Good or New Movies Review

[Jaded]

@AeriaNyx
I felt the same way after seeing it. To me it felt like a B-grade kitsch slasher movie, like Dr. Giggles as an example, that was a throwback to other 80s slasher movies. I think it had a lot of potentials but it missed its mark in a lot of places.

Though I will say that they went all in on the gore for their R rating. So they made that rating worth it.

[AeriaNyx]

@Jaded Yeah they did. O.O Holy CRAP there were some... just.. wow.

[Jaded]

@AeriaNyx
The reviewer I went with was amazed at some places, one point he went, "Fuck I can't believe they went there." you probably know the part. I won't spoil.

[ZombieGenesis]

If you think Brightburn was simply "Superman in a realistic setting" well that's on you. Not one single trailer ever gave that impression. It was a horror movie with a superpowered antagonist. If anything it would have come off like "what if Superman was just an evil prick". Don't get me wrong, the movie wasn't perfect, but no movie is. I think it did exactly what it set out to do, however. It entertained throughout, shocked in places(though I never felt it used shock for shock value), and I thought the actors did a pretty great job. Everyone is obviously entitled to their opinion and mine is that this movie certainly is not a lazily written b-movie slash fest. It's just a fun horror movie that turns the superhero genre on its head for 90 minutes or so.

[AeriaNyx]

@ZombieGenesis I should have been more clear about my default misanthropic nature. When I said 'Superman in a realistic world, not a comic book one' I mean that people are assholes, and that if you have a preteen kid with superpowers, shit is going to turn ugly really fast. Like.. I knew it was a horror film. I wasn't expecting him to be a good guy. Though...
***Spoilers!=***

click to show

If they HAD shown Brandon struggling with his good kid upbringing vs alien/nature influence that would have earned more points in my book. I was just wanting to see... more. Give me pathos, give me a reason to care that he's turning evil. Make me care about the aunt and her husband more. The movie seemed unclear in its viewpoint at times. Like it kinda maybe wanted to to sympathize with Brandon because people treat him badly/unfairly, but then his responses to things were just like 'what the fuuuuuuck!?'

I wasn't really sure what was happening with him. Like, the foreshadowing in the classroom about the difference between bees and wasps was like 'uh huh' especially the part about predatory wasps that make other species raise their kids? Like that pretty much implies that's what Brandon's people do. And that is SO COOL. I would love to know more about that. But the night he has a seizure... what happened? Was he activated? Was he suddenly bad? The transition was very vague to me. There was evidence he was seriously fucked up before that moment, re: the porn stash with the viscera shots, but he really turned the sociopathy to like, 11 overnight.

I had to laugh at the little touches. Like Kaitlyn being a journalist? That was awesome. I did really like it, I just thought it could have been better. And if it had been better, we might get the other monster superheroes in Yondu Merle's Youtube show. I saw Aquaman, and Wonderwoman. A Flash-type and maybe a Martian Manhunter? Yes PLEASE.

[ZombieGenesis]

@AeriaNyx I say this about more and more things but...I would have loved to seen it as a 10 episode series on Netflix or something. There's only so much one can fit into a movie, you know? You are right, there is a ton of stuff they could have explored that would have made the movie so much better. Like I said, I'd have loved to have seen it as a limited series somewhere.

[Thenomain]

@Jaded said in Good or New Movies Review:

@Arkandel
I agree. And since Disney just concluded their deal with Fox, I suspect we're going to be seeing a whole new X-Men reboot anyways, to bring them into the MCU.

I honestly hope that they don't, or if they do that they find an absolutely amazing writer and director to make it work because, as a completely non-comic-book nerd:

1. The X-Men Movieverse has a lot of humans with super powers and they are all mutants, without a single exception.
2. The MCU Movieverse...doesn't.

I mean, in a world where Tony Stark can, practically alone (with jump-starting from Banner) can [[redacted for the three people who haven't seen endgame]], the whole "Mutant Plight" would seem starkly out of place to me. The ending to X-Men: The Last Stand would've come a whole lot sooner. "You don't want to be goo-boy? Come to Stark Clinics for your free shot."

I just...nngh. Hope not.

(Heh. "starkly". Stark. Jokes.)

[Auspice]

Xmen movies: hey let's do Phoenix saga.

Xmen reboots: hey let's do Phoenix saga.

So really I can gauge my excitement in yet another Xmen reboot at a tepid 3 out of 10.

[Wretched]

@Auspice But imagine an MCU quality of like 'Intro movie maybe based off of Fatal attractions > Legion > Age of Apoc > Aftermath of that shit, house of M... SIGH.

[Jaded]

@Thenomain said in Good or New Movies Review:

1. The X-Men Movieverse has a lot of humans with super powers and they are all mutants, without a single exception.
2. The MCU Movieverse...doesn't.

