting body.

Wonder Woman is cool as usual, although she doesn't have a whole lot to do here. And although this might not matter to some people here, I noticed that there was a lot more male gaze in the camera's treatment of her this time around. Like, there's definitely one or two upskirt shots, and the camera often settles at ass-level when following her around. Superman has a couple of odd scenes to get through before he returns to the team, so to speak, but once he does, I found it jarring just how warm and pleasant he suddenly was. Don't get me wrong, Cavill is great at playing this more friendly Superman, but it's pretty incongruous with his previous characterization. Sadly, Batman stands out as being terrible here. BvS turning out to be shit has obviously weighed heavily on Affleck, and while he was committed in that movie, he phones in a mediocre performance here. He's just going through the motions, and it's obvious he's eager to get out of the role. I highly doubt we'll be seeing Batfleck again, and the fact that Snyder and WB have squandered what had the potential to be a fine run on the character is yet another cinematic crime.

The effects and action scenes are terrible. They're Snyder at his most indulgent and least creative. Constant slow-motion and extreme closeups, incoherent blurs when everything speeds back up. The Flash in particular looks terrible - the above gif of him spazzing out while pretending to run is not an isolated incident. Steppenwolf looks like shit, and I don't know why they even felt the need to turn him into an ugly CGI monster when in the comics he's just a dude with a silly hat. Are they going to do that with all of the New Gods? Cavill's face doesn't look too bad if you aren't specifically looking for any inconsistencies with it, except for the opening scene of the movie (the source of the last image I posted) in which it looks incredibly fake and obvious. On a related note, yes, Batman does randomly turn portly and back again throughout the movie, although it's never quite as obvious as it is in the scene where he meets Aquaman while bearded. The movie is full of awkward green screens, poor lighting giving away the artificial nature of the movie, a hideously ugly, murky aesthetic, and effects that look more at home in a bad video game than a film.

More assorted thoughts. To hear Batman spout Whedon-penned quips is a painful experience, although his lines are nowhere near as bad as Flash's. A lot has obviously been cut from this movie, including what must have been more universe-building about the New Gods and shit like that, along with, I suspect, a payoff to the whole Knightmare scene and Flash appearance from BvS. The end result is a movie that's way too short. Was this all that they were left with after cutting out the extraneous parts left over from BvS? Whatever the case, WB needs to stop making movies like this - waiting to see how test audiences react to their first draft, then frantically cutting and reshooting in the last few months before its release to awkwardly turn the film into something it isn't. That's not trying to make a good movie, that's just trying to limit the damage of a bad movie. They're five movies in, and they still don't have any kind of reasonable plan or strategy for how to make the most of this franchise. They're just throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks.

1217

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: November 28, 2017, 05:53:10 PM »

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/27/politics/donald-trump-access-hollywood-conspiracy/index.html

1218

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Superhero Movies & Comics General

« on: November 23, 2017, 06:04:29 AM »

Ummmm... he is super fast. The world is whizzing by.

It takes him a couple of seconds to cross a city block. Not really what comes to mind when you think of the "fastest man alive," especially when we've seen Superman traveling much faster than this before.

The article has to strain a bit to cast this movie's performance in a negative light, doesn't it? I mean like 10 percent less than projected (ooh Warner's gonna go broke) and favorable audience ratings, what a dismal failure!

Saying something in a mocking tone is not an effective counterargument. Yes, underperforming to this degree is a very bad sign, and even the projection is embarrassingly low. $110 million, when the Avengers movies are opening at around the $200 million mark. This is a franchise that should be making billions upon billions for WB, but now they've tarnished their brand, and so public interest has dropped. The goodwill from the Nolan movies is gone. People are now associating Batman and Superman with Snyder and his shitty movies.

Also:



<Saddam> Rushy, beardo Snupes: https://i.imgur.com/5Nffx5l.jpg
<Saddam> The seamless collaboration of two directorial visions
<Snupes> I'm so confused
<Snupes> Why is Affleck chubby on the right
<beardo> sadaam'
<Saddam> roid after-effects
<Snupes> Is that in the same scene?
<Saddam> I haven't seen JL, but I'm guessing that the scene with Fatleck replaced the previous one
<Saddam> The previous one being seen in the first trailer
<Snupes> I will tell you when I see it
<Snupes> I really want Chubfleck to be randomly interspersed throughout the movie
<Saddam> Watching the trailers, you can see a ton of scenes re-worked once Whedon came on board
<Snupes> His weight just shifts rapidly
<Rushy> Batman is just going on a gainz streak
<Saddam> I'm sure his weight does fluctuate, seeing how Whedon didn't reshoot the entire movie
<Saddam> I just doubt it would be in the same scene
<Saddam> He is cultivating mass, like Mac
<Snupes> I want it to be in the same scene though
<Snupes> I feel if you're gonna make a shitty movie you may as well go all-out in its shittiness
<Saddam> How Batman Got Fat





These pictures are doing far more to tempt me into seeing the movie than any of the actual marketing.

1219

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Another mass shooting...

« on: November 21, 2017, 05:31:39 AM »

We need our guns. In 1970, .gov troops fired M1 Garands loaded with 30-06 rounds with 150 grain spitzer bullets capable of speeds of 2900 fps. Weapon holds 10 rounds. In just 13 seconds, 67 rounds killed or injured 13 unarmed Kent State students, all of which were in good standing with the college. Today a surplus M1 Garand will set you back $1,000 used in fair condition. Most these students were mowed down at a distance of 100 yards.

In contrast a surplus Russian made Mosin Nagant made from the turn of century 1900, firing a 7.62 x54r round same 150 grain 2900+ would have set you back about $79 just a few years ago. Weapon holds 5 rounds. The vodka drinking farm people were given these weapons to defend the home land, such as our constitution requires a militia and right to bear arms. These vodka drinkers farmers should and could have practiced to be semi prolific at a shot some 400 yards. Steel ammo will penetrate most body armor today from these babies and like the 30-06 it's a devastating round.

Fast forward to the Bundy Ranch Standoff where both sides had AR-15's. The constitution works and most the players have beaten the Feds in court over this ordeal. Jurys have said .Gov stand down.

Thank you but I'll keep my weapons and carry in as many places it's legal.

I'm all for taking weapons out of the hands of mental cases or felons, know any?

I'm puzzled as to what you're arguing here. If the protesters at Kent State had been armed, it's a near-certainty that even more of them would have been killed. And if the Bundy protesters hadn't been armed, there never would have been any real fear of the government killing them to begin with. They would have been arrested quickly and quietly, and they would have had their day in court just like they are now. It's because of changing times that one protest ended with bloodshed and the other peacefully in court, not because one was armed and the other wasn't.

1220

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: November 20, 2017, 04:09:59 PM »

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/20/politics/donald-trump-jeff-flake-tweet/index.html

Trump is literally EJ.