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And then we tried to watch Pacific Rim...
It was in ITV2 last night. And we got half way through.
I had this notion that it was a Good Thing; not quite sure why, but that was the fannish vibe I had gotten. (I also got Good Thing vibe re. Guardians of the Galaxy, and found *that* unwatchable, although for different reasons.) Anyway, I should backtrack a little...
When we went to see Black Panther one of the trailers was puzzling. It looked vaguely Transformer-y, had a young & nicely diverse cast - and seemed to be about giant robots punching monsters in the face. It wasn't until the final titles flashed up that I discovered it was for Pacific Rim 2.
Somehow no one had ever mentioned that Pacific Rim was about giant robots punching monsters in the face... Generally if a movie is dumb, but awesome, I pick up on it and set my expectations accordingly. Ah well. I don't know that it would have made a difference.
Anyhoo, it was on telly, Darcy said 'fancy watching it?' and so we did. Except this one didn't have a diverse cast (except for Idris Elba and the Japanese girl), instead it had a plethora of Riley clones, minus the charm & personality. (Seriously, I cannot remember the main character's name. Did he HAVE a name? I'm serious, did anyone ever mention it?) And Darcy commented that they all looked like 'human wallpaper, completely featureless'. I swear they could have swapped them round and I wouldn't have noticed.
Which might have been manageable if there had been a coherent story or the characters hadn't ALL BEEN SO VERY STUPID or the writing had been OK or... something. IDK. Basically the Honest Trailer is PERFECT, it's simply a film 'starring things your inner 9 year-old will love':
Giant robots!
Giant monsters!
Giant robots punching giant monsters!
Using shipping crates as brass knuckles!
Using a freighter as a baseball bat!
Bo staff fighting!
Colors!
A doggy!
Aw, that's got three arms!
Pew pew pew!
Whoa!
And that one part...
Where he's all like 'Ugh'
And the Kaiju's all 'Rarr'
Although on the plus side,Smurfette the female character wasn't sexualised (at all), again confirming the 'made for 9 year olds' theory.
Don't get me wrong, there is nothing WRONG with giant robots, especially since Darcy then discovered a movie called Robot Jox from 1989, from which Pacific Rim clearly has taken most of it's cues/ideas (just adding Godzilla). The film's plot follows Achilles, one of the "robot jox" who pilot giant machines that fight international battles to settle territorial disputes in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic world.
JUST LOOK AT THIS SEQUENCE (and see how the Pacific Rim robots are literally lifted wholesale). Bonus, this movie's hero has a memorable name, and I already care about his world:
(WHY DOES EVERYONE STILL LIVE IN THOSE CITIES IN PACIFIC RIM??!??? WHY DO THEY ALL RUN AROUND PANICKING, WHY ARE THERE NOT PROCEDURES IN PLACE??? WHY- ok, I'll stop. There are no answers beyond 'robots punching monsters in the face'.)
I had this notion that it was a Good Thing; not quite sure why, but that was the fannish vibe I had gotten. (I also got Good Thing vibe re. Guardians of the Galaxy, and found *that* unwatchable, although for different reasons.) Anyway, I should backtrack a little...
When we went to see Black Panther one of the trailers was puzzling. It looked vaguely Transformer-y, had a young & nicely diverse cast - and seemed to be about giant robots punching monsters in the face. It wasn't until the final titles flashed up that I discovered it was for Pacific Rim 2.
Somehow no one had ever mentioned that Pacific Rim was about giant robots punching monsters in the face... Generally if a movie is dumb, but awesome, I pick up on it and set my expectations accordingly. Ah well. I don't know that it would have made a difference.
Anyhoo, it was on telly, Darcy said 'fancy watching it?' and so we did. Except this one didn't have a diverse cast (except for Idris Elba and the Japanese girl), instead it had a plethora of Riley clones, minus the charm & personality. (Seriously, I cannot remember the main character's name. Did he HAVE a name? I'm serious, did anyone ever mention it?) And Darcy commented that they all looked like 'human wallpaper, completely featureless'. I swear they could have swapped them round and I wouldn't have noticed.
Which might have been manageable if there had been a coherent story or the characters hadn't ALL BEEN SO VERY STUPID or the writing had been OK or... something. IDK. Basically the Honest Trailer is PERFECT, it's simply a film 'starring things your inner 9 year-old will love':
Giant robots!
Giant monsters!
Giant robots punching giant monsters!
Using shipping crates as brass knuckles!
Using a freighter as a baseball bat!
Bo staff fighting!
Colors!
A doggy!
Aw, that's got three arms!
Pew pew pew!
Whoa!
And that one part...
Where he's all like 'Ugh'
And the Kaiju's all 'Rarr'
Although on the plus side,
Don't get me wrong, there is nothing WRONG with giant robots, especially since Darcy then discovered a movie called Robot Jox from 1989, from which Pacific Rim clearly has taken most of it's cues/ideas (just adding Godzilla). The film's plot follows Achilles, one of the "robot jox" who pilot giant machines that fight international battles to settle territorial disputes in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic world.
