The live action transformers movies.
Although I almost never think about it.
And I only saw the first thirty minutes of the first movie.I’ve watched all of them. I was a TF fan as a kid. I watched it every morning before school and on Saturday mornings. The movies just…I don’t know. The first one was the best of the live action. Bumblebee maybe. All of them felt more machine like, except the stupid peeing…wtf…
That said, they were not great. The story, on concept, seemed ok. The execution sucked. The acting was not great. The tropes were un needed, didn’t even really fit in, and just plain stupid at best. Mostly they were irritating. Like someone dragging their nails on a chalk board in the middle of a mediocre movie.
The last couple felt more like an attempt at hero porn. [que “heroic” music, lame Walberg lines where he wields some weapon that makes no sense, then lots of booms. Don’t forget the meaningless jumping, falling all over the place, and special forces that lean more on the special than forces.]
The only good thing that came out of them was the limited re release of the OG toys. I managed to finally snag an Optimus and a couple others.
Look I’m a simple man, I can’t get enough of Optimus Prime’s stellar voice work. :D
It’s not an incredible franchise. But hey I think they had some fun with a series that was basically designed to sell 80’s toys lol.
The best thing about the cartoon was Optimus Prime being ‘best tv dad’, megatron/galvatron’s evil laugh and speeches, soundwave’s voice, starscream scheming, starscream being killed off for being a whiny backstabber too many times, the art, the touch and the fact that all of the supporting cast that were good in their own right.
I watched it until the Megan Fox car breakdown scene and figured it wouldn’t get better than that and stopped there. I don’t remember anything else from the movie.
I admit that it surprised me it did well enough for sequels, when better films didn’t, but I guess that’s The Public for you.
It didn’t. I managed to stay until one of the autobots had to take a leak. I was too insulted at that point. Megan Fox came across as an absolute bore, but of course the guy has to stammer and stumble and try to impress the dead weight.
Megan Fox came across as an absolute bore
Well, I wasn’t looking at her for her acting. Some people are just nice to look at.
By absolute bore I also include her looks. I understand she is supposed to be pretty, but stone-faced is not my thing. Even with her licking-lip image I imagine her eyes staring at the latest gucci dress laced with diamonds or maybe even Bumblebee, but not a man.
Ah, you’re clearly not objectifying women enough!
Do I need to qualify that so people know it’s a joke? I feel as if I need to qualify that.
Whether it’s a joke or not, my opinions on this issue is too strong for me to not ask this out loud. What makes stone faced women still hot?
Jeri Ryan from Star Trek Voyager is another one.
The Cube.
Most people saw it as an average horror movie where a bunch of people try to get out of a giant torture box. But there was a pivotal scene that stuck with me where one of the prisoners realizes he helped build part of it. The whole thing wasn’t some intentional torture device but just a bunch of people doing their day jobs that were lost in a bureaucracy not ever questioning what their work was creating.
A stark reflection of society and the systems we create and the dangers of not ever looking at the bigger picture.Of course they proceeded to shit all over this idea in Cube2 where it ended up being just another evil government experiment.
The thing that stuck with me was: “TWO!”
I actually liked Cube Zero for the backstory and set styles. I don’t remember much else so I’m assuming it was shit, but you can give it a try if you want.
I think OP pretty much summed up Cube Zero. The first installment is really just a horror fiction also depicting the structure of human society.
Yeah, Cube 2 is shit. It’s a scientific concept show.
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Just to ask, nobody understood the full picture of what they were making? Or was there someone who created the concept but intentional obfuscated it from everyone else via bureaucracy?
Granted it’s just the viewpoint of one of the prisoners but it’s the one I found most intriguing. To quote the movie: “Nobody knew what it was, nobody cared…there is no conspiracy, nobody is in charge. It’s a headless blunder operating under the illusion of a master plan…somebody might have known sometime before they got fired, voted out, or sold it…this is an accident, a forgotten perpetual public works project. You think anybody asked questions? All they want is a clear conscience and a fat paycheck.”
