Films The Official bit-tech Movie Thread - What have you seen lately?

Netflix Cowboy Bebop (Ep 1): We'll see /10

How to approach this?

The original anime is an absolute classic and something I go back to watch time and time again. It is in the same league as Ghost in the Shell. So to do a live action version is a bold move as there's a lot to potentially screw up. There were certainly mixed reactions to the live action film of GitS - I personally was quite happy to see some of the more iconic scenes done so well.

There will be those who will never be happy, no matter what. For me, I would never expect the live action series to be as good - but can it at least be entertaining? Well, so far, it's enjoyable enough. The first episode is a reimagining of the first episode of the anime, and it's competent enough. Only time will tell.

 

I'm three episodes in, and the only thing I can tell you for certain is that Ein is adorable.

I don't know, it's hard to tell so far. I'm trying to give it a fair shot, and they certainly have made the effort with it. The last Big Thing I watched on Netflix was Altered Carbon and that made an absolute mockery of the source material; in comparison, Cowboy Bebop live action practically reveres the original anime. It's a bit jarring to hear the characters swearing so much though.

Speaking of characters... I think they've done about as well as they can do. John Cho doesn't quite have Spike's easy charm, Mustafa Shakir leans a bit too hard into the 'gruff ex-cop' stereotype, and Daniella Pineda is... OK so far. No idea if we'll ever meet Edward.

 

I really, REALLY hope so.

 

Death in Texas
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4472508/

I do like me a low rent gritty film about how life just really does suck balls / 10

 

I never watched cowboy bebop, but I would chew my arm off for a modern adaptation of Trigun. If it was done well.

 

TIL - For the theme tune, they didn't just get Yoko Kano, they literally got the band back together!

 

Cowboy Bebop live action - 6/10

Spoiler: read me if you don't mind my opinion possibly influencing yours

I think they probably did about the best they could do with it. It was never going to live up to such an iconic and influential anime no matter what they did. It's very respectful towards the anime and I understand the changes they made.

But.

Being so reverential towards the anime means that it falls down a yawning chasm between "adaptation" and "live action remake". IMO it's neither one nor the other and it never really seems to find an identity of its own. On one hand it tries to diverge in some ways, but on the other hand it quotes lines from the anime word for word.

It's fun, it's entertaining, the effects are good, the characters are done quite well (although John Cho does look a little old for Spike). Much like with Altered Carbon, the 'look' was absolutely great.

If you've never seen the anime you'll probably enjoy it.

Spoiler: Spoilers for both Netflix and Original. Srsly!

Some of the changes though, oh boy oh boy...

I'm not a fan of the 'Jet trying to be a father to his estranged daughter' subplot. Not at all.

Pierrot Le Fou got absolutely stiffed. I really liked the live action version of that character but he's a lot more badass in the anime, it takes so much more to take him down.

Ditching Ein was just cruel.

What the hell was that ending?! Jet would have never kicked Spike off his ship, they're partners. Jet learns about Spike's past involvement with the Red Dragon syndicate very early on in the anime (although maybe not the full details), but they stay partners.

Edward. What the ****, man. Just... what the **** was that about?!

 

Finally, the information I needed.

 

Ghostbusters Afterlife Yes we're back (8) / 10

Surprisingly decent flick, and i was very surprised to see critics rate this film LOWER than the 2016 movie, the cast are enjoyable and the comedy is for the most part is decent, there are a few eye roll moments but overall this movie is worth a watch ( also hearing Ecto 1's sirens again gave me chills)

 

The older I get the more I am convinced that certain movie's professional reviews are decided for commerical reasons before release. Just like in games if Studio A has spent a lot on advertising Movie B cannot be given a harsh review. Ghosbusters 2016 was definitely one of those movies, I remember adverts for it being everywhere.

 

yeah, i also think that alot of critic reviews are influenced by fear of the angry twitter mobs frothing at the mouth around the movies release, especially for movies such as GB2016 where i saw a few negative reviewers get utterly torn apart on twitter by angry Karen's. my own experience with GB 2016 was saying i was not interested in seeing yet another cheap cash in reboot ( and this was on a Robocop movie review ) and i had SEVERAL responses telling me what a total piece of misogynistic sh*t i was, simply because i didnt want to even go and see the movie.

As for the new movie, the only 2 fair critisms i have is that

Spoiler

there is a lot of fan service ( which i personally dont see as a badthing in this case as most of the callbacks are quite charming and its basically a near beat for beat story copy of the first movie !

 

Just remember that critics are paid to criticise. It's right there in the name!

 

There's a lack of consensus on the fundamental purpose of critique, though. Some critics strive to advise potential customers/audience members on whether the work is worth their time and money; others to entertainingly put forward their own personal feelings about the work. Consumer advice vs soapboxing.

Roger Ebert was firmly the latter. I credit him with pushing soapbox critique into a dominant position. It isn't bad; it has a purpose, which he often stated very plainly - to entertain, to ruminate, to describe, to emote. As Tarantino directs for himself, rather than for the audience, Ebert reviewed with reference to his own interests, rather than those of potential audiences. That people enjoyed reading it was almost incidental.

It wasn't always so. His early TV career with Roeper was explicitly intended as consumer advice: should you watch this film? Over the years, and in the relative quiet of his own review column (and later website), he became more inward-looking, and gave himself permission to focus on his own enjoyment of film, rather than pushing at the doomed effort of trying to forecast the enjoyment of a nation's audiences.

Neither approach is wrong. I have reviewers I go to for consumer advice and ones I read because I love their writing or videos, even if I often disagree with them. But if you unravel this distinction and lay it out flat on top of the most heated critic-vs-audience wars of recent times, a picture emerges. Most of the time reviewers frustrated audiences, it was because they were providing one kind of critique while the audience was expecting the other.

The inverse - when audiences frustrate critics - is more complicated, and I think has classist elements. I'm not in a position to explain it yet.

 

Yeah, I'd agree with this - I was particularly impressed by the CG at the end

Spoiler

You know, the bit with Egon's ghost. Probably the best CG actor I've seen so far, miles better than any Star Wars attempts

I personally loved all the little throwbacks to the original - like the fact that Callie's dress was the same as Sigourney Weaver's; that Gozer looked the same. Like has been said in so many interviews, it's a love letter to the original Ghostbusters, and as such I think it works.

Not sure why Sigourney Weaver deserved a major credit, for a 30 second role that was tacked on at the end. Also, probably JK Simmons shortest role ever?

Stick around to the end of the credits - looks like we might be getting a sequel?

 

Retfærdighedens ryttere
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11655202/

Hard work but worth it / 10

Spoiler

And all because some silly bint didn't want a red bike

 

I've literally just finished watching the original anime again and I've changed my mind: If you've never seen the original anime then watch that instead, you'll enjoy it a lot more than the live action adaptation. Go on, it's on Netflix right now, you can even watch the dubbed version if you want (although I'd strongly recommend against dubbed).

 

But the dubbed version has Steve Blum. How can you not like that?!