Blanked Out Reviews, Y4 3.0 (A Retrospective As Well)

[Reddroast]

6 minutes ago, YourMother the Edgelord said:

So did I. The humor was a bit mismatched but he was definitely the right director.

 

Hot Take: Venom > Spider-Man: Homecoming 

I think venom is so bad its good

[YM!]

12 minutes ago, Rorschach said:

That's a very spicy opinion you got there.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Venom was extremely entertaining though. Not too many boring moments for me. 

 

Still, doesn't mean it was better than Homecoming (imo)

 

Spoiler

I basically think both are very solid B- to B, but Venom was better mainly due to expectations. 

 

I saw Homecoming a week earlier due to the AMC in my town doing screening and raved about it but like Civil War for me, it feel apart during repeat viewings. Still a good movie but it quickly was one of my least favorite Spider-Mans. 

 

Venom, me and a few friends saw it with low expectations and I actually really enjoyed the movie. It was a fun and dumb movie with obvious flaws (I hated the villain sooooooooooooooooooooooooo much more than I did Lex Luther in BvS)

 

Edited October 24, 2018 by YourMother the Edgelord

[YM!]

On 10/23/2018 at 10:30 AM, Blankments said:

Michelle Rodriguez steals the show.

I just noticed this but I’m surprised. The good news is you’ll get a lot more of her in the sequels.

[Blankments]

April

 

Mass Effect – I liked this a ton. A good team put together, awesome sci-fi action and an intriguing, if predictable at points, story. Also, unlike Pillars of Eternity, I didn’t get a massive “based-on-a-video-game-and-thus-overly-complex-problem.” Perfect use of Mac too. Great blockbuster. 4/5

 

Safari Trail – Utter indifference. 2/5

 

Earth Day – I liked this lol. A fun B-movie with a good message and a nice performance by Giamatti. I love Shyamalan. 3.5/5

 

(Our City) / Our City: Growth – getting a shared review for a simple comment of why John Lasseter? Why was this not changed after that story broke?  I think the sequel is better than the first one significantly, but I do not feel comfortable with CAYOM forgiving Lasseter so quickly. Sorry if this is considered a dumb review but Lasseter, Ratner, Weinstein, Spacey, etc. should all be avoided in every CAYOM movie for good reason.

 

All this said, I like Death of a Strawberry. Both movies and first short: 1.5/5; Death of a Strawberry: 3/5

[cookie]

Tbh regarding the first one I mistakenly assumed it was directed by Brad Bird and I didn't notice until after I had reviewed it.

 

Then again I wasn't as high on the original as everyone else apparently were anyway.

Edited October 25, 2018 by cookie

[Rorschach]

I didn't even realize Lassetter directed it

 

😬

[Blankments]

apologies in advance btw, was gonna spend this weekend catching up on movies here BUT library is closed tomorrow, my brother is taking me to fright fest on saturday, AND i'm doing a triple feature on sunday but I will desperately try to read films when I'm not involved with the other three things

[Blankments]

@YourMother the Edgelord in Treasure Planet, are all the aliens CGI or are a couple makeup/prosthetics? Asking because of my enjoyment of Dr. Doppler being heavily dependent on that answer.

[YM!]

Just now, Blankments said:

@YourMother the Edgelord in Treasure Planet, are all the aliens CGI or are a couple makeup/prosthetics? Asking because of my enjoyment of Dr. Doppler being heavily dependent on that answer.

A mix of both, some are CGI and some are makeup/prosthetics and some are a bit of both.

[Blankments]

Just now, YourMother the Edgelord said:

A mix of both, some are CGI and some are makeup/prosthetics and some are a bit of both.

to be blunt then, how is Doppler done? lol

[YM!]

1 minute ago, Blankments said:

to be blunt then, how is Doppler done? lol

Spoiler

Probably somewhat of a mix of motion capture CGI and light prosthetics (like Korg). I’d just go with the one more aesthetically pleasing to you. 

 

[Blankments]

May

 

(Treasure Planet) – it’s fine but it’s a carbon copy of the original film. Don’t see why Waititi is involved here; none of his signature quirk is here and his heart is all in stuff done better in the original animation’s montages. Meh. 2/5

 

Treasure Planet: Gauntlet of Midas – Taron Egerton’s character never appears? Despite this, I liked this more since it actually had it’s own story and Casino Planet 2. I still can’t fathom why Waititi is doing this franchise, but this is a solid little blockbuster that’s hard to hate. 3/5

 

Earthsong Volume I: Haven’s Guard – god first Numbers and now Xillix. Everyone wants to do fantasy movies with insanely complicated lore that I can barely keep up with. This being dialogue heavy made it a bit of a slog for me but I also found it an easier world to understand than Pillars of Eternity. So I guess it kinda evened out? However, the dialogue at points came off as cheesy (I understand this is a new CAYOM style that’s popular but this certainly didn’t win me over to it), and it really does have an abrupt ending. Let’s go with… 3/5 although I did like the ambition of it.

