Keith Houchen Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 10 minutes ago, Carbomb said: Yeah, but the Emperor was central to the entire storyline, not just a bit of it. He wasn't in the first, in a couple of scenes as a hologram in the second and finally appeared in the third. We didn't know or need to know about the Naboo senator who rose to power through his duplicity, we just knew he was the Emperor and a badass. His backstory became known years later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted October 22, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 22, 2018 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said: He wasn't in the first, in a couple of scenes as a hologram in the second and finally appeared in the third. We didn't know or need to know about the Naboo senator who rose to power through his duplicity, we just knew he was the Emperor and a badass. His backstory became known years later. True, but then Vader wasn't supposed to have a backstory either until Empire Strikes Back. He was just supposed to be the "sub-boss", if you like. Then he became a hit and Lucas retroactively made the series about him, and made the Emperor integral to that. To be fair, Palpatine/Darth Sidious/The Emperor's evil conniving and scheming leading to his corruption of the conflicted Anakin was probably the only thing about the prequels that was well written, hence why he wasn't as diminished by the backstory as other characters were. Either way, though, my point still stands: Palpatine was a major figure who greatly influenced the storyline of Star Wars overall. Snoke wasn't meant to be anything more than a temporary plot driver (geddit? eh?), and I don't think he could've had any backstory that would've made him more interesting than any of the other Sith that have appeared in any other SW films or even TV programmes. Maul, Vader, Sidious, Tyrannus, Asaaj Ventriss, Plagueis, etc., they covered a lot of different types. I'd almost go so far as to say that it felt like Abrams or whoever it was deliberately made him a bit generic so that people wouldn't want a backstory. After all this rambling, I'm just trying to say: you're right about Snoke. Edited October 22, 2018 by Carbomb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 My point is we knew Vader and Palpatine were badasses as soon as we saw them. Snoke should've been too but one of the most toxic, entitled fanbases this side of non Mancunian Manchester United fans wouldn't buy it because they knew nothing about him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted October 22, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 22, 2018 Just now, Keith Houchen said: My point is we knew Vader and Palpatine were badasses as soon as we saw them. Snoke should've been too but one of the most toxic, entitled fanbases this side of non Mancunian Manchester United fans wouldn't buy it because they knew nothing about him. True. They should've accepted it and not needed to know anything about them - a bit like Coventry's board and SISU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 Skate Kitchen If you like 90s independent cinema in the vein of Kids, Slacker, Gummo etc then you'll probably enjoy this. That's slightly lazy, but it's a good comparison. 18 year old Latino girl falls in with New York all girl skate group. That's pretty much all the plot is, but visually this is a really pretty film, so naturalistic, which the mostly amateur cast lend to. Its just full of energy, and youthful exuberance. I haven't seen the directors previous effort The Rat Pack, but understand she likes to blur the lines between reality and fiction, and it works really well here. Recommended Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Red Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 10 hours ago, Carbomb said: True. They should've accepted it and not needed to know anything about them - a bit like Coventry's board and SISU. This is increasingly the problem with over engaged fan bases. It's no longer us watching Lucas (now Disney) tell their story, in their mind it's their story and fuck anyone who doesn't tell it the way they want it told. The worst example of recent memory was the Mass Effect game series, where the fans were so outraged that the ending wasn't in line with their viewpoint that they petitioned, abused and harrassed the developer into actually changing the ending from their original vision post release. At least Disney know what Vince knows. The ones who moan the loudest will still be first in line every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted October 23, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 23, 2018 1 hour ago, SuperBacon said: Skate Kitchen If you like 90s independent cinema in the vein of Kids, Slacker, Gummo That sentence went from best to worst so quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 Just now, Devon Malcolm said: That sentence went from best to worst so quickly. Why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted October 23, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 23, 2018 4 minutes ago, SuperBacon said: Why? Because I hate Larry Clark and Harmony Korine more than palpitations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 3 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said: Because I hate Larry Clark and Harmony Korine more than palpitations. Like I said, it's a lazy comparison, and Skate Kitchen is nowhere near as exploitative as something like Kids, but it's shot in a similar style. 