4815162342 Posted May 8, 2021 Author Share Posted May 8, 2021 Christmas Shopping It's a slice-of-life look at a family working their way through some Christmas blues and family discordance, with a focus on matter-of-fact naturalism that has more focus on daily drudgery and the mini-aggressions and conflicts that can exasperate and frustrate relationships. Some of these interactions can be quite sharp and incisive, but a number do feel a bit of a slog as parts of the film feel more like filling time in-between family blowups. So there's a bit this film could have done to be a bit more engaging, but it does gel together as it progresses and some of the final scenes are quite touching. It's no Christmas Classic, but I can see it making its way into the annual holiday watchlists for some people. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted May 11, 2021 Author Share Posted May 11, 2021 (edited) The Last Airbender: The Boy in the Iceberg Note: Some Spoilers from the film and animated series Season 1 are discussed Spoiler Over a decade ago, the infamous M. Night Shyamalan adaptation of the animated series took the wind of the franchise's sails with respect to a big-budget depiction on the big screen. Thus, the studio now has the dual burden of adapting the series well, but also cleansing the stink caused by past failures. It is perhaps the latter motivation that drives this film a a bit more than anything else, for both good and mixed. The film has an issue in that in some areas it drastically overcorrects from the mistakes of its predecessor, with some sequences of the film faithfully re-creating aesthetic and tone but almost slavishly so, with pacing a result being sluggish in those parts (most notably the opening act of the movie which seems to replicate the contents of the first two animated episodes as much as possible). It is parts like this where the film could have been a little more streamlined, which is a funny thing, since the movie does take the streamlined approach in situations such as merging the Kyoshi Warriors into the Southern Air Temple visit in a good use of conservation of storytelling. But perhaps where the film ends up whiffing the most is the interlude with Jet and the Freedom Fighters in the film's middle, which throws the pacing of the film to a halt with a detour that does not accomplish anything other than setting Jet up for an appearance in a sequel and finding a way to give Katara a waterbending scroll. I think if the film wanted an interlude, a much more impactful one with respect to the characters of this film would have been the Jeong Jeong arc, since it would have provided additional dimension to Zhao, and also set up Aang's reluctance/refusal to use fire. There are a handful of other things I think could have been streamlined or punted to a future film so that more focus could have been placed on sharpening some key things, but those are more quibbles than anything else. For all of the fits and starts, the film really finds sure footing once Aang and company arrive at the Northern Water Tribe and we get a pretty faithful and engaging recreation of the final story arc of the season that nails the emotional beats it needs, even if again there's a bit of streamlining that could be done. In any event, now that the series is going to be splitting the seasons into two movies each, I think it'll have an easier time focusing on hammering the big elements. And as for casting notes, most of the casting seems pretty spot on. Ryan Potter is several years too old for Zuko though which I think detracts a bit from the series ability to portray him as someone caught between boyhood and adulthood and struggling to find his place. Chow Yun-Fat as Iroh though is inspired casting. LOL at getting Jet Li for a brief spirit world flashback cameo. 0/10 No Cabbage Man Edited May 11, 2021 by 4815162342 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted May 11, 2021 Author Share Posted May 11, 2021 And with that, reviews are now complete. I will now go radio silent and read and grade everything else in the year. My intention is to be finished reading everything by the end of the weekend or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 All reading is complete. So without further ado, here are the 5 honorable mentions for the year: IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER FLOODBATH HEARTMAN THE IDIOTS THE LOST EMPIRE POKEMON: THE CASE OF THE ORANGE OUTRAGE 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 Because this is a Numbers Countdown, the Great Gif Game returns once again. Five movies in the #11-25 range will be picked at random, with a GIF hint. Guess the movie correctly and you get a point. Match it to the ranking spot and you get a second point. This will all be part of the point accumulation process, where the highest point-scorer will get an exclusive pre-read. Similarly, the owner of the #1 Film of the Year will get an exclusive pre-read. If the #1 Film Holder is the same person as the Top Point Scorer, then the #2 Film Holder would get the pre-read instead, etc. Round 1 will start in a little bit 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 (edited) ROUND 1 The randomly selected films are #13, #16, #19, #21, and #25. And here are the gif clues. Please note that the clues are not in the order of films listed above. Edited May 16, 2021 by 4815162342 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted May 16, 2021 Share Posted May 16, 2021 First gif is The Last Airbender (#16) Second gif is Castaways (#25) Third gif is Olive's Hallowed Eve (#13) Fourth gif is Mighty Fall (#19) Fifth gif is Dirty Hands (#21) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCKillswitch123 Posted May 16, 2021 Share Posted May 16, 2021 (edited) Inception gif - Holland Hannah - #16 Justice League gif - Castaways - #25 Moon gif - The Last Airbender - #19 Elephant gif - Mighty Fall - #21 Up in the Air gif - Squirrel Girl 2 - #13 Edited May 16, 2021 by MCKillswitch123 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAM! Posted May 16, 2021 Share Posted May 16, 2021 (edited) Inception gif - Dreams - #19 Ben Affleck gif - Castaways - #25 Moon gif - The Last Airbender - #13 Elephant gif - The Outback - #16 Aggressive typing gif - Up in the Sky - #21 Edited May 16, 2021 by SLAM! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezen Baklattan Posted May 16, 2021 Share Posted May 16, 2021 25. Dreams 21. Castaways 13. Everything We Miss 16. Mighty Fall 19. Up in the Sky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YM! Posted May 16, 2021 Share Posted May 16, 2021 59 minutes ago, 4815162342 said: ROUND 1 The randomly selected films are #13, #16, #19, #21, and #25. And here are the gif clues. Please note that the clues are not in the order of films listed above. Dreams - 25 Castaways - 21 Airbender - 13 Mighty Fall - 16 Up in The Sky - 19 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 Guesses are now locked in. I will reveal results in a few minutes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 (edited) ROUND 1 RESULTS Clue 1: Description: A gif from Inception, a movie about Dreams and implanting a narrative The Movie: Spoiler #25 Dreams A movie about taking your dreams and making them into a narrative Edited May 16, 2021 by 4815162342 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 Clue 2: Description: The main hero must put together a team of highly skilled individuals with some internal friction in order to stop an antagonist from finding a Macguffin that would put Earth at risk The Movie: Spoiler #21 Mass Effect: Revelation Where the main heroine must put together a team of highly skilled individuals with some internal friction in order to stop an antagonist from finding a Macguffin that would put the Galaxy at risk 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 Clue 3: Description: The Moon The Movie: Spoiler #19 The Last Airbender: The Boy in the Iceberg Where the Moon plays an important role 3 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 Clue 4: Description: A gif of a young elephant as part of a herd of elephants, taken from the Planet Earth documentary The Movie: Spoiler #16 Walking with Dinosaurs A documentary featuring a young sauropod as part of a larger herd of sauropods 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 Clue 5: Description: A gif from the movie Up in the Air Spoiler The Movie: #13 Up in the Sky 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 Current Game Scores: Spoiler Your Mother- 4 Slam- 3 Spaghetti- 3 McKillswitch- 2 Cookie- 0 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 ROUND 2 CLUES The Films: #11, #15, #17, #20, #24 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted May 16, 2021 Share Posted May 16, 2021 (edited) The first gif is Olive's Hallowed Eve (#15) The second gif is Static Shock: Frozen Summer (#24) The third gif is Learning to Care (#11) The fourth gif is Dirty Hands (#17) The fifth gif is Mighty Fall (#20) Edited May 16, 2021 by cookie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...