[Weekly Update] January 11th, 2021

That image makes the date look so futuristic! Too bad the movie sucks.

ABOUT THE CHANNEL

• Hope you enjoy our last video on The Autobots. That one was a doozy to edit. Watching the film was surprisingly not that bad (as long as you have Reddit open on the side to distract you), but the editing ended up a lot more complex than I have imagined. Translating the comments and animating all the social media screenshots took way longer than it looks. As a result, I didn't have time to tighten up the narration. Hope you don't mind!
• Our next video will be a sort of Jackie Chan retrospective. It's one of the bigger projects, so it'll take some time! On the bright side, I get to watch some good movies for once.
• I know I said I'll host a vote to decide which romantic film to cover for February. But I postponed the poll, because I want to first see if there is anything specific I want to talk about for each film. I'll likely watch these films again first. But I'll keep you updated on that.
• Afterward, we'll be talking about The Eight Hundred, and maybe talk about how a share history can bring people together.

ABOUT MEDIA

• On the topic of rip offs, let's talk about Alantic Rim.
• No, not Pacific Rim. I'm referring to the Asylum mockbuster. It was my exposure to the notorious mockbuster factory. And oh boy, I still remember how exhausted after I finished watching it.
• For a period of time, I was a pretty big viewer of Syfy channel original movies. Can't say I'm a fan, but I like bad movies, and they are like comfort food to me. Behind most Syfy channel movie from that period, there is a director with ambition, appreciation for cheese, but lacks craft or budget: Quantum Apocalypse,  Polar Storm, Pyton, etc.
• I thought Assylum films would be somewhat similar: Oddly ambitious for a no budget production.
• Nah, it was not.
• At the time I couldn't tell, because Iooking back, you can tell how lazy the writing is. It wasn't that the writer lacks talent and defaulted to cliche. It feels more like the filmmakers just don't care, and use short hands to get the job done as quickly as possible.
• But with Asylum film's production schedule, it's understandable why they have to take these shortcuts.
• For example, how do you tell the audience that there is a traitor in the team? He wears an eyepatch, of course.
• What do you do when a giant monster shows up on US soil? Eyepatch guy suggests nuking it, of course.
• There is no time for you to think it through. Every question and decision in this film has the most obvious answer.
• But here's the thing, it even fails to deliver on the promised spectacle. The first time the giant robots are deployed, they are send under water, in complete darkness. Vast majority of the shots are dedicated to the inside of the cockpit, which are just a small room painted black. You can't see anything! That's like power rangers, but all you see is the rangers inside the mech and waving their hands around.
• Not that there is much to see anyway. It features one of the most pathetic looking monster I've ever seen. Pretty sure any random L.A. gun owner can shot it down with a shotgun, making the whole idea of nuking it just that much more ridiculous.
• How do you produce a film worst than a Power Ranger episode is beyond me. But it really goes to show, not all bad movies are created equal. Sometimes bad movies are bad but has a heart. Sometimes bad movies are bad on accident. But this is just a crap factory pumping out a scam product.
• Asylum would, of course, went on to make Sharknado. They are being intentionally bad and proud of it, and it kinda ruins the joke for me. Afterward, I stopped watching low budget bad movies all together.
• Instead I started watching CW Arrowverse... But that's a story for another time.

So that's the update for this week. Hope 2021 has been treating you well. A lot of things are still happening, so stay safe and hang in there.