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Post by Jeremy on Mar 2, 2019 18:49:02 GMT -8
So obviously, I was feeling pretty bummed that the month of March will only feature the debut of one superhero movie (Captain Marvel). I mean, what kind of creatively barren age are we living in?
But then I realized that the month of April will feature three superhero movies (Shazam, Hellboy, and Avengers: Endgame). Phew. Maybe there's hope for the future of cinema after all.
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Post by ThirdMan on Mar 2, 2019 19:04:03 GMT -8
You'd think they would've separated Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame by at least two months. Hmmm...maybe they don't think the former will have legs at the box office, so they're not bothering to give it too much breathing room.
On a semi-related note, I checked to see what date Black Panther opened on last year, and I noticed the film only had a 7.3/10 average on imdb.com. So naturally, I looked to confirm my suspicion, that a bunch of people were giving it 1s in the reviews section. Yup. After its initial release, Captain Marvel is probably going to experience a bloodbath on there.
It's interesting that they're holding back reviews on Captain Marvel, though. Remember when Marvel Studios was so confident in Captain America: Civil War that it let reviews go out a month early? Perhaps they're just concerned about spoilerific reviews regarding CM, but...
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Post by Jeremy on Mar 2, 2019 21:35:15 GMT -8
Based on the tweets I've seen from critics, Captain Marvel will be receiving strong reviews. Why they haven't released those reviews yet is a mystery.
And yes, there will be IMDb backlash over the film. Rotten Tomatoes made the mistake of allowing early audience reviews, and the film's page was promptly deluged with one-star reviews from angry so-called fans who haven't seen it. (RT has now blocked online reviews for the film until its release.) It's a little worse than usual in this case (compared to, say, Wonder Woman), since Brie Larson has said in multiple interviews that the film is meant to be a political statement, and you know how much the Internet loves stuff like that...
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Post by Jeremy on Mar 3, 2019 9:27:49 GMT -8
(RT has now blocked online reviews for the film until its release.) Wait, slight clarification to my earlier post: Rotten Tomatoes has now terminated all pre-release user reviews for films going forward. I guess Captain Marvel was the last straw.
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Post by Zarnium on May 1, 2019 5:35:03 GMT -8
The trailer for the new live-action Sonic movie is out, and... honestly, it looks alright and not nearly as bad as some are making it out to be, but the most bizarre thing about it is that it's set to the song "Gangsta's Paradise", which does not suit either the contents of the trailer or the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise at all. The slow pace and morose ambience makes the trailer seem like a horror film.
I might go see it. It probably won't be very good, but I'm sure it will be enjoyable to marvel at its weirdness, as well as see Ben Schwartz in what I believe is his biggest film role to date. (Even though nothing can beat his performance as Sulu Candles, the theater usher.)
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Post by ThirdMan on May 1, 2019 14:13:50 GMT -8
Doesn't the visual design of the Sonic character in the film seem a little...soft? Like they needed to give more edge to the eyes, or something? Honestly, the deciding factor on that being even remotely watchable ("so bad it's good", or whatever) will probably be how long it takes for Carrey to go full-Robotnik (you only see a hint of that at the end of the trailer).
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Post by Jeremy on May 1, 2019 15:29:03 GMT -8
I doubt that "Gangster's Paradise" will be reflective of the film itself. Probably just the marketing team trying to make the film look "edgy" and bungling the effort.
My biggest issue (apart from Sonic's design - which, let's be honest, is an issue with virtually every cartoon-to-live-action adaptation) is that the idea of Jason Marsden on an adventure with a CG talking animal immediately drudges up memories of that awful film where he team up with the Easter Bunny. I can only pray the Sonic film is better than that one.
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Post by Zarnium on May 1, 2019 20:13:05 GMT -8
I can't say that I find film Sonic's design to be very pleasing to the eye, but then again , I'm not sure what design a "realistic" CGI Sonic could possibly have that wouldn't look terrible, which is part of why this movie is such a bonkers concept to begin with.
I'm not a big fan of modern Sonic in general, though. I much prefer the more cartoony Sonic from the Genesis era, I've always found the slimmer and edgier design he has now to be unappealing.
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Post by Jeremy on May 1, 2019 20:25:23 GMT -8
As someone who has never played a Sonic game and has only seen a handful of episodes across his various animated series, I don't consider myself an expert on the subject. But I do think a design adhering closer to the AoStH/SatAM era would be more interesting and eye-catching. If you're going to contrast a cartoon character with a live-action world, might as well go all the way.
All in all, there's probably no way for the film to not seem like a strange idea. But hey, we've also got a live-action Dora the Explorer movie coming this year, which makes the supersonic blue hedgehog movie seem almost normal.
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Post by Jeremy on May 2, 2019 16:40:30 GMT -8
Update: Following the... less-than-thrilled reaction of the Internet, director Jeff Fowler has announced that Sonic's design will be changed before the film's release. Perhaps there's hope for the movie after all.
(Just so long as it stays far away from any "Gangster's Paradise.")
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Post by Zarnium on May 2, 2019 17:26:38 GMT -8
Geez, how are they going to manage that in only eight months? Won't they have to re-render every scene he's in? I've heard some people calling for that to happen, but I dismissed it as flat-out impossible at this point.
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Post by Jeremy on May 2, 2019 18:19:52 GMT -8
Six months, actually. Gonna be a time crunch. Then again, Hollywood turned Kevin Spacey into Christopher Plummer in a matter of weeks, so anything's possible.
(Random tidbit: The director of the Sonic film has had experience with cartoon rodents before - he directed the mildly amusing Oscar-nominated short film Gopher Broke. His partner in producing that cartoon was Tim Miller, who went on to direct Deadpool. Talk about different paths...)
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Post by Jay on May 2, 2019 21:42:37 GMT -8
I think "Gangster's Paradise" neatly aligns with the last stretch of time when Sonic was a bankable, cultural icon. The song itself came out in 1995 and Sonic and Knuckles, as the delayed expansion to Sonic 3, came out at the end of 1994. Sure the Console Wars nominally drew on after that but Sonic as a franchise didn't have a distinct main series entry in the Saturn era, so Sonic effectively peaked in the mid-90s and not after that.
Hello, this has been an entry in gaming history from that guy who had a Genesis instead of a SNES for most of the 90s.
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Post by Zarnium on May 3, 2019 4:36:14 GMT -8
Hey, Sonic 3D Blast came out in 1996, the most underrated Genesis Sonic game, so he wasn't dead yet!
Granted, I never had it on my hand-me-down Genesis and played it on the Gamecube with an analog stick, so it may have been a lot worse playing it with the D-pad.
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Post by Jay on May 3, 2019 14:16:14 GMT -8
I think I tried playing 3D Blast on the Gamecube and found it handled worse than the Genesis, but that could just be muscle memory tripping me up. Even so, nowhere near as egregious as the Gamecube Mega Man collection that swapped the A and B inputs on the controller and wouldn't let you remap (shakes fist)
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