15 year old me thought Kids was the coolest shit ever. It's not. It's shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zep81 Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 "A quadriplegic man has a trained monkey help him with his paralysis, until the little monkey begins to develop feelings, and rage, against its new master." Yeah, George Romero did more than just zombies. It's an excellent taut thriller/horror that I thougholy enjoyed. It builds the tension all the way through until the inevitable climax when the Allan tries to take control back from the monkey. Ella the monkey is the obvious star of the movie but the human cast is just as strong in their own performances. You gotta love Ellas' audacity near the end when she literally pisses all over Allan, in an act of 'fuck you' defiance. You then get that classic line from Allan; "You slime. You filth. I'm gonna take you apart. I'm gonna rip your fuckin' eyes out." This film is a product of its time, yet it's timeless. A great film all around with a riveting story and strong performances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted October 23, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 23, 2018 Been years since I saw Monkey Shines but it's one of Romero's best, up there with his zombie films. Really under-appreciated. Watched Happy Birthday to Me today and it's a fantastic slasher film. Really, really good, with an actual great plot and some superb twists. The ending is sodding superb. It's on Netflix so you've no excuse. Also watched Subspecies and it's fair to say I won't be watching the FOUR sequels. Incredibly shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 We're The Millers Not necessarily bad, just utter fluff. Jennifer Aniston stripping was the least sexiest thing ever. 11 year old me used to day dream about such things happening, but it was just boring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted October 24, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 24, 2018 The Taking of Deborah Logan is REALLY good, especially for a found footage horror film. Nothing new but executed extremely well with a really brilliant and subtle ending shot. Good fun. Nobody asked but my top five found footage horror film ranking would be:- [REC] Trollhunter [REC]2 The Taking of Deborah Logan Man Bites Dog Honourable mentions for Cloverfield, Lake Mungo and Chernobyl Diaries. Worst five:- Exists The Dyatlov Pass Incident Paranormal Activity The Bay The Last Broadcast Dishonourable mentions to Creep, Cannibal Holocaust and Diary of the Dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted October 25, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 25, 2018 (edited) Watched Ready Player One last night. An absolute crock of shit. Far worse than the book, which is deeply flawed in the first place. EDIT: Going to expand on this. The opening 10-15 minutes is exposition via voiceover. Perhaps necessary scene-setting, but not a great viewing experience. "Show, Don't Tell" and all that jazz. The lead character is bland, creepy, entitled and unlikable. The romance subplot is beyond forced. The female lead is the sort of "bad-ass rebel chick" that no one should have written after The Lego Movie played up every cliche imaginable for that role. The villains are as generic as they come. If it were intended as a criticism/indictment of modern pop culture, it would have been far more successful than the lazy nostalgia-fest it was. It was everything wrong with modern entitled "geek culture" writ large. A Big Bang Theory "WE LIKE WHAT YOU LIKE, GET IT?" stretched out to two and a half hours. The scene where the opening narration says, "the only limits were your imagination", as the screen fills up with popular characters from successful franchises is unintentionally the most accurate criticism of modern pop culture a mainstream movie has ever managed - these self-confessed "nerds" who think that they're unique and interesting for consuming media that everyone consumes, and who think their tastes are a substitute for personality, given free reign with their imagination as the only limit, and all they can come up with is existing franchise characters. If the point of this movie was to come up with a generic, formulaic plot full of recognisable pop culture icons to make a point of the complete lack of imagination involved, and to do it on purpose, it couldn't have proved it's point better than they did unintentionally while unironically celebrating that pop culture. Word salad, sorry. Pissed off that they used the Iron Giant as a big war machine. Not like there's any other pop culture giant robots they could have used, right? The whole Shining section was dreadful, too. Never remind your viewers that they could be watching a better film! Above all, it's the 1980s nostalgia aspect that's just lazy and doesn't make sense. The movie is set in 2045. The protagonists are all teenagers or younger. Even the villain was, presumably, born this century. 2045 is sixty years after Back to The Future was brought out. That would be equivalent to teenagers in the present day losing their mind over references to Battleship Potemkin and Buster Keaton, and all running round listening to ragtime. Edited October 25, 2018 by BomberPat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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