Bad film with amazing premise and mediocre execution that you can't stop thinking about?
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Lucy
It’s entertaining as all hell. It doesn’t pretend to be anything more, so I don’t understand the hate it gets. Just turn off your brain, and have some fun. It’s not supposed to be hard sci-fi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(2014_film)
The audience for Lucy was split evenly between men and women, with 65 percent being over age 25.[54] Nikki Rocco, president for domestic distribution at Universal Studios, said, "To have a female lead in an original property absolutely made a difference. Scarlett is a star, and her presence [in the film] made it a lot more appealing for women."[55] Michael Bodey of The Australian commented that women having comprised half the audience is "a seemingly new precedent for an action film" and that, because of its box office performance, Lucy is the film out of all of Besson's film work "likely to have the greatest cultural impact."[18]
It seems like it definitely resonated with a lot of people, will check it out. Luc Besson can be hit and miss, but his films are always memorable
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100% agree. It's a fine twist on the subgenre, but the twist introduces an idea that begs to be expanded upon as part of a larger, cross-subgenre arc. And yet we only get a sliver and then it's done.
My hot take is that Joss Whedon's writing is like JJ Abrams': perfect premises with bad sense of follow-thru, so all their work gets the Netflix "over before it's satisfyingly concluded" treatment
I feel like everything was explained. I'm not left with any lingering questions about why or how any of it happened
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CATS
Cats is not a complicated musical. All they had to do was animate it and get actual voice actors/singers. I've seen sketches for what I think was a Tim Burton sketch, and that would have been a million times better. I don't know who looked at Cat's and was like, "Yup, we need CGI." It looks horrendous and sounds bad more often than not. The musical is already pretty out there, how much more fun would that movie had been if we had animators working on it. The creative visuals, colors, motifs. Not to mention a cat is a wonderfully complex animal to animate just because of how they move. That movie could have been a visual delight in part with the Spiderman movies if they let it, but noooooo. Let's make a nightmare.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I still feel obliged to post it, so that the memories don't fade.
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As I recall, hyperspace is like a pocket dimension. They just speed up a whole lot to enter hyperspace. So you can't collide with things 'in hyperspace', but only as you're going really fast while transitioning to hyperspace, which is quite a bit more limited in capability.
Hyperspace drives are expensive, and droids are sentient (so its still suicidal). Using it as a weapon would be like having an shotgun in an fps game, where the first 5 feet is extremely lethal to really big targets, whereas anything after that is a waste of time. Also each shot is $10k.
The real question would be why didn't she just splat against the cruiser's shields as they established that was a problem in the previous movie (when they need to hyperspace through the shielding of that planet), unless they had a Galaxy Quest moment where they forgot to flip the shields on.
I guess I am thinking of droids as not having free will even if they are sentient.
I don't find the expense of a hyperdrive to be a valid point though mostly because even if they are expensive they can't be that expensive. Han Solo has one and he never seemed like a character with money. I.e. an individual likely wouldn't be able to try this but an army, with unquestioning soldiers and an immoral general would absolutely try it imo. 1 life/ship lost to kill a fleet is a worthwhile trade
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Dark City (1998) could definitely fit the bill, it has so many unique ideas for that time in film and you can see there’s of all sorts of future sci-fi movies in it from the matrix to inception, it’s a very visually ugly movie and the acting is subpar but as a premise it’s super interesting. Generally I think remakes are a waste of time and money but I’d love to see this movie with a proper budget and modern technology
Just joking. I really liked the movie for its style and the frightening bad guys in all sizes. Also Kiefer Sutherland with a mad scientist touch. -
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The ideas behind They Live are fascinating and deserved better treatment than a 20-minute alley fight about sunglasses.
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Hot take.
I loved cabin in the woods!
Yeah, I don't think anybody actually thought it was a bad movie. The real hot take is saying it was.
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Granted it's just the viewpoint of one of the prisoners but it's the one I found most intriguing.
To quote the movie: "Nobody knew what it was, nobody cared...there is no conspiracy, nobody is in charge. It's a headless blunder operating under the illusion of a master plan...somebody might have known sometime before they got fired, voted out, or sold it...this is an accident, a forgotten perpetual public works project. You think anybody asked questions? All they want is a clear conscience and a fat paycheck."That's awesome sci-fi right there. It's a bit campy, but it's campy in the same way that all great social commentary is, until it isn't and it's too late.
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I guess I am thinking of droids as not having free will even if they are sentient.
