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#81

Cartoon Network / Re: Toonami

Last post by Avaitor - October 21, 2024, 10:54:42 AM

Space Dandy is the only genuinely great Toonami original, so maybe Lazarus will do the trick, but even the "best" stuff from this era hasn't been much to write home about. I don't think the back half of Ninja Kamui is as bad as others said, but it did itself no favors with its CG and it's a credit to Ito's writing above all else that Uzumaki remained watchable even with its animation dip (to be fair, I haven't seen the last episode yet which supposedly brings the original director back). If I had to pick a third series, Shenmue is probably as good as an adaptation of such a notoriously tedious series that we can get.

Personally, I believe the theory that the originals we get are projects no one in Japan wants to fund.

#82

General Discussion / Re: Twitter Bad

Last post by Dr. Insomniac - October 20, 2024, 06:07:35 PM

It sure is. I don't know how anyone with a tinge of sanity can keep up with some of the drama on Twitter. You can do something as innocuous as post a clip of an anime, and you'll end up starting a culture war with thousands upon thousands of quote-tweets, so I can't figure out why anyone can look at that and think the average Twitter user is mentally stable.

#83

Cartoon Network / Re: Toonami

Last post by Dr. Insomniac - October 20, 2024, 06:05:04 PM

Yeah, like I don't get why they're rerunning Blue Exorcist. Even if it's meant to hype the new season, that's still gonna take 6 months to rerun just season 1, and that'll be more than enough time for anyone who cares to watch the show elsewhere instead of watching it air on Toonami.

#84

Cartoon Network / Re: Toonami

Last post by Foggle - October 20, 2024, 05:56:00 PM

Well, the trailer for Uzumaki looked great, so who can say? I'll never pretend to understand what goes through a Toonami producer's head...

#85

Cartoon Network / Re: Toonami

Last post by Dr. Insomniac - October 20, 2024, 05:50:28 PM

I hope so, but the trailer looks... fine. Just fine.

#86

Cartoon Network / Re: Toonami

Last post by Foggle - October 20, 2024, 03:48:34 PM

I'd love to put the cynicism down and be hopeful for this, but it's hard. I also expected that Blade Runner show to be good since it had Watanabe as the creative director, but not only was that disappointingly mid, but coming out at the same time as Arcane highlighted all of its shortcomings by comparison.

Didn't it end up that he actually had more or less nothing to do with the Blade Runner series and Toonami was just promoting it like that to try drawing in more viewers? From what I can tell, "Creative Director" in Japanese productions often means "famous Executive Producer who contributed some ideas." I'm sure Demarco and co. already knew that, though, and were using it to take advantage of westerners who didn't. I think this one is an actual Watanabe series, and much more personal for him since Keiko Nobumoto was working on it before her passing (RIP). Granted, it's hard to get excited about any Toonami production, but I desperately want Lazarus to be good considering the concept and creative team behind it, so I'll be huffing plenty of copium until it finally airs.

#87

General Discussion / Re: Twitter Bad

Last post by Foggle - October 20, 2024, 02:59:50 PM

Yeesh. Glad I quit Twitter and gave up on Bluesky as a replacement after a week. Social media drama is so exhausting...

#88

Anime / Re: What Are You Watching?

Last post by Foggle - October 20, 2024, 02:42:01 PM

Dededede seems great! Inio Asano's a very good writer, but I don't know too much about this one. When I start watching more anime again I'll give it a try. I also want to watch the somewhat similarly-titled Dandadan, and I've definitely gotten the two confused on multiple occasions.

We've been watching a lot of Lupin III stuff lately. They're definitely still my comfort characters. I didn't care for the dubs when I was younger, but now I realize how amazing they are! The Pioneer dub of Part 2 and Mystery of Mamo is unmatched, and while I dislike the name mispronunciations, the classic Funimation dub is great too. That series really goes to some crazy places, and I'm sad they never got to air more than the first 26 episodes on [adult swim] or dub the second half.

#89

Moving Pictures / Re: Comic Book Movies

Last post by Foggle - October 20, 2024, 02:30:12 PM

Spoiler

I heard it's not explicit, but it's all but confirmed that a bunch of prison guards rape him.

[close]

Spoiler

One of them is played by Irish national treasure Brendan Gleeson. My man has not been denied the academy awards he rightfully deserves for 30 years to be remembered as a prison guard who rapes the Joker...

Spiteful I know, but I'm really happy this film is flopping. It sounds insufferable and miserable in equal measure.

[close]

[and]

#90

Moving Pictures / Re: What Movie Did You Just Wa...

Last post by Foggle - October 20, 2024, 01:44:51 PM

Great to see you around again, Foggle! I missed you around here as well! The forums aren't nearly as lively without you!

Thank you! I love seeing you guys still hanging out on here.

As for The Wild Robot, no it certainly won't blow you away but I think it's a genuinely solid animated movie that did actually engage me on an emotional level the way that a well made children's film can from time to time.