That’s awesome sci-fi right there. It’s a bit campy, but it’s campy in the same way that all great social commentary is, until it isn’t and it’s too late.
Ok the last time I watched it was well before being exposed to corporate culture. That’s awesome.
Basically every Terminator movie after T2. They have some great “what if” premises that could add so much depth to the world, but then struggle to see the vision through is a satisfying way.
T3: Let’s actually show Judement Day
T4: Let’s show the turning point in the war against the machines
T5: Exists
T6: What if all this time travel actually branched the timeline? What would it look like if one of Skynet’s terminators succeeded?
The Sarah Connor chronicles was the only sequel media that ever made sense to me
I know, right? I was quite mad when l heard the show was cancelled after season two. I still want to know if she survived after taking a shotgun shot to this day.
I agree with all the other people in this thread mentioning ‘In Time’. It had such a great premise, and I didn’t even hate the execution, but it was mediocre. It was like they went 50% of the way to a flawless execution and just said “fuck it, that’s good enough”. The concept has a lot of elements to explore, like classism, labor exploitation, human rights, even free will to a point… A movie just isn’t the right vehicle for that story. It needs to be a series. Done right, you could explore all that while having an overarching plotline, and still have your weekly subplots and B stories. That would give the story time to fully develop the romantic connection between the poor guy who comes into a bunch of time, and the rich girl who empathizes with him. That romance felt incredibly rushed in the movie, but you could build it up over a whole season in a show.
I also want to mention another movie that I’m not sure belongs here. It’s not a bad movie, nor do I think the execution was mediocre, but for the life of me I can’t figure out why it didn’t do better. That movie is called ‘Push’, with Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning. I just watched it again the other night, and I freaking love it. The concept isn’t that amazing or original, but the way they present it is great. There isn’t a ton of exposition or world-building. They kinda just drop you in and let you figure it out, and I really like that. Evans and Fanning have great onscreen chemistry, and Djimon Honsou is a perfect bad guy. This is another one where I think it would make a great series, even though I think the movie was done really well. It’s just kind of a perfect mid-budget sci-fi action movie, and we don’t seem to get those anymore.
As featured in the picture, Reign of Fire. I had forgotten about it. I truly don’t think there is a film out there that has represented dragons as I see them better.
I really think about Quinn’s character a lot. How the world entirely changed for him on that pivotal day he discovered that male dragon, and the decades he spent running and surviving and living in fear of something that he inadvertently set in motion, and then the turning point as an adult as he confronts his fear and wields it to put an end to what he started.
What I like about him, is that he’s not actually that unique – anybody could have woken that dragon, and if Quinn hadn’t been there on that day, one of his mother’s coworkers would have. He’s not particularly heroic as an adult either, opting to hide and scrounge for survival, and openly admitting to everyone that he’s winging it on the leader front. And yet he inspires his community with fierce devotion to keeping them all alive. When he finally goes to confront the dragon, he does it almost alone, inspiring no one with his courage other than himself.
As a character I find him weirdly relatable as someone just coping with heavy trauma the best that they can
Jurassic park
First movie I saw in theaters that disappointed me. Too much dinosaurs running around trying to kill everyone without standing still and asking why this is happening.
A quick jab towards the old man that the park is not considered ready for opening yet is not enough, or that he’s packaging stuff?
The Goldblum character’s logic failed to intregue me. He would have been much better to ask the old man questions about park safety and genetic engineering safety that could be scrutinized.
It made the kids were more interesting than the adults.
I forgot what the realtionships between the two main characters were, but I believe they were divorced and the kids were theirs?
At the very least they should have had some character development. Have them both end up with new partners or something and show what makes the new pairs better than the old one.I watched a recent review from TheNostalgiaCritic about this film, and he does touch upon a lot of what you said about the strange motivations of all the characters that led up to the Dinosaurs escaping. That being said, I liked it and would say it is iconic in both story and genre (semi-horror kid-friendly family film aimed at adults?)