JUST LOOK AT THIS SEQUENCE (and see how the Pacific Rim robots are literally lifted wholesale). Bonus, this movie's hero has a memorable name, and I already care about his world:
(WHY DOES EVERYONE STILL LIVE IN THOSE CITIES IN PACIFIC RIM??!??? WHY DO THEY ALL RUN AROUND PANICKING, WHY ARE THERE NOT PROCEDURES IN PLACE??? WHY- ok, I'll stop. There are no answers beyond 'robots punching monsters in the face'.)
Re: Hasn't seen this, has no plans to do so, grabs popcorn anyway
I've definitely heard the first one more than once, but the second only as commentary to the figures.
Well, I have watched it now, I am in the know! Took me a while to get into it at the beginning, the little guy was annoying and not funny, but once The Dread Pirate Roberts turned up it got good and in the end the charm of the characters had won me over. Plus when watching the interviews 25 years later I realized that I knew Mandy Patinkin from Homeland. Never would have recognized him.
The third one is (as far as I remember) very good on the character stuff - he is dealing with PTSD after the events of Avengers [I forget the title], and is generally introspective and not doing well. Of course there are also many big explosions, but it's the character stuff I remember.
Sounds interesting! Maybe I go and check it out. Before it arrives in my TV two years later, I mean.
I just finished watching Ant-Man (the first one). Liked it much more than Deadpool. If you haven't seen it yet, it's recommended. The guy was very likeable, with how he tried to better himself and wanted to be good for his little daughter (and she was cute how she adored her daddy) and of course I liked especially all the miniature stuff. It was very entertaining and not boring at all.
Never watched any of them, it's Benedict Cumberbatch for me. ;)
You know, I was very much firm in the "Sherlock is better than Elementary" camp, not even wanting to poke the latter with a stick, outright refusing to watch it as a simple copy (apparently they wanted to re-make Sherlock but Moffat did not allow it?) and making Watson female, I mean really... Then I had to watch two episodes in which Sean plays Lestrade (three actually but I need to hunt it down yet) and I had to reluctantly admit that I felt very entertained. I could see myself liking the show if I started properly at the beginning. At the same time Sherlock has becoming very un-entertaining for me lately sadly.
Hmmm. Well, it's possible to like many all at the same time. ;)
While that is true, I would have to quit much job and watch TV all day long to do everyone justice! I was catching up with all the things William Shatner had done (and he was a busy man!) in his life and doing well with that when suddenly Sean Pertwee came around the corner, so poor Bill got dropped like a hot cake and I started to make my way through all things Sean. I have much ahead of me yet, need to buy all his movies yet. So there simply is no time for yet more guys, but I have sneaked some Hugh Jackman in here and there (I mean, too much of the same guy makes you tired, right? Need a bit of variety), but haven't started properly catching up on him yet, and that's why I don't even dare to look at Tom Hiddleston too closely. And I don't want to completely forget about Matt Bomer as well. And Karl Urban! I only have seen two or three things with him. So much to do, so little time...
And then it's actually nice to once in a while just watch a movie because the plot sounds interesting, not because someone is in it for 5 minutes and then dies (looking at you, Sean!). And I am not even particular into horror or sci-fi stuff. The things I do for my guys ;)
So I ended up watching Bridge of Spies with Tom Hanks, as I was promised many German scenes. Positively I have to say that these all seemed to be original language actors, nothing odd there. Positively also that Tom spoke a fair bit of actually good German. But then I also see the "how Hollywood sees Germany" and feel weird ;) I probably should write proper meta about it.
Re: Hasn't seen this, has no plans to do so, grabs popcorn anyway
There is of course also the fact that if you aren't familiar, you don't realise where quotes are from...
but once The Dread Pirate Roberts turned up it got good and in the end the charm of the characters had won me over.
[insert nice gif of Westley] ;)
Sounds interesting! Maybe I go and check it out.
Beware it's a few years since I watched it...
I just finished watching Ant-Man (the first one).
I adore Ant-Man! The origin story is by numbers, but everyone is so charming/the big-small thing is so well done that I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't like it. <3
I could see myself liking the show if I started properly at the beginning.
I have never watched it, but it seems to hook people. It's just such a different format to the British one, a proper long season American show.
At the same time Sherlock has becoming very un-entertaining for me lately sadly.
Well I doubt there will ever be any more, so... not to worry. :)
While that is true, I would have to quit much job and watch TV all day long to do everyone justice!
And so say all of us... Sounds like you have a ton of stuff to go through, good luck with it all!!
And then it's actually nice to once in a while just watch a movie because the plot sounds interesting, not because someone is in it for 5 minutes and then dies (looking at you, Sean!).
This. Very very true.
But then I also see the "how Hollywood sees Germany" and feel weird ;) I probably should write proper meta about it.
I'd read it.