It may not have blown me away in the same sense that The Substance or Furiosa did earlier this year, but we saw The Wild Robot a few days ago and I did absolutely love it. Made all of us cry, a lot. Great film!

It's really nice to see you again, Foggle, and I like hearing your film takes.

I agree with you on MaXXXine, it's not as good as X or Pearl, although I think I liked it a little better than most. The last act is especially kind of ass, but I've read a take that I agree with- to fit the giallo pastiche, it works, most of those have bad final acts.

I also wasn't that hot on Longlegs, but I'm a notorious Maika Monroe hater. I think she has the range of stale bread.

Thank you! I enjoy seeing yours and everyone else's takes too! Definitely gotten plenty of recommendations from you guys over the years. I've been focusing more on films lately than other types of media because I'm struggling with changing my medication, which has helped me a lot already but has made me not want to touch long-form stuff (books, games, TV) much.

I think the ending of MaXXXine could have salvaged the last act if they had a gone a little further or crazier with it. I enjoyed the first two-thirds a lot, and I didn't hate the rest, but it did feel a lot more typical and less fun than X and Pearl. The horror and violence felt too tame compared to what came previously; it needed more stuff like that nasty ball-stomp at the beginning (good lord!).

I don't really have an opinion on Maika Monroe. I feel like Longlegs might be the only thing I've seen her in? I thought she was good in it, but also the role called for someone to be more or less stoic in the face of insanity, so if all her performances are like that, I could see that being a problem.

Watched Megalopolis. I read a review that described it as watching Coppola sundowning, and yeah, apt description of what I watched. A bizarre concoction of Marcus Aurelius quotes, Citizen Kane, Metropolis, Shakespeare, one chapter of Stardust Crusaders, Attack of the Clones, Shia LeBeouf's unhinged livestreams, Cirque de Soleil, and alcoholism. I was never bored, but always confused. The equivalent of a foreign stage play hastily machine translated into a film with zero consideration for all the accommodations needed. I came in expecting a big-budget trainwreck, and left getting what I wanted but also thinking Coppola's the victim of elder abuse. An assumption not helped by reading what happened at a recent Q&A where he thought Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese were the same person.

I also came away with it thinking elder abuse may have been going on behind the scenes. Some people compared it to Neil Breen, what with the elaborate sci-fi concepts, indecipherable politics, and lead character being an architect named after two salad dressings, but frankly I would compare it more to Tommy Wiseau in terms of execution. For as hilarious and baffling as his work is, Breen has a very specific vision and does everything in his power to portray it with his own unique sensibilities, while also apparently being a really nice guy who's good to work with. Megalopolis is clearly coming from the heart as well, but much like The Room, the filmmaker having more money and ideas than skill or intent is apparent. This is not to knock Coppola as a creator in general - obviously he's made many masterpieces in his life - but this does not remotely resemble the work of the man who directed The Godfather, The Conversation, or Apocalypse Now. And yes, of course great artists can misfire every now and then, but this feels like far more than that. Something is very wrong here. "Sundowning" seems apt, as mean as that may sound.

A review I read said Megalopolis felt like it was as inspired by David Wain as it was Orson Welles. This hit the nail on the head for me, because by complete accident, it frequently starts resembling the specific comedic tone of Wet Hot American Summer and They Came Together throughout. The Marcus Aurelius quote-off where they have to say his name every single time, the AUNTIE PLATINUM sex? scene that was harder to watch than any Terrifier set-piece, the *literal* Nazi stump speech where Shia stands on a tree stump shaped like a swastika, the fucking "bow-ner" gag used to resolve the film's main conflict? Don't even get me started on Jon Voight; disregarding his, uh, outside life, every moment featuring him felt like they just pointed the camera at him having a manic episode and worked it into the film somehow in post. Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, and Laurence Fishburne deserve reparations for appearing in this. Adam Driver might need an Oscar for being able to pull off the performance required of him here without losing his mind in the process; meanwhile, Nathalie Emmanuel seems physically incapable of speaking her terrible lines, looking distressed and failing to convey any emotion throughout the first act before settling into a weird Harley Quinn-esque accent later on to make the script more palatable.

The film is absolutely gut-bustingly hilarious, but I do feel a little bad for laughing at it because I genuinely think it paints a picture of Coppola as deeply unwell. That said, I feel less bad about laughing so much due to the college-aged wannabe film critics sitting in front of me in the theater who got really angry that I "hyena screeched" at inappropriate moments "before the film had properly revealed itself." They made sure to passive-aggressively let me know how much smarter than me they are in person, then one of them immediately went home and wrote a Letterboxd review complaining about me. Said review also implies that the screening was packed full of people making fun of it, accusing "them" of participating in a TikTok trend; in reality, it was a dead late-night showtime at the mall that I purposefully picked to avoid potentially bothering people. (Keep in mind that these guys were also laughing at the film constantly, and loudly dissecting its themes and shit during the film.) Of course, his review also ended with the classic "at least it's not Marvel capeshit!" sentiment Twitter filmbros so adore.