I saw the Siskel and Ebert review and I agree with their point that there was a lack of awe in the movie that E.T. and close encounters of the third kind had.
This movie had dinosaurs being dangerous at almost all times. Only a moment after they awed a stampede was heading for them. The danger felt convoluted. Tacked in. And it would have been a good time to question the old man about park safety.
The old man never get punished for his reckless behavior. I don’t get why my downvoters would disagree with me. Would you downvoters really have acted so calmly against the old man when the park goes haywire?
Christian Bale faking an actually decent London accent, Gerard Butler being a loveable scot, and Matthew McCaughnehey doing his best Norse/Spartan Warrior impression?
Horrible acting all around (except Bale at times), the lead female character was basically there to soothe/flirt with the lead (wish i was joking), you can barely understand anyone, and yet really impressive set/castle and overall atmosphere. You believe you are there, and that the world is gone.
Huge gaps in logic on the hunting patterns of dragons, helicopters seem to run on infinite fuel, and the final plan to take down the main dragon is just stupid at best… but the execution of fighting dragons in the air with nets dropped by guys without parachutes was a phenomenol air sequence.
Also, the dragon CGI holds up. You never quite see it, but when you do, you believe it’s there, and the CGI team did a great job with consistency in that the dragons are always depicted expelling fluid that they ignite, and you see it every time they cast fire.
Phenomenol movie, and one of the best opening 5 minutes in terms of origin story. Just a lot of bad acting, and some questionable feats in logic plot-wise.
It took me a while to figure out what movie you were talking about. But it’s “dragons invade the modern world, with Christian Bale!” (I can’t remember the name)
Eragon: Returns
I’d watch this, but only because sometimes I need to watch bad movies
One of the movie series I was sad to see die before it even began. Read the whole series of books.
reign of fire
I’m a crazy, or did you completely fail to mention what movie you’re describing?
I remember being extremely well entertained by awesome dragons, and that’s it. Which means you’re probably correct.
What Bale’s native accent?
I know it’s a British one, I was wondering what region, since OP was talking about his London accent.
its vaguely welsh, but I actually can’t tell
Nah it’s not welsh at all, he was born there but grew up entirely in England.
Christian Bale is English. His accent in Reign of Fire is not far off his normal accent.
You are shitting me!
He’s crazy good at assimilating accents so a lot of people don’t realise. Here’s his real accent (apologies for the YouTube link).
his real accent sounds fake… I don’t believe it…
Highlander II
The Dark Tower
It’s a long list but these two were painful.
Highlander 2 is unsalvageable. That movie sucked so bad it wasn’t even fun to watch with friends to make fun of it
The premise of Highlander 2 was awful, too, though.
Mind you, Highlander II would’ve made more sense as a non-Highlander movie that just revolves around space aliens dealing with Earth having a planetary shield now. As a sequel to Highlander its premise was really weird.
Fuck The Dark Tower. That movie doesn’t exist for me. Total waste.
Idiocracy.
Loved the idea. Film itself… meh
I think I read that the studio insisted on changes that annoyed Mike Judge. Pootie Tang met the same fate. They should have just let professional comedians release whatever but some studio executive didn’t get the jokes and was like, “This movie won’t appeal to suburban fathers over 45.” or whatever.
In my experience, it often comes out that all of the shitty parts of comedy movies are not the fault of the creators. But comedians aren’t given creative freedom like Scorsese or whomever and also are like, “Make whatever edits you want. I made a stupid movie with my friends. You got my check?”
yeah read that Caddyshack was made in florida instead of california because they didn’t want the studios breathing down their necks.
I feel the opposite, the premise is a defence of eugenics that looks like it was written by that mother-goose ass neo-natalist nerd couple
The actual film is a decent turn off your brain stoner comedy
Hot take, “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”. The radio play, books and 80s bbc show were not represented very well at all. They missed well over 75% of the jokes, Mos Def and Zooey Deschanel added nothing to it, and they added plots and scenes, I think just to get more “blockbuster actors” in, that ruin the original story of the radio play. Sam Rockwell, Alan Rickman/Warwick Davis and Bill Nightly were the highlights. One of the few movies I wish they would remake.
