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Been whining someone oughta make a thread it might as well be me. Far From Home didn't need an elaborate OP, so neither does this. The long (?) awaited (?) sequel to Sonic the Hedgehog, which really weirdly feels like a 90s movie from the description, especially given Jim Carrey? Who playing Dr Robotnik is as usual the best thing about anything Sonic. (And now that makes me picture Robin Williams as Dr Robotnik for some reason. There's a topic for ya) Personal opinions are extensive and likely to be expounded upon as I feel like it itt, but I liked it, it's dumb fun, but not entirely unrewarding of observation. Not just because of all the injokes, but there's a surprising amount of depth to things that isn't spelled out as clearly as one might expect from... I'd say a kids movie, but let's face it, not like most action movies are any better. Dewey Duck continues to be a great voice for Sonic, Tails is lifted right from the games/cartoons and works just fine, and Knuckles is excellent. And heck, I don't even mind the humans, even if they're clearly padding the movie with Bayformers-esque comic relief that conspicuously doesn't involve as much expensive CGI. Certainly a better use of 2 hours than most Sonic games for the last two decades anyway.
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Apr 9, 2022 15:45
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As someone who hasn’t seen either movie in it’s entirety, I’m assuming both are solid kids films with little references that will delight nerds At least that’s the vibe I get from reactions Remember what a train wreck the original one was shaping up to be? I mean good lord, they really salvaged that in a big way.
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Apr 10, 2022 03:28
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man nurse posted:As someone who hasn’t seen either movie in it’s entirety, I’m assuming both are solid kids films with little references that will delight nerds Pretty much. They went harder on the references in this one and didn't play it quite as safe in the balance of human characters/space animals. Even today I had a few coworkers asking me "Didn't that first one look like poo poo at first?"
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Apr 10, 2022 03:39
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man nurse posted:As someone who hasn’t seen either movie in it’s entirety, I’m assuming both are solid kids films with little references that will delight nerds really, the weakest parts of the movies, as expected, are the michael bay transformers-level live action comedy bits that have little to nothing to do with the namesake of the movie. especially the extended wedding sequence in the latter half of the second movie, jesus. but man, when the movies hit their stride, especially the second one, they're fun as hell. and for a video game movie to be anything beyond dogshit, let alone decent at worst like sonic is, is pretty much a revelation.
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Apr 10, 2022 05:09
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Had the day free so I decided to go watch this since I've liked Sonic stuff since way back when. I have so many thoughts! (just going to spoiler this whole thing since I'll be talking about plot stuff) Good things: -Sonic continues to be likeable and entertaining in a similar way to the first movie. -Knuckles is a great blend of entertaining and legitimately intimidating. -I liked that Knuckes, Sonic and Tails are essentially all equals on a team that fill in for each other's weaknesses. They have a great group dynamic towards the end. -Jim Carey continues to be the best part of the entire movie and is clearly having a blast. -I also love Robotnick's relationship to Stone. They have fantastic chemistry together. -The special effects are (mostly) decent and the action choreography is quick and fun. -Despite some gripes I have with the characterization work I liked every character completely bought into each relationship the movie set up. -Controversial Opinion: The humans actually add to the story despite what you may have heard. The wedding stuff, while probably the least necessary part of the movie, DID work and the movie benefited from it being there (what with the whole Donut Lord becoming Sonic's official dad thing and all). -Some of the jokes are actually pretty funny Minor nitpicks: -Some of the jokes really don't land at all -Some of the character moments feel artificial and forced. -The pacing gets kind of janky in places. I suspect they had to cut like 30 minutes out of this movie. -For some reason Olive Garden remains a constant presence in this franchise. -Jim Carey should have formed the Death Egg with the master emerald instead of the walking robot thing from Sonic 2. I suspect this was a budget decision since a Death Egg would require a ton more CG work. -You can kind of tell they are still working within a budget since the movie takes place on earth and not the hundreds of potentially interesting worlds we could be visiting. -There's a weird moment where Sonic decides the emotionally mature thing to do is take on Knuckles and Robotnick without Tails that is just never followed up on. You'd think he'd have a moment in the temple where he realizes he needs a partner after all but it just doesn't happen and Tails shows up later with all being well. They should probably have just cut that emotional beat entirely and just had Tails be out of the game for that part because of his injuries. -The movie spends just a bit too much time with the humans. HOWEVER! I do think their role in the movie was justified since they are important characters (again, the adoptive dad thing and all) and cutting them out entirely would have actually made the movie worse. Yeah, I said it. Wanna fight about it!? OK, so I liked Tails but of all the elements of this movie he was by far the weakest, which is actually a pretty big problem since he's arguably the second most important character and his relationship to Sonic is arguably the emotional core of the entire movie (at least it SHOULD be. Weirdly Donut Lord and Knuckles end up stealing the spotlight in this respect). A lot of this boils down to the movie just not having enough time to really develop him as a character. He shows up, acts super obsessive, and then immediately starts pumping out information before forming an incredibly close bond in the span of like 5 mins in the bar scene. The basic skeleton of a good character arc is there but large pieces feel like they are missing. I really think the movie would have benefited by adding 2 scenes: 1) A scene on the way to Siberia where Sonic and Tails get to know each other but aren't really in synch yet. Maybe Sonic is put off a bit by how obsessed Tails is with him. This creates some emotional contrast for later after they are friends. 2) During the bar scene we needed a flashback to Tails' home life where he sees the energy spike, learns about the master emerald, and decides to leave. You never actually *see* how he forms this weird parasocial bond with Sonic so he still comes across as stalkerish and a bit creepy even after they are supposed to be friends. Not only that but it raises all sorts of weird plot questions like how the hell this kid saw the energy spike or heard about the master emerald in the first place. However if you were to actually see him living a miserable life as an outcast and then go through a short character arc where he's inspired by the events of the first movie, learns about Knuckles going after the master emerald, and then finally decides to bite the bullet and help his hero I think his character would have worked a whole lot better with minimal changes to the overall story. Again, I DO like the character and even had a little  moment when he was knocked unconscious but I think an extra 15 minutes and another script revision would have done his character wonders. Also, am I crazy or did his design look just a bit ~off~. I don't know, something about the way he looked just didn't work for me. I didn't have this problem with Knuckes or Sonic. Overall despite my gripes I still think this one was pretty good and a big step up from the first movie. Definitely work a watch if you are a Sonic fan and found the first movie at all enjoyable. E: Also going to add "needs early 00's buttrock in the final battle" to my list of nitpicks. readingatwork fucked around with this message at 04:24 on Apr 11, 2022 |
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Apr 11, 2022 03:12
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readingatwork posted:Also, am I crazy or did [Tails] design look just a bit ~off~. I don't know, something about the way he looked just didn't work for me. I didn't have this problem with Knuckes or Sonic. I think it's that his extra fur accents, like his cheek fur and pompadour tufts, don't fully translate to the "real" CGI style. Not a huge thing, but I do remember thinking they looked kinda strange from some angles.
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Apr 11, 2022 04:14
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readingatwork posted:E: Also going to add "needs early 00's buttrock in the final battle" to my list of nitpicks. the brief Pantera clip wasn't quite right but it was an interesting choice
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Apr 11, 2022 04:56
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Fartington Butts posted:I think it's that his extra fur accents, like his cheek fur and pompadour tufts, don't fully translate to the "real" CGI style. Not a huge thing, but I do remember thinking they looked kinda strange from some angles. Yeah, Tails actually has a bit more going on than Sonic and Knuckles design-wise and clearly is designed to be viewed from particular angles. Glad I'm not the only one who noticed pacing issues. If I had a guess, probably related to the overlong suspiciously cheap human bits, they may have had a budget crunch and cut a lot of unfinished scenes with Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. Actually one of my favourite bits was Robotnik and Knuckles the dungeon crawling duo. I like how they go full bore with the trap-filled maze and all the dungeon classics, with Robotnik actually analysing the design and pacing, and it kinda even does the Sonic 3 style second act mix-up when after removing the Master Emerald the ocean fills it back up. In general Robotnik really is a delight, both funny and actually convincingly intimidating. I think it's a mix of a lot of things; he's crazy and an rear end in a top hat but he's still very competent, and weirdly charismatic- he clearly identifies people's strengths and how they compliment his own, and works to get the best out of them. Even making a manual for Stone to help operate the giant robot. And the ridiculous levels of redundancies built into everything show that he's kept failure in mind and works with it. Ghost Leviathan fucked around with this message at 09:55 on Apr 11, 2022 |
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Apr 11, 2022 09:53
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Also this movie's tearing the box office up apparently! https://twitter.com/ErikDavis/status/1513159642398040065 I'm surprised, was a mostly empty theatre I was in, but then megaplexes are like that sometimes, and that was before the marketing blitz.
