OT: Consolidated Entertainment Thread (TV, movies, books, games) part VI - use spoiler tags!

[Darkauron]

Yay, more superhero slop! Take away the toys from WB and Disney FFS, it's all so tiresome. Post Infinity War it's been a total shit show. WB is even more embarrassing with the lineup they have access to, they still can't create anything relevant with the exception of Penguin. These companies have been handed money printing machines and can't help but f*** it up time and time again. For the love of God shelve all these IP's for a decade.

I think a lot of the upcoming Gunn, WB stuff hinges on this Superman movie. I don't have any faith in it at all, looks pretty mid, just more of the same, introducing way too many new characters that nobody knows or cares about that lead to other eventual plot lines/movies…zzzzz. They had Henry Cavil waiting in the wings, who everyone loves as Superman and they still f***ed that up lmao.

Superman to me is a wholesome character who protects and saves the innocent, deals with an interesting/charismatic villain within a simple story/plot. It should be hopeful and optimistic, not dark or be too complicated. I'm sure they'll f*** it up.

Preach! For real i am so tired of the super hero garbage. And audiences are burnt out on it too

 

[Oneiro]

I'm excited to see Nosferatu. If it hits, it might be the only story I can think of where the original, the 70s remake and the modern remake are all good. I hope it's good.

I've been on a tear watching stuff lately, partially because I've been on so many flights the past two months. Brief thoughts:

Anora - great movie. Kind of Uncut Gems-y in how stressful it is but well done.

Robot Dreams - fun, moving animated movie. No real dialogue but it doesn't matter. Think it's the sort of thing that hits for older kids and adults.

Challengers - I enjoyed it a lot. It's silly and kind of like watching a high end version of an MTV drama from the 00s, but well done and entertaining.

The Whale - I get it if others have mixed feelings on it, but I was moved. Aranofsky is about as subtle as a car crash but it's still pretty unforgettable. Can be a tough watch for a lot of people, I imagine.

Hit Man - Entertaining black comedy. Also absurd and you have to shut off your brain a bit but it's fun.

Zone of Interest - total, obvious garbage. I'm kind of done watching anything involving WWII or the Holocaust as well. Something about the constant re-examination of that period strikes me as infantile now. Look to other things, Western filmmakers. This is just a silly, bottom of the barrel take on what we already know.

Megalopolis - I love Francis Ford Coppola. This is a gloriously bad movie. He's trying to say something but it's incoherent. Still beautifully made but a mess. A weird casserole of a lot of influences from theater to Fellini to Metropolis, etc. He really wanted to throw everything in this movie. I can't recommend it but I also think aspects of it are unforgettable and masterful. Even when he's bad, he's still kind of good in a lot of ways.

 

[My3Sons]

I watched the most recent Halloween movie with Jamie Lee Curtis. As someone who loved the original and can suspend disbelief if you just don’t insult me I thought this movie was awful. It was pretty close to that insurgence commercial where they make stupid decision after stupid decision.

 

[MadDevil]

Preach! For real i am so tired of the super hero garbage. And audiences are burnt out on it too

No, I think audiences are burnt out on mediocre comic book movies. DC has been one long list of misses outside of the first Joker, which isn't connected to the DCU and the Batman. Even Marvel has taken a downturn in quality since End Game. Put out a quality mainline DC or Marvel movie and I think audiences will be excited again.

Hopefully this Superman movie is good, because basically the entire DCU (or whatever they're calling it) riding on it. If they miss on one of the pillars of their entire universe again (although I actually didn't mind Man of Steel), they're dead in the water.

 

[NjDevsRR]

About to rewatch one of my favorite shows. The Leftovers on HBO. FANTASTIC series. Definitely a much watch if you have never seen it. The first few episodes are a bit tedious but stick with it and the payoff is amazing.

 

[TheBeerNerd]

I don't know if anyone has heard of the game OFF, but it's on Steam right now. It's a short RPG Maker game, maybe a five-six hour playthrough. It's vaguely unsettling until you get to the end, when it becomes a massive mindf***. The ending stuck with me for a couple of days. If you like stuff like Earthbound, LISA, or Undertale (for which OFF was a direct inspiration), I suggest you give it a shot.

Megalopolis - I love Francis Ford Coppola. This is a gloriously bad movie. He's trying to say something but it's incoherent. Still beautifully made but a mess. A weird casserole of a lot of influences from theater to Fellini to Metropolis, etc. He really wanted to throw everything in this movie. I can't recommend it but I also think aspects of it are unforgettable and masterful. Even when he's bad, he's still kind of good in a lot of ways.

I want to see this so badly. One of my friends watched it under the influence of an edible. That was a mistake, it caused her to overthink it and you REALLY don't want to do that with this particular movie.

Yay, more superhero slop! Take away the toys from WB and Disney FFS, it's all so tiresome. Post Infinity War it's been a total shit show. WB is even more embarrassing with the lineup they have access to, they still can't create anything relevant with the exception of Penguin. These companies have been handed money printing machines and can't help but f*** it up time and time again. For the love of God shelve all these IP's for a decade.

(forgive me, long post ahead)

The problem with superhero movies isn't that they are inherently bad. Give me Donner's Superman and Spider-Man 1 & 2 all day. But ever since Guardians of the Galaxy, they've become formulaic. Needle drops, awful visuals, ironic detachment, "soy banter," everything just being a set up for the next movie... miss me with that. And to be honest, I watched up to Endgame and didn't watch a single one of them in theaters, I marathoned all of them with my wife. Some are good, some suck, but past a certain point they all blend together. Only ones I saw after that were Eternals (bad) and Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness (bad). I'll probably watch Deadpool and Wolverine but I know it's a lot of reminding you that yes, Disney has the movie rights to the old Fox Marvel library now. Comic books have been about one person's take on a hero for a while now, but with the movies, it's one person's vision that directors have to abide by- a Kevin Fiege or a James Gunn.

The other issue I have is a larger one about movies as a whole. The MCU and DCU may not have the pull on audiences they once did, but the model is all over Hollywood. Nothing can be one-and-done, or even something that gets a sequel if it does well. Something has to be planned in advance and looked at as a long-term investment. It ensnares directors and actors into long-term commitments. Basically, they recreated the studio system, except with far less appreciation for movies as an artistic medium. I've not seen anything from China because they have no interest in gaining a market beyond their borders, but I have seen RRR from India, and it laps any big-budget movie I've seen in the last decade or so.

It's not that there are no good movies these days, but there aren't as many of them, and good big-budget stuff is out of the question. There's some good low budget stuff, but sometimes you have an itch that only something with a big budget can scratch. Only movie I've seen like that lately was The Fall Guy, and that flopped. It's a shame because it was good.

I'm just an on-the-verge of middle-aged man grumbling, it's just one guy's take. But I do think about this from time to time and sigh.