Sam Rockwell as Zaphod was spot on. He was the only one who actually read the books, and had to even tell the director to add “Froody” to the script. What a shitshow it must have been for the director not to know that…
That director doesn’t sound froody
Oh hey Zaphod, yeah he was not a frood indeed
I quite like the movie. I mean all your points make sense and i agree, but at the same time, it’s that movie that even introduced me to the books, and i now read them every year or two. The movie is far from perfect, but if you look at other things they try to convert into movies, this could’ve been so so much worse. Like imagine they made that movie now or somewhen in the past 5 or 10 years, it would basically be a disney marvel movie with marvel quips and: “he’s right behind me isn’t he’s?”
Agreed, it was a big letdown unfortunately, compared to any of the other versions (including the text adventure!)
Shame, because Martin Freeman was perfect for Arthur, and Stephen Fry as the voice of the Guide was a great choice too. Though Mos Def was ok as Ford, although not on a par with David Dickson (TV) or Geoffrey McGivern (radio).
Zaphod and Trillian weren’t right at all though IMO.
In Time (2011). Time is currency in the dystopia in the film - paying for something decreases your lifespan, earning wages increases it.
The movie sets up a really cool class structure, wherein there are rich people born with/inheriting hundreds of thousands of years of life, and poor people barely managing to scrape enough hours to stay alive until they can earn more the next day. There are segmented areas of the city that cost years to get into.
Overall incredible premise, but the story wasn’t exceptional beyond a couple of the cool mechanics you might expect based on said premise.
Agree. Great premise and decent world building in the film, but it just felt like a generic action thriller after 30 mins.
In time is absolutely an idea that I wish would get revisited for a TV show.
When I was a kid, for some reason, I loved the original West World movie, which is about 20% high concept and 80% “how do we copy terminator when all we have are a bunch of random Wild West, medieval and classical back lots?”
Obviously a few years ago HBO picked it up for a show, and that first season explores some of the richest philosophy I’ve seen on TV, in the way only Sci-Fi can; by building characters and technology directly around their philosophical takes and stress testing them. Also simultaneously it created an incredibly compelling story and characters. All of this stemmed from the idea “what if there was a wild west theme park manned by perfectly realistic animatronics?”
In Time may not have the cult classic reputation of the first Westworld but it’s got appeal and charm, while being basically only interesting in it’s high concept, and therefore perfect to pull apart and explore an HBO style branching plot. I bet you could get Justin Timberlake to appear in it again too, for added audience appeal. A show like this can also explore multiple characters in different classes, and those who interact with both. It’s just wasn’t that suited to a movie.
I loved the original West World movie, which is about 20% high concept and 80% “how do we copy terminator when all we have are a bunch of random Wild West, medieval and classical back lots?”
I’m sorry what? ‘West World’ came out in 1973, ‘The Terminator’ came out in 1984. Am I missing something here?
And Justin Timberlake is good at pop music
Cabin in the woods
What was that anime where you wear a VR headset and if you die in-game, you die in real life?
Ya that one
Spy Kids 3D
Sword Art Online had a pretty decent few opening episodes, it just… for some reason decided to go full-blown Knights of Sidonia and turn itself into a weird harem anime.
I HIGHLY recommend the SAO Abridged series. It’s one of the few “parody/satire” projects that actually makes the original story better and most regard SAO Abridged as the better version as a whole.
I love TeamFourStar!
Same! I rewatch DBZ Abridged all the time! Funny enough, never actually watched DBZ or any of Dragon Ball in its entirety, but I’ve played a LOT of the games and basically know the entire story, front to back, from the games and Abridged lol
I would absolutely say Something Witty Entertainment is 100% on par with TFS. They do such a great job taking SAOs original story and making it ACTUALLY make sense, while adding a lot more comedy and sometimes some actually heart breaking moments.