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Apr 11, 2022 10:47
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Very excited child behind me in the theater putting a hand on my shoulder, leaning down and saying "I -love- Knuckles" directly into my ear. I couldn't even be mad because I, too, love Knuckles.
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Apr 11, 2022 11:01
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Ghost Leviathan posted:Also this movie's tearing the box office up apparently!
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Apr 11, 2022 12:26
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Movie was too long. Could have trimmed like 15 or 20 minutes easily without losing anything important.
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Apr 11, 2022 14:00
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Took my 8yo son to see it on the weekend. As a dork parent, i give it 4/5. Fan references were nice and not patronizing Mean Bean, Sanic, etc. I was interested in the story choice to have Donut Lord and his smokeshow wife outright treat Sonic as their adopted kid rather than he ambiguously be a child and roommate/adult at the same time a la SpongeBob. I'll forget it's a kid's movie until Jim Carrey does the Fortnite floss or says some sassy quip. The only thing I really didn't like was the trope of "serious furrowed brow character doesn't understand foreign concepts such as 'fun' " with knuckles. But that's just a personal thing of mine.
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Apr 11, 2022 15:13
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Decent sized crowd on a Sunday night, mostly kids who seemed excited. During the final fight, a couple people in the audience cheered when Super Sonic appears and the little kid sitting a couple seats down from me got really excited. That same kid groaned at the mid credits reveal. Was a fun movie. Sonic looked better this time since they didn't have to redo all the effects on short notice.
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Apr 11, 2022 17:20
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Someone making this movie wants to be spit on by Jim Carrey.
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Apr 11, 2022 17:35
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Fartington Butts posted:Someone making this movie wants to be spit on by Jim Carrey. I mean... Oh that reminds me, the joke when he gets back to Earth, finally gets his Austrian goat milk latte from Stone, and goes "Needs more mushroom." They had fun writing Robotnik.
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Apr 12, 2022 04:08
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Yestermoment posted:Took my 8yo son to see it on the weekend. As a dork parent, i give it 4/5. Fan references were nice and not patronizing Mean Bean, Sanic, etc. I was interested in the story choice to have Donut Lord and his smokeshow wife outright treat Sonic as their adopted kid rather than he ambiguously be a child and roommate/adult at the same time a la SpongeBob. duz posted:Decent sized crowd on a Sunday night, mostly kids who seemed excited. During the final fight, a couple people in the audience cheered when Super Sonic appears and the little kid sitting a couple seats down from me got really excited. That same kid groaned at the mid credits reveal. the mid-credits reveal got some howling, knowing laughter from my audience
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Apr 13, 2022 10:29
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Yestermoment posted:The only thing I really didn't like was the trope of "serious furrowed brow character doesn't understand foreign concepts such as 'fun' " with knuckles. But that's just a personal thing of mine. He's a 14 - 16 year old orphan that has had an incredible laser focus on a singular goal. I liked the take on the character and knowing most of his lines were adlibed by Idris makes it so much better. I'm looking forward to the Knuckles series thanks to it. I still wanna know about those three soldier at the beginning. Was he following them? Working with them?
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Apr 15, 2022 02:34
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Something I wish the movie did was at the end where Master Eggman is building the Egg Robot, it should have played this music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbhX7XKgkDU
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Apr 16, 2022 19:22
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BioEnchanted posted:Something I wish the movie did was at the end where Master Eggman is building the Egg Robot, it should have played this music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx-oMRYpH4U
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Apr 16, 2022 21:30
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Robotnik I think is like the Joker; despite what should be overexposure, it's hard to do him badly because you really just have to go absolutely ham and everything will fall into place.
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Apr 17, 2022 10:41
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I actually enjoyed the ton of ganeplay references the movie had, which is odd for me. I was waiting for an underwater scene to do...that, and it didn't let me down. These movies have a serious lack of Metal Sonic, though.
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Apr 17, 2022 12:04
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I think Sonic and Shadow teaming up to fight Metal Sonic seems more likely than a giant lizard.
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Apr 17, 2022 19:46
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I want to see them try and adapt the Penders material just so I can watch audiences react to it. Bonus points if they find a way to make it good somehow.
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Apr 17, 2022 20:07
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Darko posted:I actually enjoyed the ton of ganeplay references the movie had, which is odd for me. I was waiting for an underwater scene to do...that, and it didn't let me down. I’m hoping we get Metal Sonic in the next one. I’ll even settle for Mecha Sonic from the second game, he’s pretty rad too.