I don't find the expense of a hyperdrive to be a valid point though mostly because even if they are expensive they can't be that expensive. Han Solo has one and he never seemed like a character with money. I.e. an individual likely wouldn't be able to try this but an army, with unquestioning soldiers and an immoral general would absolutely try it imo. 1 life/ship lost to kill a fleet is a worthwhile trade
wrote last edited by [email protected]As far as I know all droids in Star Wars have free will.
Han Solo gambled and won the Falcon from Lando (who appears well off), it was definitely too expensive for him to have bought normally.
I think the hyperspace battering ram is funky, but I believe it was less that it was a good tactical idea and more of the First Order being extremely arrogant by not having their shields up, not using a tractor beam, and not just sending a smaller ship forward to close the gap and blowing it up.
I think the movie wanted to show that they were savoring the victory and were willing to draw it out as they believed the rebels were drowning in hopelessness.
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The ideas behind They Live are fascinating and deserved better treatment than a 20-minute alley fight about sunglasses.
I love that movie, and that fight scene, but damn you're right.
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Have you seen him in Good Time? One of my favorite movies ever.
Big agree. Good Time turned me into a huge Pattinson fan.
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Lucy
It’s entertaining as all hell. It doesn’t pretend to be anything more, so I don’t understand the hate it gets. Just turn off your brain, and have some fun. It’s not supposed to be hard sci-fi.
and it's only 89 minutes, it doesn't get stale or repetitive!
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Jupiter Ascending
They seed the galaxy and harvest whole planets to create an immortality serum. Fantastic world concept ... but a subpar story to make a movie about within that world.
And all the stuff about the genetic lottery, there being so many humans that eventually a perfect match gets born randomly is a cool premise.
I wish Jupiter Ascending could have some sequels to spend going full space soap opera.
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Well, I mean nobody has actually made any defense for the movie here other than repeating the word "deconstruction" without elaborating any further, and I'm not going to do a deep dive and write out a counter argument to my own position, so the machine will have to do. For all we know this is the same machine that Disney used to recycle these old plot points for TLJ
The "subverting expectations" thing is was ruined it for me.
You could feel the "Too-clever TV writers" at work here. It felt like later-GoT and LOST where stuff randomly "just happens" and has zero payoff because it was written without any kind of grounding or plan, but it sure was surprising and subverted expectations!!! ...and then you catch on that there never was a plan, it was just a moment to get an emotional rise out of you, and nothing makes any sense outside of a very limited 5-minute window.
But it's a self contained story and doesn't get potentially-numerous "seasons" to come up with a reason "This totally makes sense, you guys. I had it planned all along!"
So yeah, what we're left with is a "deconstruction"...as in:
"Someone kept loosening bolts and pulling off panels until the hangar was a total mess, but they still don't understand how an X-Wing works...annnd CREDITS ROLL!"
Also, the way they completely dumped Finn's character and relegated him to "Guy who shouts 'RAAAAAAAAAY' every 10 minutes." is an absolute insult to competent acting and what could've been a beloved and deep character.
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Absolutely. But that's just my preference.
Mandalorian is really just a spaghetti western with a Star Wars skin. It has cool moments, but also doesn't take itself too seriously, a mix of action and comedy, and though the individual episode plots are contrived, they know the more important things is really just spending time with the characters. But if you don't like the characters, then the whole thing kinda falls apart, like what happened with the boring Boba Fett spinoff.
Andor is a spy drama which goes all in on the gravity of its plot. It's not lighthearted, doesn't have goofy moments or mascot characters, and despite taking place immediately before the original trilogy, it's not riding the coattails of nostalgia. An almost 100% human cast with no helmets or painted skin also makes it easier for the quality of acting to really shine on the screen.
Merely being different doesn't inherently make one better than the other, but what makes Andor stand apart for me at least is that it is the only Star Wars property I know of that was not at all made for children. Not that it's crass or gory or full of profanity, but it tackles topics like fascism and genocide that could never be as thoroughly explored in any other Star Wars property intended for children.
Andor is an incredible espionage thriller and I do absolutely love it.
This is also why I liked Rogue One and also the series "Rebels."
It made the Empire believable, and the Rebels really are an insurgency, the galactic situation is dire and against overwhelming odds. It doesn't just feel like a hero fantasy.
(Rebels can sometimes, it's geared to a younger audience, but it takes itself surprisingly seriously in a great way.)