As far as I understand it, this is because when Fox bought the rights to the X-Men in 98, along with that came the term "mutant" for movie usage. Which is why the MCU has followed other comic canon and avoided using that term or implying that their super powered heroes are mutants in some fashion.

With Disney acquiring Fox this means they no longer have to do that, which is why we are having a movie coming out called "The New Mutants."

@Auspice
Yeah. I think the Dark Phoenix saga didn't work in the first one, I can not even understand why they thought doing it again would work.

[Thenomain]

@Jaded said in Good or New Movies Review:

With Disney acquiring Fox this means they no longer have to do that, which is why we are having a movie coming out called "The New Mutants."

See Above re: Doing it Right. It's going to be a challenge to fold the two universes together since extremely different world-changing events have been happening in either of them.

It could be great.

Or it could be horrific.

The people in charge of the MCU are the only people who've gotten this superhero franchise right, but I'm still on the side of hoping they don't and keep me interested in two equally intriguing franchises and story worlds.

[Arkandel]

@Thenomain said in Good or New Movies Review:

See Above re: Doing it Right. It's going to be a challenge to fold the two universes together since extremely different world-changing events have been happening in either of them.

That's been a thing for comics in general for decades; sure, the Fantastic Four just fought Galactus outside of New York but where were the Avengers and why aren't they at least acknowledging it in their comic?

At least for me handwaving such things doesn't ruin my immersion. The real question is will they make great movies? If so, my disbelief is ready to be suspended.

[Thenomain]

@Arkandel

Suspending disbelief in a challenging situation is best accomplished by someone with skill and talent.

I mean, it's not like I didn't say this three times now.

Sometimes that skill is, "Because I was going around the Universe trying to help an entire quarter of it. Where were you?" Beat hit, world built.

I would've preferred more show-don't-tell, but we're lucky the movie wasn't a trilogy. Not that the entire first one couldn't've been about fifteen minutes and been just as impactful. It was good enough.

And we haven't had a lot of good enough outside MCU lately.

Besides smaller projects like Doom Patrol, I mean. We have a lot of good enough outside MCU, just not on the big screen.

[Ganymede]

@Thenomain said in Good or New Movies Review:

And we haven't had a lot of good enough outside MCU lately.

I presume you include Marvel's Netflix series in this.

That said:

• Wonder Woman
• Shazam
• Teen Titans Go! To the Movies
• The Wolverine
• Logan
• X-Men: First Class
• X-Men: Days of Future Past

Basically, anything that didn't have Zack Snyder's name attached to it.

[Coin]

@Ganymede said in Good or New Movies Review:

@Thenomain said in Good or New Movies Review:

And we haven't had a lot of good enough outside MCU lately.

I presume you include Marvel's Netflix series in this.

That said:

• Wonder Woman
• Shazam
• Teen Titans Go! To the Movies
• The Wolverine
• Logan
• X-Men: First Class
• X-Men: Days of Future Past

Basically, anything that didn't have Zack Snyder's name attached to it.

I didn't like The Wolverine.

Shazam! was a delight.

[Auspice]

I want more shit like Logan, myself. Fantastic story that's so obviously steeped in comic lore without the need for a huge CGI budget to prop it up and support it.

[Ganymede]

@Auspice said in Good or New Movies Review:

I want more shit like Logan, myself. Fantastic story that's so obviously steeped in comic lore without the need for a huge CGI budget to prop it up and support it.

I want stories that are less about cataclysmic consequences and more about human problems. The Ant-Man and the Wasp is a good example, or Black Panther.

[Lotherio]

@Auspice said in Good or New Movies Review:

I want more shit like Logan, myself. Fantastic story that's so obviously steeped in comic lore without the need for a huge CGI budget to prop it up and support it.

The story in the movie Logan was so good that differences in comic lore made no difference to me.

Taking for granted it usually doesn't make a difference for me. I like Nightcrawler, don't care for super monk holy version, but still got to seem him bamf around the white house, showing how tough he actually is, I liked the movie version, scars and all. But Logan and with Caliban being part of that story, barely registers as anything different then the arms dearler in age of apocalypse or the comic version; and he was a good fit for the movie regardless what anyone knows about the character.

I like me some CGI mutant/super fights, but yeah, the human side is way better. Logan was great.

[Arkandel]

I watched Dark Phoenix.

What a piece of shit movie that was.

[Ganymede]

@Arkandel

I watched The Secret Life of Pets 2.

This was more like a series of 3 half-hour episodes held loosely together. It's not half as good as the first one.

But, no more Louis C.K. (replaced with Patton Oswalt), and there's enough humor and good nature to look past at least one absurd premise.