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Apr 18, 2022 04:18
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I loved this, and Knuckles steals every scene. Idris Elba is having a blast as the good, pure boy.
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Apr 18, 2022 15:42
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Knuckles was a highlight. Was slightly bummed it wasn't leading up to Perfect Chaos, but we got something pretty good in its stead.
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Apr 20, 2022 01:57
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After the movie I've been on a bit of a Sonic kick so I went and rewatched the OVA from the late 90's (the english version with the janky dub, as God intended). It is... weird. First off, it reeks of a failed pilot so there's tons of elements (like the president's daughter, whom is well established and we all know and love) which would make sense in a tv series you can expand on later but are completely bonkers in the context of a movie. I haven't done any research but I'd put decent money down on this being the case. There are also an assload of elements that completely fall flat like every side character that isn't the big 3 and pretty much every attempt at humor (and there are a LOT of these). In fact pretty much every element of this movie that involved writing was awful. The only positives I can give to the writing is that they got the basic setup for Sonic and Tails right and they play off each other well even if Sonic is kind of a dick. Honestly I like them better here than in many of the games. Knuckles... exists and didn't offend me even though he felt like a cameo that just kept on going. I hate that they gave him a hat so much for reasons I can't quite articulate. Also let's talk about the president's daughter because jfc that was a bad choice. She's under age but weirdly sexualized the entire time (often by Robotnik  ), useless, grating as hell on her own terms, and crammed into the movie constantly. I really can't overstate how done I was with her by the end of the movie.On the positive side I really liked this movie's vibe in the moments where it took itself a bit seriously. This movie had a weird tone thing going on where it was one part cool sci-fi action in a way that felt a lot like the second DBZ movie and one part terrible comedy that's not capable of taking anything seriously. The former parts are actually pretty neat when they work but they are constantly ruined by the "funny parts" that revel in the worst cliche's of anime from the early 90's. If they'd made this exact same movie, cut out 95% of the president's daughter parts, and stuck with the more serious tone I think this would be a lot better remembered than it is today. Also holy poo poo do elements of this movie look good. Some of the character animation is janky but the backgrounds, robots, and anything that isn't a person look really nice.  It's also has pretty good world building in places. There are lot's of cool details to spot if you are looking like how the Tornado has the little metal bit come out to help launch it.  Or how Sonic and Tails' base are built out of old human technology they found laying around.  And how you can see the way they converted the plane interior into a lab when they go inside.  They also made this version of the Sonic universe post-apocalyptic which was cool, even if it didn't really go anywhere.  I really like this bleak aesthetic (which you also kind of got in SatAM) and I wish they'd embrace it more in the modern material. I'm not asking for things to go full grimdark but visually I found this movie's world pretty interesting to explore in part because it was willing to get a bit scary here and there. Plus the modern games/comics/etc can have a very generic and poorly defined aesthetic which I've always hated. The Sonic universe doesn't really lend itself well to particularly deep plots or nuanced character work but you can do a lot with environmental storytelling. So... yeah. It's available for free out there if you want to find it. It's not a good movie but it's neat to look at it's got Metal Sonic in it which is always fun. There are worse ways to spend an hour. E: Meant to post this in the main STH thread but I guess it can live here as well. readingatwork fucked around with this message at 07:50 on Apr 20, 2022 |
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Apr 20, 2022 04:41
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Just got back from seeing this with my kid. Pretty good follow up to the first one, with similar reactions of it being much better than you'd otherwise expect, given the property and track record of movies like these. All the performances were great, but Jim Carey just excels at being a Saturday morning cartoon villian. Who else could deliver a 'I hate that hedgehog!" at the top of his lungs sincerely. It's interesting looking at this one as a product of the success of the first. It's definitely got more inspiration from the games and wears it on its sleeve. The first one clearly was trying to ground Sonic to in (what passes for) a bit of realism. This one is much more cartoony throughout. It works, but I don't know if they could pull it off a third time. I do have to laugh at the intro sequence trying to establish the idea of a marvel / DC esque Sega universe, with a bunch of title cards from their games. Can't wait for the Space Channel 5 and Samba De Amigo movies.