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How Ben and Luke tell the story of how the latter nearly killed his nephew could've used better execution/storytelling, that alone would significantly reduce the amount of discussion on how the movie "killed his character"
I really hate what they did to Luke's character. It felt like they deliberately trashed him and everything he stood for so some random nobody gimmick character doesn't look as 2-dimensional.
The Ben Swolo memes were hilarious though.
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I love Rian Johnson's other work, especially Brick and Knifes Out.
I also love Star Wars.
I thought TLJ was dreadful though. He was just a really bad fit for it IMO. Has nothing to do with not being open to change, but it has to be the right change. "Can you hear me now?" gags and Luke casually tossing away an item that had been set up as important in the previous film were not the right changes.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Luke casually tossing away an item that had been set up as important in the previous film were not the right changes.
Agreed big time. This felt less like "cleverly unexpected" and more just a total disrespect for the source material.
"Hey remember the symbol of hopeful optimism you followed through trials and tribulations for 3 movies a long time ago? He's now a cynical burnout drunk uncle lol. Isn't that sooo unexpected but relatable and grim? SUBVERTED! I'll take my Oscar now..."
It felt like if some grimdark-TV-bros got ahold of a sequel to the LOTR trilogy, and we were to suddenly find Aragorn a heartless wannabe totalitarian ruler in the middle of a bitter divorce with Arwen. There would also be silly gags where he drunkenly shatters Andúril trying to cut a melon or something, and the kids absolutely loathe him because dysfunctional interpersonal drama is trendy. "Didn't expect that, did you?? Lol!"
...Then being told your expectations were childish and stupid when you find yourself upset by this. Lol
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Lucy
It’s entertaining as all hell. It doesn’t pretend to be anything more, so I don’t understand the hate it gets. Just turn off your brain, and have some fun. It’s not supposed to be hard sci-fi.
"turn off your brain" is a pretty ironic requirement.
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Just watched The Gorge (2025) recently. I wouldn't say it's a bad film, but it was really mediocre.
I love the premise of having the two guard towers, one on each side of a mysterious and foggy gorge, not supposed to communicate with each other, guarding us all from whatever is down there. People have previously gone in but never come out. Strange monsters sometimes attempt the climb up the cliff walls. Is it the gate to hell? What's the story behind it all? Chemistry slowly happens between the guards of the two towers.
(If you think you might enjoy this movie, don't read my spoilers. Just watch it. I liked it even though it was a bit disappointing.)
::: spoiler spoiler
But the good setup and world building is quickly over and then they both enter the gorge, and it's just an old evacuated biological lab that created super soldiers, and the whole thing instantly stops being mysterious.They could have kept it mysterious for longer and given us some kind of twist perhaps, like they might discover they're guarding the site of an old defunct biolab, but some things don't add up, and it turns out to be the actual gates of hell. I also don't think Drasa should have dived straight in to rescue Levi. Let her hesitate for a while. Create tension. Keep them separated, him somewhere below and her in her tower (perhaps she will need to get over to his tower to reactivate the auto-turrets or do something important, she believes he's gone), and cut between showing both their struggles. Perhaps he then manages to contact her, and then a rescue effort begins.
:::I feel like the plot undercut the otherwise cool metaphor that the gorge represented.
East and West, separated by nothing but their deepest fears. Two killers searching for human connection but unable to reach the nearest person. How fucking cool is that? You can do so much!
Then you find out that there isn't really any East/West divide, they're both working for the same bad guys. Traversal of the gorge plays like a joke instead of being a serious moment of character development. Then the ending is a bunch of run-shoot-explode.
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I've watched all of them. I was a TF fan as a kid. I watched it every morning before school and on Saturday mornings. The movies just....I don't know. The first one was the best of the live action. Bumblebee maybe. All of them felt more machine like, except the stupid peeing...wtf...
That said, they were not great. The story, on concept, seemed ok. The execution sucked. The acting was not great. The tropes were un needed, didn't even really fit in, and just plain stupid at best. Mostly they were irritating. Like someone dragging their nails on a chalk board in the middle of a mediocre movie.
The last couple felt more like an attempt at hero porn. [que "heroic" music, lame Walberg lines where he wields some weapon that makes no sense, then lots of booms. Don't forget the meaningless jumping, falling all over the place, and special forces that lean more on the special than forces.]
The only good thing that came out of them was the limited re release of the OG toys. I managed to finally snag an Optimus and a couple others.
Look I'm a simple man, I can't get enough of Optimus Prime's stellar voice work.
It's not an incredible franchise. But hey I think they had some fun with a series that was basically designed to sell 80's toys lol.
