Just got back from seeing Barbie. IMO it’s between this and Across the Spider-Verse for best of the year!
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Looks like for everything Disney I’ll be boarding the good ship Piracy.
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I sailed the seven seas when I was younger, but I am not ready to set sail again for anything. It comes with too much crap that I don’t want to deal with. I would rather stop consuming altogether.
What I find worse than consumers not being able to buy a film DVD is that libraries can’t either. My library has thousands of films on DVD that you can get for 20 euros a year (plus books, audiobooks and more), 15 euros on a low income, and children don’t have to pay at all.
Physical copies are dying, and Australia could be the start of that happening everywhere soon, which is bad. I’m part of the problem, I haven’t bought anything on physical media in ages, except for a book as a gift for a friend who hates e-books.
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Right, I’m getting the pitchforks and coming your way!
On a more serious note, I still buy physical media where I can. The only time I get digital is if it’s the only way (so some games, mostly) or if I want to save space but still want to have a copy of something (mostly older books, music and some films).
I totally get the appeal of digital, but we should have the choice. Also, with digital you never really own anything, which I hate.
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TMNT: Mutant Mayhem! Go see it! It’s fantastic. Love to see another mainstream animated film push those visual boundaries. It’s a tad bit more of a conventional film than Across the Spider-Verse, with a narrative structure that will feel familiar but it tells its story with such emotion and genuine love that you can’t help adoring this film. It’s super funny, super sweet and an all around great time.
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Fun fact: in the original comic (which was black and white) April was going to be asian, but was named after a black woman Kevin Eastman once knew. He claimed she was mixed race, while Peter Laird says she’s causasian. In the TMNT Colour Classics reprints of the original comics it’s ambiguous. Anyone claiming the film is ‘woke’ for having a black April O Neil is not worth your time. Fun little tidbit I thought was interesting.
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Lol my predictions weren’t half bad… Until you get to those last two sentences.
Devs is great! A meditation on fate/free will, Devs bends genres to create something wholly unique. Featuring explosive performances (Zach Grenier in particular), beautifully composed shots, a wonderfully dense script, and an inspired soundtrack (in song choices and use); Devs would be an easy recommendation if not for its glacial pace. To a certain degree, Devs feels like a typical Alex Garland sci-fi film spread across eight hours. I do think Garland uses the extra time well as his characters feel intricate in ways that mini-series characters often don’t.
I’d recommend Devs to anyone who doesn’t mind a slow burn and isn’t put off by the smallest sci-fi elements in their media. Really great stuff, I shouldn’t have put off watching it for so long.
4/5
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Finally watched Mario Movie. It’s decent. I think the music is my favorite part, and I was pretty impressed with the textures on clothing and such…I know that doesn’t have much effect on the movie lol. It was predictable but fun. Lots of good Easter eggs.
Also watched the Twisted Metal show and came away somewhat surprised. It’s not bad… not the flaming wreck I expected. Got two of my favorites in the first season, humor that hit more often than not for me, and some surprisingly emotional moments.
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Saw the Ninja Turtles Movie ! It was great. The Ninja Turtles were in it, and they played a role in the events that transpired
– I liked the aesthetic; reminded me of the old Playmates figures [especially with Leonardo’s swords], or early Mirage comics !
– Except during the action scenes, then it was a little blurry and hard to follow
– I would’ve had all their masks match, though [Raphael’s covered his whole head]. I think the only time I liked mismatched masks was The Next Mutation
– Hey Arnold ! reference; wasn’t expecting that. Kind of weird that they referenced Shrek and such, things from after Turtles times. Or maybe not
– So many mutants–you could say it was Mutant Mayhem ! Maybe too many mutants, in fact; it would’ve been nice for them to get more of a chance to shine
–There’s Bebop and Rocksteady, but no Shredder, so Splinter’s origin is, naturally, a little different
– Him learning ninjutsu from TV is kind of like the Michael Bay movies, as well as the Turts being hooked up to the machine
– Some of the Mutants were turned female to make it more even; you could say there weren’t very many [at least from the ‘87 show] besides Mona Lisa…
– April was great ! It seems every incarnation, a different Turtle is the one to have a crush on her. I tend to prefer a reporter April, like she is here. I wondered if they’d get to save her at some point, but you might say she saved them instead ! What a nice April !
– Turtles in high school, that’s like a fanfiction. And then I think–isn’t every different incarnation of something kinda like a fanfiction
– I wore one of my Turtles shirts; I look very hot
– Oh, I wonder if Cynthia Utrom was an utrom; I guess she didn’t really come up again after the milking
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as a fan of the old turts’ games and the mirage comics… is it worth seeing?
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I’d guess that’s up to you; I think it reminded me of the old Playmates figures more than anything
But, it’s really its own new Turtlesverse
I think the art style reminded me of the old Mirage comics somewhat
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It’s clear Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are huge fans of a number of the iterations but especially the 80-90s TV run and the Mirage comics, but they put their own spin on the story in this film.
But I will say, in general it’s a fun film, so if you’re a fan of any iteration of TMNT it’s probably worth your time. Frankly, I’d say even people who aren’t already fans will probably have a good time.
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Watched a British film on Netflix called In The Earth. It’s one of what I’ve noticed to be a growing number of “Earth/ Mother Nature getting her own back” films. I quite enjoy them, especially when you realise the humans are actually the villains/ monsters. In the Earth spercifically was a bit more subtle than others is seen in this sub-genre (?).
Anyone seen any other good films of this ilk. Another two I’ve seen are Gaia and Antlers, although the latter is more a straight up monster/ horror film.
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Interesting ide for a film, but I’m never a fan of random babies or vegans or something getting killed despite doing nothing at all.
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You can try Apostle by Gareth Evans. It’s a bit of an intersection of the themes above and a film about a backwoods cult at the turn of the twentieth century.
You can also try The Hallow, an Irish-English co-production. I think it mixes those themes with Irish folklore, if I recall correctly. I can’t honestly remember if it blew me away but it might be worth checking out.
I really enjoyed In the Earth, I thought it was visually very enjoyable and had good performances. Antlers I enjoyed less, but that’s likely because I don’t find much of what Nick Antosca writes particularly compelling and so it was one of his fairly run of the mill horror stories like some of his Channel Zero stuff.
There’s a lot of folk horror that deals with these themes throughout history and among contemporary films. You should check out the doc Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror which does a deep dive on folk horror. A lot of it are films from the UK and Ireland. You might find some good recommendations in that doc.
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I have no idea how you got any of that from what I said…
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Thanks for the recommendations, I’ll check them out.
I’ve something of a love/hate relationship with folk horror. Some of them, like the original Wicker Man and The Ritual I’ve really enjoyed, but at the same time it always irks me a bit that those same films depict believers in nature religions/ nature as deity as being backward inbreads who have never stepped foot out of their own village. It would be interesting to see a film that treats such people as more environmental warriors than green obsessed psychos.
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What about a vegan baby?
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I didn’t mean it was in the thing you’re talking about, it’s just a trope I’ve noticed.
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Watching the Muppet Movie (2011) with the kids and Teacher Punch, a Ken Jeong hosted gameshow where a child punches a teacher and then the teacher says “I just wanted to make a difference”, being the most popular show on TV is just hilarious. One of the most precisely funny jokes in my memory.
I love the Muppets (1979, 2011, TV Show, concept).
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