 

Frindle – classic book made into a solid adaptation. 3/5

 

Murky – no thanks. 1/5

 

(American Dragon: Jake Long – This is fun! I like this! Seems like someone finally did what I was always flirting with doing in 2.0 and adapted a show from my childhood into a damn good blockbuster. It’s got problems but it adapts its tone to better suit live-action than cartoons (the only odd leftover being the talking dog, but I’ll take more Buscemi anyday) and tells a nicely truncated story based on actual episodes of the cartoon. Very good. 3.5/5)

 

American Dragon: Darkness Rising – a nice evolution of the franchise, although the ending gets me a bit worried for 3 on how a lot of loose ends haven’t been addressed yet. Still, this is a solid sequel, smartly building the lore while upping the action ante. I will say though the one flaw (and it’s a minor one) is pretending the cliffhanger matters when Jake’s friends have got ZERO development in this franchise so far. Still, this is a good franchise and 3 will probably be one of my most anticipated for Y6. If only Steve Carell could have more than a cameo though… 4/5

 

Cabana Boys – not only is it a bad Adam Sandler comedy but it’s nearly unreadable. 1/5

 

A Month at Belmond Lane – first off, I cannot buy Daisy Ridley as a younger character than Algee Smith, although I suppose this can be excused as Anderson quirk. Both these leads are great with Anderson and his script is charming, clever, and full of immensely likable characters. Better than I remembered! 4.5/5

[Blankments]

June

 

Brave – yeah, this is a near carbon-copy of the original film. It looks beautiful though. Meh. 2/5

 

(The Odyssey: The Spoils of War – I was enjoying this a ton until I realized it lacks a strong thoroughline. Still, there’s a lot of care given to the story here despite a total disregard of plot structure. 3.5/5

 

The Odyssey: The Counsel of the Dead – could use a bit more streamlining (I don’t think anyone would’ve minded the Sirens being cut), but this is a marked improvement on the first film with a lot more focus and an intriguing sideplot on Ithaca (all of the suitors are perfectly cast btw). There are a lot of sequences that were absolutely incredible to watch; I just wish the film had elaborated more on the important aspects and cut the digressions. Absolutely loved the climax though. 4/5 – but very close to a 4.5)

 

The Odyssey: Homecoming – first off, this trilogy really is an achievement in CAYOM. The first direct parallel to a LOTR-style trilogy that really pulled it off, with the only technical flaw being weirdly short runtimes. Hats off to @Rorschach to achieving that. As for this film… It leans way too much into this newfangled “dialogue trick” style of CAYOM writing for me, but I won’t let that affect the grade. This is the best paced of the bunch although the sidequest at the beginning for Telemachus seems to exist only really to introduce Peisistratus for the story. However, it fills time well so that way it’s not just straight Odysseus; the romance between Telemachus and Melantho also feels notably half-assed compared to the other stuff going on here. However, these are only minor flaws for this work, which finally takes the Greek myths and finally adapts the horrors within the appropriately. This is a complex epic that adapts the final act of the original poem brilliantly (it helps that to me, the end of Odysseus’s story has always been the most interesting aspect). From a burning sacrifice onward, the film never loses momentum, building a tremendous conclusion. The final setpiece may be one of the best action scenes I’ve read in CAYOM, certainly the best without a hint of humor to it. The closing moments feel magical, like one has completed just as incredible a journey as Odyssey. I’m seriously impressed. 5/5

 

Darkness Dwells Deep – better than most of the predictable horrors this year, but still just marginally okay. 2.5/5

 

Paradise Lost – Sure, this seems cool. I’m worried now that a film of mine next year might be compared to this, but tbh, I wish we had more films like this in CAYOM. 3.5/5

Edited October 29, 2018 by Blankments

[Rorschach]

I just thought of something that got me thinking.

 

The Spoils of War -> Before I took a film class

Counsel of the Dead/Homecoming -> During/After I took a film class

 

Idk if its a correlation or not but it just interested me

Edited October 29, 2018 by Rorschach

[cookie]

I find the dialogue brackets easier to write/read instead of having to orient myself through massive paragraphs, so... 🤷‍♂️

[Blankments]

at least the dialogue I've read so far (Xillix's and Rorschach's) has come off as stilted and a distraction. Perhaps yours will be different

[Rorschach]

Imma tone down the dialogue stuff in my future works or just outright abandon it all together. At least until I'm feel I'm able to do it well.

 

 

[4815162342]

1 hour ago, Blankments said:

at least the dialogue I've read so far (Xillix's and Rorschach's) has come off as stilted and a distraction. Perhaps yours will be different

 

What did you think of the dialogue in Mass Effect?

[Blankments]

On 10/29/2018 at 2:34 PM, 4815162342 said:

 

What did you think of the dialogue in Mass Effect?

not all of it worked but I found it a lot more tolerable and enjoyable at spots. Helps that the tone and type of movie fit the (better written than but style was similar to) Kurtzman/Orci type of writing

[Blankments]

so here's what's going on

 

- i'm gonna read everything, including the prequels

- Prequel reviews will go up as soon as I finish the last ones (Spark movies)

- Top 25 comes after the Prequel reviews

- After top 25, every review for the second half will be released to be counted in the aggregate.

 

This is mostly due to Amulet's word count severely tripping me up but also I know that problem will repeat itself in future months so I'd rather just truck on until the top 25 is done.