Added bonus, it’s still ongoing! They basically only release one episode a year now, but I think every episode is worth the wait because they put in a lot of effort. They do some other Abridged series as well (like a newer ongoing series of My Hero Academia,) but I believe SAOA is their longest running one right now.
All I wanna do,
is see you turn into,
a Super Saiyan (•a super saiyan!•)
that’s pretty much a whole manga subgenre now
The original Purge. I thought all the background stuff and setting were super interesting, but the film itself was a generic home invasion movie. The sequel expanded on all the stuff I was interested in, though.
A few favorites:
- Constantine
- The Last Jedi
- Jupiter Ascending
- Minority Report
- Prometheus
- Valerian
- Logan’s Run
Constantine and Minority Report don’t belong on the list tbh. And I say that as a fan of the Hellblazer comics, and someone who doesn’t care for Tom Cruise.
Constantine and Minority Report shouldn’t be on that list, IMO. The former in particular is very well executed and thoroughly enjoyable!
Bruh Constantine is one of my favorite films ever. It’s so fucking awesome!
Keanu reeves is such a weird casting choice. He’s playing a guy from manchester and all he can do is play himself, like in every movie he does.
Keanu just can’t shake the Messiah image after played Neo in The Matrix. Ever! It’s too weird to see him playing Constantine.
In contrast, the Constantine played by Matt Ryan in TV franchise Arrowverse was spot on.
I’ll be that guy that enjoyed The Last Jedi explicitly because it was something different, and leaned into more of the mystical side of the force while on the “big screen.”
I think episode 7, 8, 9 would have been better if 7 had flipped the script rather than being a story analog to 4. Whole movie could have been largely the same, but rather than the Resistance stopping the First Order at the end, let the First Order win - let Starkiller Base succeed in blowing up the Resistance’ base planet and achieve, for all intents and purposes, total victory. It would have come as a shock to viewers (especially given how close the macro plot adhered to episode 4), and they could have made the rest of the new trilogy about the scattered remnants of the resistance trying to get their shit together and field some kind of opposition against overwhelming, impossible odds.
The Last Jedi was a good movie, it just wasn’t a good Star Wars movie.
Nah, even if it wasn’t Star Wars, it’d be 6/10 at best
In response to your spoiler:
I specifically didn’t like that scene because it’s a massive departure from the lore of all the other films. If they could just do that, why haven’t both sides been doing that all the time? Is it supposed to be that this group is the first group to try this, with the tech that has been around for at least a few centuries? If they had all died in the process I’d be more ok with that, although that also seems like a departure from how hyperspace works in the other films.
why haven’t both sides been doing that all the time?
I feel like this can at least be backed up. It should be ridiculously costly in terms of sheer resources and personnel, and therefore utterly foolish in 99% of scenarios.
We can posit that hyperspace generators should be expensive in terms of resources and credits, and should get exponentially more expensive as the ship size increases, so making “hyperspace warheads” should also be foolish…
But on the other hand, to take down something like the Death Star, I imagine such a maneuver would have seemed worth it!
I think that sums up why the last two sequel films bothered me so much: They went for emotional "woah!"s by pulling things out of nowhere unexpectedly…But then you think about it for 5 seconds and it all falls apart quick.
I was ok with using the ship as a suicidal torpedo, but I wasn’t ok with a single person being able to fully maneuver the thing all by herself, or the ensuing space rip conveniently doing that V shape and getting all 3 ships.
But the bombing run at the beginning of the movie really set the tone for “Prepare to be sorely disappointed”
What a stupid, stupid, stupid design for a ‘space’ bomber. Just utterly stupid. I can’t say stupid enough.
They really took original Star Wars’ “WWII in Space” battles to the ridiculous extreme there, for sure lol.
I love Constantine, and genuinely do not get the hate that film got. Sure it was different from the comics, but it was good in its own right, and the casting and acting (with the exception of that guy from Even Steven) was spot on
