![[Weekly Update] August 16th, 2020](https://img5.samsuka.com/storage/6/au/wr/c6f9d9-019e86f1-f10f-7598-ad83-4a50c54f7cef.jpg)
[Weekly Update] August 16th, 2020
Added 2020-08-16 23:51:38 +0000 UTCPatreon recently starting to allow patrons to pledge in (iirc) British Pounds and Euros. So if you are from Europe, and would like to avoid being charged conversion fee, I believe you can change it, now. Check out this page for more info.
ABOUT THE CHANNEL
- It has been a while so let's do some house keeping: If you would prefer to have a different name shown in our video credit than your Patreon user name.
- I hope you enjoy our latest video on Noroi. I wanted to talk about this film for a long time, but it is such a niche and hard to find film, making a video of it is difficult. I enjoy making it a lot, though. And I'm happy with the final product. I hope you do, too!
- I have 2 more horror related videos planned. But since Mulan is coming out next month, I'll (probably) be doing a Mulan video before coming back and finishing the third horror films.
- For the 2nd horror video, it was a split between The Wailing and Train to Busan. At the end I chose the latter, since Peninsula is coming out.
- Also I just didn't like The Wailing as much as most. Maybe I'll make a video on why someday. In short, I just don't like the film's idea of "good" and "evil" being purely black and white, and also the... subtle and most likely unintentional xenophobic undertone.
- We also have a Godzilla video planned this Halloween. After which we'll return to Hong Kong cinema and finally talk about the myth, the legend, the one and only, John Woo.
- And I also have something smaller I planned. Gonna keep this one a surprise for now.
ABOUT MEDIA
- I have a confession: I actually enjoyed the first G.I.Joe movie.
- Now, I never watched any of the sequels, and from what I heard, they are guilty pleasures. I enjoy the first movie, not because it is anything exceptionally good. Come on, it's G.I.Joe, what expectation do you have?
- But I remember the film being decently structured, every character has a nice little story that wraps up at the end. While the CGI is rough, the action is creative and fun. The foot vs. car race in Paris is exciting, and the "space" battle at the end is also quite fun.
- Here is the thing, though. I'm willing to overlook a lot of its rough edges, because I had no expectation for the film.
- The Dark Knight Rises. Before I watched it, Ryan Connolly of Film Riot says it is one of Nolan's best, and that he had one upped himself.
- So I watched, I did not enjoy it. I find it to be overly long, the cinematography and fights are fairly boring and un impressive. And the ending is just flat out bad.
- But, for a long time, I thought I was alone. The hype for the film boosted the voices of the fans and dampen the voices of the critics. Look at its Rotten Tomatoes score.
- It wasn't until Doug Walker of Nostalgic Critic came out and said, rather loudly, that the film kinda sucks, that I start to feel the tides turning. (Yes, I know people don't like Doug Walker)
- But even at the time, Walker gets a lot of criticism for his blatant dislike of the film. Many in his comment section expresses disagreements.
- Flash forward to today, I think most of us agree that The Dark Knight Rises is a pretty big disappointment.
- Everybody knows expectation affects your viewing experience, but it's pretty hard to understand to what extend. Managing your experience is one tough part of the film going experience.
- Think of all the films you watched. How much your perception on it is hype and how much of it is actually quality of the film itself? Is it even possible to know?
- It's important to know this. In today's social media landscape, where everyone is vocal and death threats are given out like candies, there are critics who are too afraid to give bad reviews to highly anticipated movies and games. And it is not because critics afraid they may upset publishers.
- No, they are afraid of the fans. Fans who have yet to watch the film or play the game, but already made up their mind. Fans who chose a side and will stick with it.
- Yes, that's what this is about.
- Don't try to choose a side. Judge things as they come, as they are. If your opinion on the matter differs from others, that's okay. We have different opinions. It's a film review, it's not worth your energy to harass the reviewer.
Anyway, that's the update! Hope you have a great week ahead of you, and let's hope everything will get better soon. I'll see you next week.
Comments
Oh you reminded me one more thing about TDKR. THe first thing i noticed while watching that film is how every shot is slightly too short. It's like the editor went in and trim a few frames off every shot to meet the studio mandated length.
Accented Cinema
2020-08-17 05:09:21 +0000 UTCYou were never alone over The Dark Knight Rises. This is a film that does such a poor job editing that Batman breaks his 'one rule' and nobody mentions it or notices, not even Batman. Talia falling off of an overpass and dying in the impact is her fault, but Batman flies in front of that truck at one point and opens fire with twin 20mm cannons, killing the original driver. The shooting script had Gordon kill the driver from the inside the rear of the truck, so either the editor cared so little that they wrecked the thing that drove the tension from The Dark Knight entirely, or the director made a decision to have him kill and then decided not to address it at all. Either way: that movie was a huge letdown. As for the Joe sequel: Retaliation is a lot of dumb fun. If you liked the first one the second is great. It's got a very Punisher: War Journal vibe. There are some scenes that are so wrongheaded they are worth the price of purchase alone, like when one of the female characters is telling her touching backstory as two men (and the camera) ogle her body in a slow, sweeping shot. Or the motorcycle that turns into a couple of rockets...leaving the guy without his transportation. It's so stupid at times it's awesome.
Michael Everett
2020-08-17 02:27:33 +0000 UTC