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Apr 20, 2022 04:49
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Isometric Bacon posted:I do have to laugh at the intro sequence trying to establish the idea of a marvel / DC esque Sega universe, with a bunch of title cards from their games. Can't wait for the Space Channel 5 and Samba De Amigo movies. I believe in the Sega Cinematic Universe https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/18/23031065/streets-of-rage-movie-sega-john-wick-derek-kolstad
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Apr 20, 2022 04:58
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Ah, the Sonic OVA is something indeed. It really was an odd mix of like... I dunno if they actually took ideas from SatAM but certainly has similar vibes, the whole idea of basically civilisation on floating continents built around the crumbling remains of the old world is certainly fun and lends itself to a lot of environments, but they don't engage much with it. Can kinda see why the pilot failed, it really feels like they were throwing poo poo at the wall to see what sticks, and none of it's particularly cohesive. The gratuitous catgirl is probably meant to be otaku-bait, I think behatted Knuckles was meant to be an Indiana Jones treasure hunter type? And the whole thing with Metal Sonic being somehow mentally linked to Sonic comes very much out of nowhere. Compare and contrast with the live action movies, which for all the criticism you can give of them taking place on Earth, actually does a decent job making it fairly cohesive. They actually tie Sonic and Knuckles' respective backstories together, and indicate there's a broader world that Earth is a part of even if most of humanity doesn't know it, which has left its marks on Earth that, as the stinger indicates, remain to be fully explored. Basically left themselves open for doing nearly anything.
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Apr 20, 2022 06:02
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Isometric Bacon posted:
If we're adapting Sega owned properties I wanna see them do Bayonetta and go full ridiculous camp with it. It'd be a nightmare, but a hilariously memorable one.
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Apr 20, 2022 10:12
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The Shenmue film is just a man walking around a small town asking inane questions before there's suddenly a balls to the wall forklift action sequence.
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Apr 20, 2022 13:18
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Chieves posted:The Shenmue film is just a man walking around a small town asking inane questions before there's suddenly a balls to the wall forklift action sequence. Don't forget darts!
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Apr 20, 2022 13:24
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Darko posted:Don't forget darts! Put it that way and I'm picturing a gripping TV show
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Apr 20, 2022 13:40
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Make a terrible Phantasy Star adaptation you hacks! The protagonist is a woman #girlboss. Very progressive! Also a ToeJam and Earl stoner comedy. Do it! Shadow of the Beast horror movie. We have the technology. E-SWAT (Just a re-release of RoboCop 2 but with that comic book guy's name in huge letters for nerd cred) Ecco the Dolphin. Just trippy weirdness. Mandatory acid handed out at the theater.
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Apr 21, 2022 18:04
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readingatwork posted:Or how Sonic and Tails' base are built out of old human technology they found laying around. I know the Enterprise when I see it.
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Apr 22, 2022 01:48
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Something with these movies that I like is the status quo it establishes between them. I always love the idea of the Wide Open Secret where the Government are officially like "This isn't happening, we are covering it up" but literally everyone else knows and gives no fucks. It's just such a fun premise, especially when the things being covered up are well liked among the community. It's a relatively rare setup, the only recent things I can think of that does similar stuff right now is (finale for a recent 3 season cartoon on Netflix)Kid Cosmic and the third season of Amphibia. There was also a version in the old Dan Akroyd movie Coneheads that was fun where the government person only cared because he was forced to because his bosses wouldn't allow him to get promoted until he closed their case properly, he was totally willing to just swan off to another office and ignore the title characters despite them being undocumented because he didn't really give a gently caress in the end. It's just one of my favourite setting types.
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Apr 23, 2022 08:53
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I just noticed this and I have to leave for work so I can’t look into it more, but there’s a bunch of camera videos of the movie on YouTube that haven’t been nuked. This is a probably a brilliant marketing stunt. Search for the ending or credits or stinger. Fartington Butts fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Apr 26, 2022 |
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Apr 26, 2022 18:13
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I rewatched the first movie in 4K last night for the first time since it came out and I still like it! Sonic himself is consistently fun and light hearted, Robotnik is a hoot and Jim Carey is clearly having a good time, and James Marsden plays off Sonic well. The action is neat and even the soundtrack has its moments. There are a lot of game references but none of them feel in your face or like it’s winking at the audience or like you’re missing out on the movie if you don’t “get” the references, the movie feels plenty self-contained even for people who know nothing about the games. I got my dad to sit down and watch the first one before he and I went and saw the sequel, and he knows nothing about Sonic and couldn’t care less about the games and even he had a good time with it and was looking forward to the sequel.
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Apr 26, 2022 19:05
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